Yu Yutopia First Impressions: A spec-heavy flagship phone with software goodness

Micromax's subsidiary Yu Televentures today finally unveiled its first flagship smartphone, called Yutopia, after weeks of teasing it on various platforms. The company calls Yutopia to be the most powerful smartphone priced aggressively to fit users' pocket. As promised, Yutopia does boast heavy specs that include metal design, 2K display, 4GB RAM, 21MP camera, fingerprint scanner, Android-based Cyanogen OS and more, which are usually seen on top of the line smartphones from top brands like Samsung, Apple, LG, Google Nexus and more.

Moreover, Yu has also announced its new software service called Around Yu that is integrated in the Yutopia smartphone. More information follows as you read the story.

PROS

• Powerful specs like 2K display
• 21MP camera
• SND 810 with 4GB RAM
• Metal design

CONS

• Lacks water resistance
• 3000mAh battery capacity is low for 2K display

The specs-heavy Yu Yutopia is priced at Rs 24,999, which makes it quite a heavy weight competitor against many of the top ends, as well as flagship smartphones in mid-range segment. However, the question remains that will this new smartphone be able to alter the market dynamics and create ripples in the market? We went hands on with the Yutopia at its launch event and here goes our first impressions.

Design and display:

Yu Yutopia is made out of aircraft graded aluminum, which does give it a premium look and feel, however it does not exactly stand out from the crowd. Yu has used a similar design language in all of their products, and the Yutopia is no different. It has the resemblance of its previously launched budget siblings, but with a better feel. The phone is slim at 7.2 mm, and is light on hand, considering that it houses a 3000mAh battery. The phone sits comfortably on hand and offers strong grip.

The front of the phone has a selfie camera with Yu branding and notification LED, and a 2K display. The right side has volume rocker and power button, which can be reached easily for single handed operation. The top houses audio jack and the bottom has a micro USB slot. The left has a tray that accommodates dual SIMs and a microSD card. The rear is where the action happens. You get a ring-style camera set up, which has kind of become a staple design element for Yu smartphones, and a fingerprint scanner placed below the camera.

Speaking of its display, the Yutopia has a 5.2-inch QHD display offering 2K (2560×1440 pixels) resolution, giving way to 565PPI. The QHD display looks nice with good colour reproduction, and viewing angles, however it is usually battery hogging. Unlike most smartphones that come with a bigger display, the Yutopia's smaller screen makes it more comfortable on hand.

Processor and storage:

The Yutopia is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 octa-core chipset with 64-bit processing, and Adreno 430 GPU, which has received a bag of mixed reactions for its performance. It is paired with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage with microSD card slot t expand the memory. This combination of chipset and storage is quite rare in even premium category of smartphones, which gives the Yutopia an edge over its competitors.

Camera:

The Yutopia sports a 21MP rear snapper with IMX 230 sensor, LED Flash, wide angle lens, PDAF, and OIS, and an 8MP front-facing camera, which seems pretty impressive on paper. As for its performance, in the brief time we spent with the phone, we found its camera nice. We will reserve our opinion for camera for our detailed review of the phone.

Software:

Software is one of the highlights of the Yu Yutopia smartphone, as this is the first Yu phone to come with a new service called Around Yu. The platform has been integrated to the Yutopia to source content from a variety of apps and services, and to bring them in one window. Yu's head Rahul Sharma told us that this service will collect data only from those apps and services which have partnered with the company. A right swipe on the home screen will navigate users to this platform which features 8 categories as of now, but might have more depending on its popularity and user demand. The company might as well bring this service to the previously launched Yu smartphones with new software update.

Yu Yutopia runs on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop with CyanogenMod OS 12, and is upgradable to CyanogenMod 13 in due time. Moreover, it comes pre-loaded with music streaming app, Gaana, besides other apps and services. We found the UI smooth and neat during the brief hands-on time.

Fingerprint scanner:

Yu Yutopia also features a fingerprint scanner, which is a rage these days. We tested it and it worked well for us. It registered our fingerprint easily and was quick to recognize it later. The fingerprint scanner can be used to click selfies as well.

Conclusion:

It is interesting to see a domestic player launching a device with such specifications and power at an aggressive price of Rs 24,999. With a powerful hardware, the phone should be a good performer and be able to give a tough competition to many of its mid-range as well as high range competitors. It will also be up against the upcoming Xiaomi Mi 5 smartphone which is believed to be specced heavily.

To know more about the device, wait for our detailed review of Yu Yutopia soon.