YU Yunique Features, specifications and Review

YU Televentures recently launched its 4th device in row the YU Yunique. Yu Yunique is company's effort to bring 4G device at an affordable price. The device is said to be world's most affordable 4G smartphone with HD screen. Other than this the device brings memories of Canvas Spark back to the mind with  its rest of the configuration and price tag of Rs 4999/-. The device runs on a quad core processor however we were expecting an octa core device from YU before launch event as octa core mobile prices are dropping in the market but at this price point it's  fine to be quad core.

  "India is at the tipping point of digital revolution and we expect 4G technology to push internet usage to an unprecedented level." - Rahul Sharma, Founder Yu Televentures

Yu Yunique

Yunique runs on 64 bit Snadpdragon 410 quad core processor clocked at 1.2 GHz with Adreno 306 for graphics, sports 4.7 inch HD IPS  display with a pixel density of 312 ppi which is really impressive at this price point. The smartphone comes with 1 GB RAM and 8 GB ROM which can be further expanded upto 32 GB using micro SD card. Yunique supports dual sim and is powered by 2000 mAh battery to last the day.

On camera side, the device comes with a 8 MP rear auto focus camera and 2 MP camera on front. The device runs on Android 5.1 lollipop unlike its predecessors from YU which comes preloaded with Cyanogen OS. The company is giving option to its users to download and install Cyanogen OS if they want to , which is a welcome move as Cyanogen OS is considered to be a OS designed for geeks and many buyers of Yunique would like to stay with stock Android.

Another trend has been broken this time for YU as Yunique will be available exclusively on Snapdeal, whereas previous phones from the company were exclusive to Amazon India.

Design:

If you are familiar with Yuphoria the device touted as "Miracle in metal" by YU, then you just strip it of the metal and replace it with black plastic and matte finish. The Yunique follows the symmetrical design style of Yuphoria where in the audio jack at top, the earpiece and mic on the front and usb charging slot at the bottom all are in straight line placed at the center of the width. The left is void of any buttons and right side houses volume up, power and volume down buttons in same order as written.

Yunique Side View

Front side is dominated by 4.7 inch HD IPS display, On top there is a ear piece situated at center and just below that you can see the YU branding , left side houses the front 2 MP camera and an array of sensors is placed nearby. On bottom there is no physical or capacitive button and just a microphone at the edge of the front side.

Turning back the device you first thing you will notice is the unique Saturn ring design which houses a camera at the centre and LED flash light fitted on the rings. Moving down further near bottom there is YU branding below which you can see the speaker grill. Removing the plastic cover reveals two SIM card slots, and a micro SD card slot, a 2000 mAh battery. The battery is not removable though.

Performance:

The mobile does well in terms of performance, specially when we look at the price point. Multitasking capabilities of phone are good, we ran Antutu Benchmark test on the phone using v5.7.1 and got an overall score of 19105. The score looks good for average user, the device was able to handle normal usage games but we doubt the same would happen in case of resource extensive games such as Asphault 8.

Battery did lasted around 15 hours with a run of Antutu benchmark, around half an hour of video playback, few shots with camera. The camera of the device is just average and don't expect any great quality images especially in low lights same goes for front camera. One other issue we observed with the unit we got was heating problem, the device is getting heated very quickly while normal usage.

Verdict:

YU Yunique is today, what Micromax Canvas Spark was in market 4 months back. The device packs decent hardware for the price tag of Rs 4,999/- but failed to impress us as Canvas Spark did (blame it to camera and thicker edges). So, if your budget is around 4,999/- and you are sure you want to go for 4G connectivity then you don't have any better option as of now in the market otherwise Canvas Spark is still available online.