The price-conscious Indian smartphone market has seen the launch of some very exciting affordable offerings in recent times. From Xiaomi to Micromax and Nubia, many leading handset makers have launched products that would particularly interest the users looking to make a shift from feature phones to smartphones.
A competitive entry-level smartphone portfolio is very important for any handset maker looking to make a mark in India as the affordable smartphone segment accounts for a major chunk of the overall smartphone market in India. So, as companies launch smartphones like the Xiaomi Redmi 4, Micromax Yu Yureka Black and Nubia N1 Lite, with great innards but at competitive price points, the Indian buyer is sure to be the ultimate winner. But which of these three attractive products provides the best value for money? If you are looking to buy one of these, here is some insight for you.
If you are looking to buy a budget smartphone, Business Standard reviewed the three offerings to see how they compare with one another on key parameters. Here are some insights for you:
Design
The Xiaomi Redmi 4 is clearly one of the best budget smartphones in the market on this parameter. The smartphone takes cues from its elder sibling – the Redmi Note 4 – and the design similarities are striking. The smartphone is light, proportionate and easy to hold. The metal built of the Redmi 4 is what we liked the most about the phone.
The Yu Yureka Black sports an all-black design and will be available in glossy black and matte black variants. The smartphone features a metallic body that does look premium and strong from all sides.
The Nubia N1 Lite offers a sturdy plastic build with UV-treated back cover that gives a pebble-like fine-sanded touch and makes it less slippery. The smartphone features only one colour option – Black Gold – and, while most of the design follows the black design, it is the golden trims that add to the overall design of the device.
In terms of design, the Xiaomi Redmi 4 takes the cake; it is followed by Yu Yureka Black and Nubia N1 Lite in that order.
Display
The Redmi 4 sports a 5-inch HD display of 1280 x 720 pixels that offers 296 PPI. Xiaomi’s decision to stick to HD resolution makes sense as it reduces a lot of load on the processor and that is quite evident while using the device. The display is bright, sharp and the curved glass above it makes it easy to use. The screen remains visible under direct sunlight and offers great contrast and saturation under all light conditions.
The Yu Yureka Black sports a 5-inch full-HD display of 1920 x 1080 pixels covered with Gorilla Glass 3 for protection against scratches and accidental drops. The display works fine and has enough contrast and saturation to make things look vivid. The text looks sharp and the display is optimised to render warm colours.
The Nubia N1 Lite has a 5.5-inch HD display that offers 1280 x 720 pixels. The display does not have any protective covering but is laminated to reduce reflection. For a 5.5-inch screen size, HD resolution is on the lower side, so it looks pixelated. The display is bright and the curved glass above it makes it easy to use. The screen remains visible under direct sunlight and offers great contrast and saturation under all light conditions.
Among the three, the Redmi 4 offers the best display in terms of pixel count, sharpness, vividness and colour saturation. The Yu Yureka Black, though it offers full-HD resolution, is still not on a par with the Redmi 4 for its lack of additional display settings like Blue light filter, colour correction customisation options and display modes, so the smartphone stands second. The Nubia N1 Lite would have been at the top if only it had offered a full-HD resolution on the same screen size or a smaller screen with HD resolution.
Hardware
The Redmi 4 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 SoC with octa-core processor. While the processor is no powerhouse, it provides enough power to the device to operate without any glitch or lag. The HD screen puts less strain on the processor, so the processing power is used for other tasks. In regular use, we did notice a little lag sometimes but nothing major to ruin the experience. The phone is not meant for running graphic-intensive games like Asphalt 8. Though you can play the game, it makes the device sluggish and also causes a heat-up.
The Yu Yureka Black is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor, which is an octa-core SoC, coupled with Adreno 505 graphic processing unit (GPU) and X6 LTE modem. The SoC offers enough power to keep basic things running but the full-HD display puts extra load on the processor that slow things down. The innards are well-balanced to offer glitch-free performance sans running heavy applications such as Asphalt 8 game, etc.
The Nubia N1 Lite is powered by MediaTek MTK 6737 processor, which is a quad-core SoC that runs at 1.25 GHz frequency. The processor is coupled with ARM-Mali T720 GPU. With HD screen in tow, the processor works fine but fails to perform while processing heavy applications and games. Also, the processor fares poorly in terms of thermal management, so the device heats up a lot while on charge or during continuous use for extended hours.
The Redmi 4 again turns out to be the winner for its well-balanced innards that work in sync with the device's other hardware. Also, it is only the Redmi 4 that is available in multiple storage and RAM variants. That makes it quite convenient for the user to decide which one suits him or her the best.
Camera
The Redmi 4 features a 13-megapixel rear camera assisted with phase detection auto-focus (PDAF) and LED flash. In day light, the camera works very well to shoot images with a lot of detail, greater sharpness and contrast. There are features like HDR mode, manual mode and panorama that could be used to improve the imaging capabilities of the device. While HDR works fine with a tripod, it slows down the post-processing level and requires steady hands. At the front, there is a 5 MP selfie camera that supports beautify mode. The front camera also requires steady hands to click good selfies. In day light, the camera works well but the quality takes a beating during low-light conditions.
The Yu Yureka Black features a 13 MP 5-lens rear camera and an 8 MP front-facing camera. There is LED flash both at the rear and front for low-light conditions. The camera on the rear uses Sony’s IMX 258 sensor with F/2.0 aperture. The rear camera performs satisfactory for a budget smartphone both in day as well in low-light conditions. The front camera is accompanied with additional features such as front flash and beauty mode that offers on-par results.
The Nubia N1 Lite features an 8 MP shooter with F2.0 large aperture at the rear. Also, there is an LED flash that helps capture detailed pictures during low-light settings. On the front, there is a 5 MP selfie camera assisted with front-facing flash that allows natural glowing pictures, irrespective of light conditions. While the smartphone manufacturer is known for its imagining capabilities, the Nubia N1 Lite does not offer anything unique in terms of camera. Even the camera interface is the stock Android version with limited options.
Of the three, it is the Yu Yureka Black that takes the best pictures under all circumstances. The Redmi 4 shows improvement over its predecessor but is not properly optimised to take advantage of its camera sensor. The Nubia N1 Lite, on the other hand, does not come close to the other two in the camera department.
Battery
The Redmi 4 houses a mammoth 4,100 mAh battery that keeps the show running. The smartphone stays up for more than one day. During heavy usage with some serious power-hungry apps and games the smartphone delivered impressive show time of 14 hours straight before asking for a refill.
The Yu Yureka Black is fitted with a 3,000 mAh lithium polymer battery that keeps the show running for one full day. The battery life is a promising aspect of the device as the device easily runs through a day and a little more on normal usage.
The Nubia N1 Lite has a 3,000 mAh battery wih enough juice to keep the smartphone running for more than half a day. The battery life is not up to the mark and the power-hungry processor, coupled with a huge display, results in weak battery back-up numbers. The smartphone tends to consume a lot of battery juice even during stand-by, so the battery dies within half a day.
While the Yu Yureka Black uses a smaller battery of 3,000 mAh, it still delivers better battery back-up than the Redmi 4 and N1 Lite and the credit goes to optimised software and power-efficient processor that keep the load minimal on battery. In terms of continuous usage with power-intensive apps and games, the Redmi 4 performs better due to lower screen resolution.