Introduction
Do we have a good one for you today…or maybe a better description would be an extreme comparison. On one hand, we have a top-of-the-line smartphone with all the bells and whistles, and even the protection from drops and sealed to preserve it against the elements. On the other hand, we have a $110 dynamo that is a great little device for the money. So our quest must be to determine if the Yu Yuphoria can satisfy you enough to pass on the S6 Active, coming in at close to $700.
As different as these two devices are, they actually have a few things in common – the physical dimensions are very close and the 5.1-inch display on the S6 Active is almost identical in size to the 5-inch display on the Yuphoria. Of course, the technology and resolution differ greatly from one another. Both devices have Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth (4.1 on S6 Active and 4.0 on Yuphoria), a microUSB port for charging and data transfer and both devices have a fast charge option for the battery.
Please take a deliberate look at the detailed Specifications Comparison chart below and here you will see just how these two great devices stack up against one another – click on the “View Full Comparison” link at the end of the chart to expand the details. After that, we will look at each individual device in greater detail and point out some of its pros and cons. From all of this information we will try to determine the winner based on specs and execution of design and functions.
Specifications
Smartphones | SpecOut
Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
The Galaxy S6 Active is nothing more than a Galaxy S6 on steroids – the pretty glass and metal body are replaced by shock-resistant plastic camo in white, gray or blue. It is there to protect your device from drops and to add to its ‘ruggedness.’ Most of the technology of the S6 came over to the S6 Active, but there had to be a few changes. Three physical buttons replace the fingerprint sensor and capacitive buttons. There are some added benefits as well, such as IP68 certification for dust and water resistance and a MIL-STD-910G certification, which means it is resistant to salt, dust, humidity, rain, vibration, solar radiation, transport and is thermal shock resistant.
Samsung added a programmable button on the side of the device that is defaulted to open the Action app, but you can change it to operate other apps – the camera, for instance. The Activity app is designed for the camper or hiker and immediately brings up a menu with a flashlight button, the weather, compass and other features an outdoors person might need to use.
The Galaxy S6 Active shares the S6’s 5.1-inch Super AMOLED display and uses the QHD resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels with a whopping 576 pixels-per-inch (PPI,) as opposed to the 294 PPI on HD display on the Yuphoria. Samsung opted for their in-house 64-bit Exynos 7420 octa-core processor with four cores clocked at 1.5GHz and four cores clocked at 2.1GHz. It is packing 3GB of much faster DDR4 RAM – a step up from the 2GB of DDR3 RAM used in the Yuphoria. It also comes with Samsung’s new, faster, UFS 2.0 flash memory offered in only a 32GB option with no room for expansion. This matches up to the 16GB of storage in the Yuphoria with expansion capabilities via a microSD card slot.
The camera Samsung put in the Galaxy S series is arguably the best camera currently on a smartphone. It is using a 16MP sensor with autofocus, an LED flash, a wider f/1.9 aperture, Live HDR and OIS. The front-facing camera (FFC) increased to 5MP and added the f/1.9 aperture, Live HDR and a 120 wide-angle lens for excellent low-light selfies and video chatting. This compares with the 8MP (no OIS) main camera and 5MP FFC in the Yuphoria. The 3500mAh battery is much larger than the 2230mAh in the Yuphoria, and both should easily get you through a day with the S6 Active designed to last two days. The new Samsung non-removable battery can charge for up to 4 hours of usage in only 10 minutes and they also added built-in wireless charging for the first time.
The Galaxy S6 Active has a large speaker on the back of the device and comes with a heart rate sensor and oxygen saturation sensor. It will be running Android 5.0 Lollipop and pricing on a two-year contract will cost about $200, and $695 full-price and is an AT&T exclusive.
Yu Yophoria
Yu Televenture is a wholly owned subsidiary of Micromax, a popular Indian manufacturer of smartphones. Their second commercial smartphone is the Yu Yuphoria – a quality smartphone at a rock-bottom price. The phone is mostly made of plastic with metal trim that goes around the outside edges, which are nicely rounded and is a delight to hold. On the right side you have the power button that falls between the volume up and down buttons – however, the power button is lower than the volume buttons. You will eventually get used to the feel of the buttons.
The Yuphoria sports a 5-inch IPS LCD HD display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels and 294 PPI – this goes up against the S6 Active’s QHD 5.1-inch display with 576 PPI. Processing on the Yuphoria comes from a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 quad-core clocked at 1.2GHz with 2GB of RAM and 16GB internal storage, complete with a microSD card slot for expansion up to an additional 32GB. The S6 Active uses a 64-bit Exynos 7420 octa-core processor with 3GB of faster DDR4 RAM and 32GB of new and faster UFS 2.0 Flash internal memory, with no room to expand.
The main camera is an 8MP sensor with autofocus and an LED flash with a huge metal ring surrounding the lens – this goes up against the 16MP camera in the S6 Active that adds an f/1.9 aperture and OIS. The Yuphoria has a large 5MP FFC for excellent social selfies and video chatting, while the S6 Active also has a 5MP FFC, but adds wide-angle and an f/1.9 aperture. The Yuphoria has a small, removable 2230mAh battery compared to the much larger 3500mAh non-removable battery in the S6 Active. Both batteries will get you through a normal day – the S6 Active for two – and both devices have a quick charge feature.
The Yu Yuphoria is a dual-SIM device and comes with Pure Wolfson Sound, although the main speaker is a little on the soft side – you can hear the difference with a good set of headphones or earbuds. It is running Android 5.0.2 Lollipop with Cyanogen 12 riding on top. The phone is available in two colors – Buffed Steel and Champagne Gold for approximately $110.
…And The Winner Is…
Summary
Okay, I posted a picture of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Active as the winner so you could see the camo design on the case, but as far as the winner goes, this is a tough one to pick, ONLY because of the $110 price of the Yu Yuphoria. The S6 Active wins this specification contest, hands down – there is no question about that, but what does present the problem is if you really need the extra features of the S6 Active. If you are not an outdoors person and would rather have a sleek looking rather than rugged looking device, then the S6 Active, almost $600 more than the Yuphoria, may not be your cup of tea.
For a backup phone or even a daily driver it would be hard to top the $110 Yuphoria. It you need to buy phones for you kids, a phone for your parents or a travel phone, the dual-SIM Yuphoria could be exactly what you need. There is no-way it outdoes the S6 Active in the spec department, but if you are looking for a competent device for a little over $100 – look no further than the Yu Yuphoria.
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