Huawei’s value for money prowess is well documented; probably one of the first smartphone manufacturers to pack more in the box for less, that trend looks set to continue with the release of the Y5 2017. Commanding a launch price of 14,000 rupees, the Y5 2017 could be your ticket to more in less.

Design: a simple front with a textured back

The Y5 2017 is a small upgrade upon its somewhat successful predecessor, the Y5II. Featuring a simple front panel without any capacitive buttons on the front bottom bezel (that’s becoming a trademark of Huawei devices) it has its fair share of similarities with many other Huawei devices. The back panel is entirely plastic but its textured finish adds something different to its ordinary build material of choice. Dimensions wise, its 8.4mm thickness is a tad-thicker in our opinion but 150g is acceptable to us.

Customary display

The smartphone features a 5.0 inches IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen with 294ppi pixel density. Leading to a 720p resolution at most, you’d be disappointed if you were looking for a 1080p display here. That being said, we’d like to recall that the smartphone costs even less than 15,000 rupees so having a 720p resolution here is great news!

Nifty improvements in the Y5 2017’s cameras department

The Y5 2017 inherits the primary camera sensor from its predecessor; statistically, we’re talking an 8 megapixel sensor with a dual-tone LED flash with customary camera features such as geo-tagging, touch focus and face detection. The selfie camera receives some fine-tuning as the smartphone features a larger 5 megapixel sensor with an LED flash of its own that’s surely an improvement on the Y5II’s fragile 2 megapixel sensor. The cameras department leaves us with little to complain and the same should apply to you.

Not exactly a powerhouse but excellent for the price you’re paying for it

When it comes to budget smartphones, expecting zero lag is never an option. That’s surely the case with the Y5 2017 as the smartphone is powered by a 1.4 GHz quad-core processor with 2GB of RAM. 15,000 bucks won’t fetch you much more than this so you should absorb the occasional lag you’re gonna experience atop the Android Marshmallow and be happy about what you’ve got in what you’ve paid.

The device’s internal storage stands at 16GB which was pretty much expected but if that’s unacceptable to you, an external memory card-slot capable of supporting up-to 128 gigs of storage is there to help you out. Unfortunately the smartphone misses out on a fingerprint scanner which in all fairness should’ve been there. A 3000 mAh battery contains enough juice to last for multiple hours while 5 different color schemes give you a wide range of exteriors to choose from.

Y5 2017 pros:

• A good value for money smartphone
• A 5 megapixel selfie sensor with a dedicated LED flash is one of the smartphone’s highlights
• 2GB RAM will do its utmost to reduce lag
• Dual-SIM support
• A large battery promises good battery life

Y5 2017 cons:

• No fingerprint scanner
• 8.4mm width is just a wee-bit thick