Forget Jio, you don't even want Reliance Lyf in your life

Reliance’s forays into telecom sector seem to be having a bit of a tiff with lady luck as more and more negative stories about the conglomerate hit the press every day. Jio has been under immense scrutiny ever since they launched their Jio Welcome Offer. While the offer looked rather lucrative, the results were far from satisfactory. It is estimated that 75 out of every 100 call attempts made fail. The call drops however are nothing compared to their dismal 4G speed and constantly fluctuating network. Reliance's curse now seems to have hit their range of smartphones.

Lyf, Reliance Retail's brand of smartphones that was launched in India in 2016, came under fire (pun unintended) on Sunday as Twitter user Tanvir Sadiq claimed that his Lyf smartphone exploded. Sadiq substantiated his claim with photos of what remained of the smartphone.

Within hours, the tweet had received significant attention the social media and Reliance Lyf’s Twitter account mentioned that it was investigating the case.

My family had a narrow escape today after @reliancejio 's @Reliance_LYF phone exploded & burst into flames. pic.twitter.com/NggIGMc8Zw

— Tanvir Sadiq (@tanvirsadiq) November 6, 2016

2016 has been the year of exploding phones. From the notorious, and now banned in-flight, Samsung Galaxy Note 7, to isolated incidents with the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and even the iPhone 7, reports of exploding phones no longer come as a surprise.

That being said, this is definitely not the first incident of a Lyf phone exploding that is floating online. While there is no way of confirming the validity of the story, a September report on Gizbot claimed that a Reliance Lyf Water 1 exploded causing injury to the user's hand. The user was browsing Facebook on his unplugged smartphone when the device exploded suddenly in his hand. 

According to a statement released by the phone company, “LYF range of phones are designed and manufactured with global standards by some of the world’s leading manufacturers of mobile phones. Each phone goes through a stringent quality control process. We are concerned about the incident reported in social media and are taking the matter seriously. We are assessing the cause and will conduct a thorough investigation in the matter. Customer safety is paramount to us and, based on our findings, we will take appropriate action.”

Reliance claims that Lyf smartphones are as good as any other globally recognized smartphone brand. But are they? Sure it would be stupid to compare them to a Google Pixel or an iPhone 7. But do they fall anywhere on the spectrum of good smartphones available in India?

According to an August report by market tracker Counterpoint Research says that Reliance's Lyf smartphones have become the fifth largest player in the Indian market capturing 8 per cent of the market share.

But the phones themselves are not extraordinary at all. Far from it, they are rather overpriced, dated and are not aesthetically pleasing to the boot. Most Lyf smartphones still offer the outdated Android Lollipop on their phones. The Lollipop OS was launched in 2014 and has been subsequently outdated by Marshmallow and the latest: Nougat. Yet, for some reason, Reliance’s smartphone seem to be lagging behind in this race.

The dated OS, coupled with obsolete hardware is a major problem. One of the bigger problems that persist in Reliance’s range is the continued usage of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor at a time when more and more brands are going for the Snapdragon 820. Honestly, the extra money you have to pay for one is totally worth it.

The phones’ cameras are less than satisfactory. They may boast high megapixels but that really doesn’t matter when your photos manage to not retain minute details, colour and turn grainy in low light. The camera’s performance is however not the end of a long list of deal breakers.

One of the worst qualities of any smartphone is the amount of bloatware it carries. Bloatwares are unwanted software included on a device by the manufacturer. Usually these are useless apps that cannot be deleted and take up unnecessary space and reduce the performance of the device. Lyf phones come full of Jip apps, more than 10 apps, most of which you will end up never using. It is understandable that the Lyf phones would promote Reliance Jio, but the fact remains that none of them serve much of a purpose and it is impossible to delete them.

All in all, while they are moderately price on their own, the Lyf smartphones are bad enough to make you question your investment even at that level. For something that shoddy and shabby, even paying a decent enough price of Rs 15,000 seems a bit too steep. Even in a world where Lyf phones no longer explode (and for that matter Samsung), there are just way too many better phones one can buy.

You really don’t need a Lyf in your life.

Also read - iPhone users, don't even think about Jio