Upliance 2.0 review

The Upliance 2.0 looks less like a kitchen appliance and more like the sort of gadget NASA might send up to the International Space Station. It's sleek, compact enough to slide onto a counter without bullying the toaster, and feels sturdy enough to survive the occasional elbow-bump or curry spill. The glossy 10in touchscreen gives it an air of authority, as though your dinner has now been promoted to a corporate presentation. Unlike the garish clutter of mixers, blenders and rice cookers that normally haunt Indian kitchens, the Upliance 2.0 actually looks like it belongs in 2025.

Here's where things get clever. The Upliance 2.0 doesn't just cook - it orchestrates. That touchscreen isn't just a menu, it's an entire culinary command centre. Recipes appear step by step, tailored to portion size, so whether it's dinner for one sulking bachelor or six ravenous relatives, it adjusts accordingly. Can't find an ingredient? The AI will suggest alternatives, sometimes brilliant, sometimes questionable ("no garlic? How about fennel seeds instead?").

It chops, steams, sautés, blends, and even weighs the ingredients before you toss them in, thanks to a built-in scale. Think of it as a Thermomix that's been to finishing school. The cooking modes cover everything from frying onions to gently steaming momos, and once the drama is over, it'll even scrub itself down with its auto-cleaning function. In theory, it replaces half the kitchen arsenal in one futuristic lump of metal and glass.

When it comes to raw heat, the Upliance 2.0 promises up to 160°C - enough for shallow frying, browning and crucially, getting that all-important tadka right. In practice, it does reach those levels, and while the results are respectable, it doesn't quite deliver the instant punch of a roaring gas flame. The 40% faster heating compared to the previous model is noticeable, though; boil-ups and sauces get moving far quicker than on older smart cookers, shaving minutes off the prep.

The motor and omni blade system, powered by a 500W motor (with higher peak bursts), are more than capable of tackling hard vegetables like carrots and potatoes without fuss, provided you don't overload the jar. Chopping and stirring are generally smooth and efficient, though the system audibly strains near the upper capacity or when working through very fibrous ingredients. Noise levels are acceptable - not whisper-quiet, but more of a mechanical growl than a dentist's drill, so you won't feel like you've fired up a roadworks site in the kitchen.

The guided recipe system is one of the Upliance's biggest draws. Preloaded recipes walk you through each step with clear instructions, while the onboard sensors handle temperature and motor adjustments on the fly to avoid burning or sticking. During one test run, the unit automatically slowed stirring just before simmering - a thoughtful touch. But when we made some simple rice, some of it got stuck to the pan. The weighing feature also adds real utility. Cooking by volume versus weight produced noticeably different consistencies in sauces, and the precision of the in-built scale made the weighted versions consistently better.

Where the Upliance 2.0 really flexes is in reducing active cooking time. The brand claims it can cut down hands-on effort by 50-70% for standard dishes, and the testing bore that out. A simple sabzi or curry required far less chopping, stirring, or hovering around, freeing up time to do something other than babysit onions. The "one-jar cooking" concept is a big win here - fewer vessels, fewer spills, and a more contained workflow. Cleanup is simpler too, though not as effortless as the marketing might suggest. The rinse mode is handy, but the jar isn't dishwasher-safe, and food tends to cling stubbornly beneath and around the blades, demanding some old-fashioned scrubbing.

Of course, there are limitations. Overloading the jar with too much or too tough an ingredient at once will cause blending and chopping to slow down, sometimes forcing you to pause, open the lid, scrape down the sides, and resume. Jar cleaning, as mentioned, requires patience around the blade hub. The system also depends heavily on power and WiFi - obvious enough, but worth noting. Recipe updates and syncs occasionally stalled when the home WiFi lagged, though once a cooking process was underway, it carried on fine without connectivity. Finally, there's the matter of the subscription model. All recipes and AI updates are free until January 2028, but after that a fee kicks in. Whether the long-term value holds up will depend on how much you rely on new content and software improvements versus sticking with what's already loaded in. 

The Upliance 2.0 is for people who want dinner without the drama. Busy professionals who don't have the patience to dice onions like Gordon Ramsay, health-conscious millennials who love the idea of precise portions and guided recipes, or tech enthusiasts who want their kitchen to feel like it runs on AI rather than elbow grease. It's also a godsend for families where cooking duties are shared - suddenly, even the most reluctant cook in the house has no excuse not to pitch in.

But it's not for everyone. Traditionalists who swear by iron kadhais and the art of "andaaz" (eyeballing ingredients with instinct) will find it too clinical, too sterile. And if you already enjoy the chaos, flair and fiery unpredictability of cooking, the Upliance might feel like outsourcing your creativity to a robot.

The Upliance 2.0 isn't about replacing your grandmother's recipes or dethroning the family chef. It's about making weekday cooking easier, less stressful, and surprisingly fun. It's clever, capable, and stylish enough to earn its place on the counter. But it's not without quirks, and those chasing the raw theatre of high-heat cooking will still find themselves back at the gas stove when it comes to the serious stuff.