New Delhi: Homegrown handset maker Micromax has launched its first device under the Yu brand, its new sister concern. The company says Yu will try and do things its parent brand never did.
And YU has already launched the first ever CyanogenMod based smartphone, Yureka, in India for Rs. 8,999. By all means Yureka is going to upset several smartphone makers including Xiaomi, Huawei, Lenovo, Panasonic and ASUS, because of its solid hardware and software specifications.
Yureka runs CyanogenMod – a free, community built version of Android which is highly customised and is designed to boost the performance of your Android device. With BATON app, which is developed by Cyanogen, users can backup and restore data. It also allows syncing app data across multiple Cyanogen devices and opening an app with the current state on another Cyanogen OS powered device. Micromax Yureka runs Cyanogen OS 11 and perhaps the best news is that users will get OTA updates every month. Micromax has also promised that the Android 5.0 aka Lollipop update will be made available pretty soon to users.
The device will have an unlocked bootloader and Micromax will also release the source code for the device. Just like OnePlus, the company will offer warranty even if the buyer roots the device.
Looks-wise, the Yureka is no different from other Micromax budget devices. It comes with a glossy, black plastic front panel and back panel with soft matte finish. While the edges are flat the corners are round. The back panel of removable and the power key is placed at the right edge while the volume rocker is at the left side.
Yureka will be sold in single color which is Moonstone Black and will be available exclusively on Amazon.in.
Yureka features dual-SIM support, with slots for Micro-SIM cards (4GƱG). It features a 5.5-inch HD (720x1280 pixels) IPS display with a pixel density of 267ppi and Gorilla Glass 3 protection. IT comes with Cat. 4 4G LTE connectivity with up to 150Mbps download speeds and 50Mbps upload speeds, apart from Band 40 and Band 3 support.
The device is powered by a 64-bit 1.5GHz octa-core Snapdragon 615 SoC (MSM8939), coupled with Adreno 405 GPU and 2GB of RAM. This is the same chip in the recently launched Vivo X5Max phone.
It offers a 13-megapixel Sony Exmor CMOS sensor rear autofocus camera with an f/2.2 aperture and flash. A front-facing 5-megapixel fixed-focus camera is also onboard. The phone can also shoot slow-motion videos as 60 frames per second and a future software update will make it capable of shooting slow motion video at 120 frames per second.
It has 16GB internal storage expandable up to 32GB via microSD card. The phone supports 4G, 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS connectivity options. It comes with a 2500mAh battery which the company claims delivers up to 210 hours of standby time and 8 hours of talktime.
The Yu Yureka measures 154.8x78x8.8mm and includes sensors such as an accelerometer, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, and gyroscope.
The handset will go up for registrations via Amazon on Friday (2pm IST), and it will start shipping in the second week of January.
Early adopters will get a leather back cover worth Rs. 999 free. Notably, the company is also touting "free replacement or repair" at the user's doorstep.
