Micromax and Cynogen Inc on Thursday launched their first phone under Yu Brand. The phone is called Yureka. It has been priced very aggressively at Rs.8,999 and will be available exclusively at Amazon India website.
The Yureka is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 615, which is an octa-core processor running at 1.5GHz. It has a 5.5-inch screen and 2GB RAM. The phone will support 4G networks in India although for now 4G is not widely available in Indian cities. It also supports dual-SIM feature. The screen of Yureka has 720p resolution. The screen has a layer of Gorilla Glass 3.
The rear camera uses a 13-megapixel image sensor made by sony with an aperture of F2.2. Up to 1080p video recording in 30FPS is supported with this camera. The front camera uses a 5-megapixel sensor. The device has 16GB internal memory. More can be added through a microSD card. The battery has a capacity of 2500 mAh. The one has a thickness of 8.8mm. Initially, it will be available in black colour.
The Yureka will use CyanogenMod, an operating system based on Android KitKat, that has been created by CyanogenMod Inc.
In fact, Micromax hopes to use CyanogenMod as a key selling point for the phone. The company has entered into a partnership with Cyanogen which will allow it to use CyanogenMod exclusively in India. Recently, this created controversy because OnePlus One, a phone launched in India on December 2, was also powered by CyanogenMod. Cyanogen has clarified that only Yu phones will get its update in India.
Kirt McMaster, CEO of Cyanogen, added. "India is the fastest growing smartphone market and we are excited to partner with Yu. We will deliver a groundbreaking software experience in the form of intuitive, powerful and highly customised devices, beginning with Yureka."
While Micromax is selling Android phones for several years now, its partnership with Cyanogen to create a new brand looks like a move aimed at countering threat from Chinese competitors like Xiaomi that offer phones with extremely customisable software. For example all Xiaomi phones are powered by MiUI, an Android-based operating system, similar to that of CyanogenMod.
Micromax said that Yu phones would feature a lot of options that would allow users to customise their phones in a big way. "Yu will usher a new era of android development in India, as it will allow users to root their devices, without voiding the warranty," said a Micromax spokesperson.
Micromax is also setting up a web forum for the Yu brand, where it wants Android geeks and phone enthusiasts to gather and talk about the software on their phone. This is similar to the web forums that MiUI runs where its users can talk about various software features MiUI operating system.
Micromax is even borrowing a few ideas from its Chinese competitors in how it wants to sell the Yureka. It said that people who wants to buy Yureka phone will be able to "register" for the sale on Amazon website from December 19. This means the company may use "flash sale mode" to sell Yureka phone.
Source : indiatoday
