Micromax YU Comes to Town, Here is Everything You Need To Know

India’s top phone company, Micromax finally lifted the veils off its new brand ‘YU’. The company claims that the Y stands for the users while the U stands for them signifying the collaborative approach to the new brand. The brand is formed in partnership with famed custom ROM maker CyanogenMod. The first device from the brand is called Yureka, and it’s one revolutionary device. The company also launched a new website for the device with the url yuplaygod.com. It will be the community address for the YU movement.

Personalization

YU is claimed to be an ecosystem where people create, add and manipulate the device in whatever way they want. Cyanogen’s Vik Natarajan explained the features of the device. The custom ROM gives immense personalization options of the device. You can choose from various custom themes; the company will provide two free themes and more will be added with time. You can change the functions of the buttons on the device. You can select the appearance of almost anything on your device. Cyanogen gives you options to tweak everything until it feels just right.

Security

YU devices also offer many security and convenience features. The devices will be dual sim and will have a blacklist feature through which you can block unwanted numbers. It also empowers the users to protect their data and control what they share with the apps. The ‘Privacy guard’ feature shows you on a per-app basis what permissions have been provided to it. Through this, you can select the limits of the access of these apps to your data. In case of a theft of the device, you can find and wipe the device; the data from the device is encrypted. The feature that will improve your sense of security is the jumbled up pin entry where the numbers jumble up and only you know the perfect combination to unlock your device. App lock is installed by default on the system, so you don’t need an extra app for the purpose.

Quality Sound and Pictures

For the shutterbugs, the camera on YU devices will be a treat. It is intuitive and really easy to use. The devices support multiple burst mode and 60fps slow motion video, they are also working on an update to bring 120fps, that would be a real treat.

Music lovers would appreciate the 24-bit high-res loss-less audio on the device. The music app consumes a lot less energy in comparison to others so you can enjoy your tunes longer. Along with these are multiple audio effects options.

Ease of use with multiple devices

Cyanogen has also partnered with a Silicon Valley company called Nexbit for a product called ‘Baton’ that will make your life a lot easier. Through this, you can start your apps from exactly the spot you left in the last device instead of starting from the beginning. It also saves all your app settings and logins so you can get on with your task as if you’d been on the device since the beginning. Using another feature from nexbit called ‘Sync’, you can have the same app settings across all your devices. With the support of another feature called ‘Pass’, you can send an app from one device to another with ease.

YUREKA!

Coming back to Yureka, the device of the hour. It runs on Cyanogen OS 11 which is based on Android 4.4.4. It is powered by the 64-bit octa-core Snapdragon 615 processor clocking at 1.5 GHz along with 2 GB DDR3 RAM. The internal storage is 16 GB, which is expandable up to 32 GB. It supports LTE Cat 4 with upto 150 Mbps downloads. The device gets its juice from a 2500 mAh battery. The company claims the battery performs 25% better thanks to Cyanogen’s customization.

The display on the device is a 5.5 inch 720p HD screen protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The device is not weak on the camera front either. It features a 13 MP shooter at the back with Sony Exmor sensor with an iris of f/2.2. On the front, you get a 5 MP fixed focus front camera for selfie shooter. The device presently shoots slow motion at 60 fps but after an update it will be capable of shooting at 120 fps. It is also capable of shooting time lapses. This device has the potential to become the darling of amateur camera-persons.

Getting ‘inspired’ by OnePlus One’s amazing Sandstone back panel, Yu gets a ‘Moonstone grey’ back cover which looks great. The specs on the device look fantastic, at the same time it’s quite a looker. The brand offers suave leather back panels and a tempered screen guard as additional accessories for the device.

Revenge of the Nerds

Cyanogen has always been the playground of nerds and hence the company is giving them comforts quite unheard of in the industry. Not only is the bootloader unlockable and kernel source opened up, the company’s warranty too won’t be void if you root the device. You will also get OTA updates every month, so the device will always be up to date as well as future-proof for a considerable amount of time.

Revolutionary Service Centre

Micromax also did something in terms of service that can only be described by the term ‘legendary’. It will provide free service to anyone who buys the device right at their doorstep. Once you have an issue with the device, you send a ticket, and the engineer will come to your place to fix the device. Service was the biggest bone of contention against Micromax devices, and it seems to have addressed it in the best possible manner.

The Indian mobile market disrupter

The biggest surprise of the day was the price of this formidable device. The Yureka is priced at Rs.8,999 which is phenomenal. The device will be available exclusively on Amazon.in, and the registrations will start on 19th of December at 2pm. It will be up for sale in the second week of January. The folks buying the device in the first sale will also get a free leather case worth Rs. 999 – the deal is simply unbelievable.

Today was definitely the beginning of a grand new chapter in the Indian mobile market. There was a lot of hate brewing against Micromax following the ban of OnePlus One, but this might help it gain some serious goodwill. Yu is a game-changer in every sense of the word, and we can proudly say that we have a Xiaomi-killer in the making. The pricing is simply mind blowing, and Cyanogen’s immense convenience will certainly win hearts all around. In the end, all we can say is good job Micromax, more power to YU.