First Look:
Cyanogen-based Micromax Yu Yureka could be a huge winner
On Thursday, Micromax
launched a new series of smartphones under its CyanogenMod based Yu brand. The
first smartphone is called Yureka and Micromax’s tag line for the smartphone is
‘Play God.’ Essentially the smartphone runs Android 4.4.4 but this is the
CyanogenMod modified version of the OS and as Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma
said during the launch, this OS is like Android on ‘steroids’.
For the uninitiated —
CyanogenMod is a free, community built version of Android which is highly
customised and is designed to boost the performance of your Android device. It
began as an open-source project on Github and is still the second biggest project
on the site and Steve Kodnik is the founder/creator of CyanogenMod. The
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 biggest plus point
for this phone: It will cost only Rs 8999 and that should definitely appeal to
those who love to tinker with their devices. In addition to the price point,
users can root the phone, play around with the OS and not worry about losing
their warranty. Again given that CyanogenMod as an OS is likely to appeal to
the geek/tech savvy audience this bit about the warranty will probably be music
to their ears.
As far as specs go, it
has a 5.5-inch HD screen, 2GB DDR3 RAM, 16 GB storage which can be expanded to
32 GB via microSD, a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 Octa-core processor, 13
megapixel rear camera, a 5 megapixel front camera and a 2500 mAH battery. Oh
and this smartphone is a 4G LTE device as well.
We got to spend some
time with the device during the launch and here’s our first impression of the
device.
Design, Screen: The smartphone has a 5.5-inch HD IPS
screen with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 for extra protection. The pixel density is
267 ppi and it has an 80 degree viewing angle. Now while some of us might not
find the HD screen too exciting, let’s not forget that this phone costs only Rs
8999, and at 5.5-inch, this is pretty much a phablet. During the launch, the
devices we saw had a pretty crisp resolution, although the lighting near the
demo zone meant it all had a blue tinge.
As far as the
dimensions of the smartphone are concerned, they are 154.8x78x6/8.8 mm and
while it’s not a bulky looking device, the 5.5-inch screen means that if you
have tiny hands, you’re likely to have trouble handling the phone. Of course,
for phablet lovers, the extra-screen size is always welcome.
Micromax has also
introduced what it is calling a ‘polished moonstone finish’ on the back. The
good thing is the material doesn’t feel like plastic and frankly that’s a great
improvement, especially for a device that doesn’t cost the earth. Other than
the moonstone finish, it’s a pretty standard smartphone design, and given that
it is only available in black, it actually looks rather sleek.
Processor, Memory
Space: Micromax has gone
for a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 Octa-core processor which is 64-bit, is clocked
at 1.5 GHz, comes with Adreno 405 GPU. The chipset supports 4G LTE in India as
well. The RAM is 2GB DDR3. As the Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma explained during
the launch, “the 64-bit processor means that the processor can access upto 4
billion times more memory than the 32-bit system and utilises the RAM more
effectively”. The total memory space on the phone is 16 GB which can be
expanded to 32 GB via microSD. This is a dual-SIM smartphone.
From the limited
amount of time we spent with the device, we noticed that out of the 16 GB — a
total of 12GB memory space was available to users and the phone didn’t show any
lag as far as functioning as concerned. Given that this runs CyanogenMod, the
device is expected to function smoothly, although we can confirm more of this
once we test it out.
Camera, Connectivity: The phone has a 13 megapixel which has a
Sony EXMOR CMOS sensor, f2.2 aperture, 75.4 degree wide-angle lens and can
shoot at 1080p and a slow-motion video at 60 frames per second. It’s also got
Blue Filter architecture to balance light and get better exposure. The front
camera is 5 megapixel (1944*2592 resolution).
Micromax showcased a
couple of pictures they said were taken from Yureka device and from the looks
of it, this seems like an exceptional camera, even though we couldn’t help
notice that a few images looked slightly blurred. We’ll have more on the
camera, once we’ve tested the device vigorously.
As far as connectivity
goes, this is a 4G LTE device and given the price point at which it has been
launched makes this very exciting. Essentially if you have 4G in your city, you
could get a device for allows you to access the network for just Rs 8999. The
bands supported at LTE TDD B40 2300MHz, LTE FDD B3 1800MHz, WCDMA 900/2100MHz.
It supports CAT 4 technology which will allow download speeds of upto 150 mbps,
of course subject to network efficiency.
OS: This is what makes the smartphone different
from other devices and probably the only reason why many fans will line up to
buy this. It runs CyanogenMod OS 11 on Android 4.4.4 and looks like a stock
Android device. You don’t see any bloatware or other unnecessary apps that
often tend to slow down a phone and annoy users.
As far as some
features of the OS are concerned, here are some features:
Privacy Guard: This will allow users to set what
privacy settings an app can access. You can individually fix the data limits
for a particular app from contacts, location, reading/sending SMS, camera and
choose the level of access for an app as well.
The smartphone also
allows for Data encryption and remote wipe data in case you lose your device.
Another feature allows users to password-protect apps.
Camera: The camera has a variety of features and
inbuilt filters. You can just keep swiping up and down to change the filter as
you take a picture. The camera also has a burst mode, an HDR mode, a night
mode, etc.
Editing Hardware and
Software buttons: You can choose to
edit the functions a hardware or software button will perform. You can add
customised functions to choose what the phone will do in say a single tap,
double tap etc.
Themes: The phone will launch with two themes in
India and the company will offer more in due course.
As far as the OS is
concerned, it has a clean, clutter-free interface. Add to that regular updates
will ensure that the phone has the latest feature, which is a big plus point.
Battery The smartphone has a 2500mAh battery and
Micromax says the standby time is 210 hours and is offering 11 hours of battery
on 4G LTE and close to 13 hours on 3G. The company says that the OS has been
optimised for better battery. More on this once we test the device, but on
paper 13 hours on LTE sounds exceptional for a device that is under Rs 10,000.
Price, Availability,
Service: During the launch
Micromax indicated first that the phone would cost Rs 19,999. Naturally there
was disappointment in the crowd, but then they quickly (ok, not so quickly)
announced that they were reducing the price to Rs 8999.
For those who don’t
think a decent smartphone should cost the earth this is an excellent price
point. It also means that OnePlus One, which is already facing a ban in India
thanks to a Delhi HC order, is now a very expensive alternative to the Yu
series.
The smartphone is
available only on Amazon and pre-registration is required. Micromax didn’t
really give a number on how many units will be up for sale. It’s likely to be a
flash sale and it won’t be surprising if the device gets sold out soon. Rahul
Sharma seemed to indicate that it would take the company some time to build up
the stock on the device.
As far as service is
concerned, you don’t have to go to a service centre. Instead someone will just
come and pick up the device for you. All of this sounds great, but in India we
know that getting quality service can be a major issue and this is not just limited
to smartphones. Hopefully, Micromax won’t disappoint users in the Yu series at
least.
Conclusion: This is definitely a buzz-worthy
smartphone from Micromax. Micromax Yureka might not be the most easy name, but
given the specs, price and OS, it could well be the game-changing device that
could boost the company’s image and revenue in the year 2015.
