As promised, Micromax's sub-brand YU Televentures on Thursday at an press event in New Delhi officially announced the launch of its first smartphone running on CyanogenMod OS. Dubbed as YU Yureka, the smartphone comes with mid-range specifications and is priced very aggressively. The Yureka is made in collaboration with Cyanogen Inc.
If you are unaware, it's because of Micromax's YU brand, Delhi High court has ordered OnePlus to stop selling and importing the One in the country, as Micromax has grabbed exclusive rights over CyanogenMod OS (CM OS) in India. Only YU brand smartphones are allowed to operate on CyanogenMod OS in the country.
Coming back to YU Yureka, the smartphone comes in Moonstone Grey colour (which is similar to OnePlus One's Sandstone black variant) and will be available exclusively through Amazon India for just Rs. 8,999. According to YU, the Yureka will be available on Amazon starting second week of January, January 13th to be more specific.
As an introductory offer, those who subscribe on Amazon to purchase Yureka by 25th December and purchase the same on January 13th, 2015 will get a Genuine Leather cover worth Rs. 999 for free.
YU has also announced that the Yureka comes with unlocked bootloader and users can root the Yureka without worry, as it won't void the warranty. The kernel source code of Yureka will be released soon. Also, 2 custom YU Themes will be available for free at the launch.
Not yet over, YU also offers door-to-door pick up and drop service, meaning that if you are facing any issues with your device, just raise an online ticket and a representative will come at your door, pick up your device, get it fixed and then return it back.
Talking about the specifications now, YU Yureka comes with a 5.5-inch HD IPS display with Gorilla Glass 3 protection, 1.5GHz octa-core 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 (MSM8939) processor, Adreno 405 GPU, 2GB RAM and CyanogenMod 11 OS based on Android 4.4.4 KitKat.
Other specifications include an 13MP rear camera with LED flash, 5MP front facing camera, 16GB internal storage with expandable up to 32GB using microSD card and 2500 mAh battery. Connectivity series include 4G LTE / 3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS. Yureka is the first CM-device which comes with Themes support and Nextbit Baton integration.