YU’s next device is set to knock out several affordable handsets in the smartphone battleground. The release of the device is just one day to go, and it has already built excitement amongst the tech enthusiasts. From past few days, YU has been teasing its forthcoming product YUphoria and is pushing clues about various factors of the device. Meanwhile, rumour mills are also working continuously to disseminate possible facts about the phone. Compiling all those reports, lets see how does the new device might look like.
Starting with the innards of the device, YUphoria will boast a 64-bit processor with 2GB of RAM. As per the teaser pitting YUphoria against Xiaomi Redmi 2, the company confirmed of it featuring 16GB of onboard storage. The phone will run on Android version of Cyanogen OS 12.
It is anticipated to have a sturdy body, which will save the phone from accidental drops. The candid footage released a couple of days back speaks of its sturdiness. The company is also boasting the robust sound quality of the device. It is speculated to pack powerful speakers, unlike its previous offering.
Price
The handset, as we mentioned before, will not be as cheap as its predecessor. It will come for a higher price range than Yureka. The smartphone may launch for somewhere Rs. 13,999.
YUphoria is scheduled to launch on May 12, i.e. tomorrow. The final take from the homegrown firm will clear all the uncertainties, but we have to wait until tomorrow.
Micromax YU is giving information bit-by-bit of its next big offering. Yesterday, the homegrown smartphone firm released footage showing the durability and sturdiness of the phone. And today, it has dropped another clue demonstrating its speaker quality.
The Founder of YU Rahul Sharma tweeted a video of the phone that will explain exactly what we are talking about:
The forthcoming YU handset will definitely be a budget killer with Android Lollipop version of Cyanogen OS. The company has already disclosed that it houses a 64-bit processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB onboard memory.
Further information on pricing and availability will be known at the launch on May 12. Stay tuned for updates; more leaks will follow before the launch.
Micromax’s Yu Yureka is back for its online sale again. Yu Televentures, a subsidiary of Micromax, announced that the smartphone will be available on Amazon India without any registrations, this Wednesday and Thursday. The company took to its social networking site, Twitter, to announce the flash-less sale. The tweet did not mention the amount of units available.
Not many days ago, Micromax took to Twitter to announce Yu Yureka’s successor, dubbed as YUphoria, which is expected to be the next big hitter from the company. Yu’s next flagship arrives on 12th of May. The open sale of the Yureka is a clear indiction that the company has begun prepping for its next blockbuster smartphone.
No registrations, no time limits. Yureka open sale on 6th and 7th May. Are you ready to Play God? pic.twitter.com/kYWCQK6pkV
The smartphone was traditionally sold in a series of Flash sales that required pre-registration. Exactly a month ago, 30,000 Yu Yureka handsets went out of stock in 7 seconds.
This proved to be quite tedious for potential buyers. This sale may prove to be an excellent opportunity for people who have not had success with the flash sales.
The Yu Yureka is a natural preference since it offers top-notch specifications at a budget price of Rs. 8,999. The 5.5-inch device runs on Android-based Cyanogen OS 11 and features 4G LTE connectivity. Along with a 64-bit 1.5GHz octa-core Snapdragon 615 SoC, 2GB RAM, and 2500mAh battery, Yu Yureka offers an impressive 13 MP rear camera.
Yureka by Micromax subsidiary YU managed to create quite a hype. It was the first Indian-origin smartphone that could stand in the marketplace flooded with Chinese and Taiwanese electronics. Now, YU is again geared to triumph over the smartphone market with the release of its next device YUphoria.
A while back, YU took to Twitter to announce the launch date of YUphoria which speaks of the device coming on 12th of this month. The tweet reads:
The handset is expected to be another blockbuster by the company, with better specifications than Xiaomi Redmi 2. To sum up the information we know about YUphoria till now – it will boast the Android Lollipop version of Cyanogen OS, making use of the company’s exclusive partnership with Cyanogen. A 64-bit processor with 2GB of RAM and 16GB onboard memory will be equipped to the handset. Other details have been kept under wraps.This was also the company’s first phone to get a crowd-sourcing name.
Further information on pricing and availability will be known at the launch event itself. Keep checking back for updates.
YU Yureka, makes for one of the best smartphone picks in the sub-Rs. 10,000 price bracket. The device has got a great response in the market and the company is ready to introduce its next offering in the coming month. YU Televentures, a subsidiary of Micromax, confirmed that they will release a new smartphone in India in April.
The Co-Founder of the company, Rahul Sharma stated –
Micromax already had tailwind behind it and were growing in numbers month after month, quarter after quarter. We were thinking about what’s next and we wanted to target a different set of users – the tech natives and digital natives – the nerds. They want to customize their phones. What were we doing for them? And with that thought YU was born.
The project has been named ‘Project Caesar’ as for now, and it’s still under development. The company will make use of its exclusive partnership with Cyanogen, the world’s biggest custom ROM maker, and will implant the Android Lollipop version of Cyanogen OS on its new device.
There was also a hint from Mr.Sharma that the company might step into the wearables segment. “YU is not just about smartphones. It is about connected devices t00,” said Sharma. That’s another big news from the company and we hope that their wearables, in case they arrive, will be as good as the Yureka and will arrive with an attractive price tag.
The second flash sale for Yu Yureka ended quickly and as expected, it sold out within seconds. The users who registered for the sale or the ones who registered to buy the smartphone before 13th January were eligible for the sale. The company offered 15,000 units this time around.
Last flash sale was surrounded by controversies. Amazon billed some costumers Rs. 3,500 more than the MRP of Rs. 8,999. It seems that the same happened this time around; a number of Yu Yureka units were being sold for a price tag of Rs. 12,500. Last time, Amazon acknowledged the error in the device billing and offered the amount back to the customers in the form of coupons.
Yureka priced at Rs. 12,500 instead of Rs. 8,999
The second glitch makes us wonder whether if it is an honest mistake or a deliberate attempt to lure buyers into spending more than they intended.
Thanks for the tip, Saurav.
Update 2:50PM January 22nd – Meanwhile, the company has sent us an email celebrating the success of second flash sale of Yu Yureka. The company mentioned that they sold all the 15,000 units in just 4 seconds.
The much-awaited Yu Yureka went on sale but not without some issues. The folks at YU claimed to have sold 10,000 devices in 3 seconds, but some users reported that the company only sold around 3,000 devices. Then a technical glitch at Amazon led to some users getting a price of Rs.12,499 instead of the original price of Rs.8,999. Amazon said that it will compensate for the heightened prices. But the compensation, which was given in the form of Amazon gift certificates, has enraged the buyers.
A screenshot of an email received by an Facebook user from Amazon has been doing rounds on social media. It shows the company offering a gift certificate instead of a refund. The gift certificate is said to work across all Amazon services like Kindle eBooks and apps. It seems Amazon doesn’t realize yet that when Indians say they want their money back, they mean they need their ‘money back’. A gift certificate or store credit is just not an option.
Amazon shouldn’t have a lot of issue in refunding back the money. As the monetary transaction was done digitally it, would have been rather easy for the company to return it back to the original account.
It’s not sure as of yet as to how many customers were affected by the glitch and both Yu and Amazon have not commented on it. The phone itself has received some favorable reviews but the glitches in sale can hamper its prospects. A second sale for the Yu Yureka will take place tomorrow, the 22nd of January at 2PM. Hopefully, Amazon is ready to take on the task this time around.
E-commerce website, Amazon India, on Wednesday, addressed a glitch that took place during the online sales of the Yu Yureka. The website has got exclusive online retail rights of the Yu Yureka in the country. While the phone is actually priced at Rs 8,999, some of the users were shown the price as Rs 12,499 or higher because of a technical error. The US based firm apologized for the same on Twitter and is presently working to address the customers who were impacted by it.
As of now, it is still not clear what went wrong that led to this price shoot up. The first glitch took place during the first sale of the Yu Yureka in which the company offered 10,000 units for a flash sale.
After the sale on Tuesday, YU announced that it sold off 10,000 units in just 3 seconds. However, later on, some reports alleged that only 3000 units were placed for the flash sale, and even fewer units were sold. Yu has categorically denied the allegations and stood by their stand that they sold 10,000 units.
With the introduction of the YU brand, Micromax has shown that it has the potential to rise in the brutal global mobile market. The first phone from the brand, ‘Yureka,’ is packed with amazing specs and comes for a price that can induce goosebumps. YU televentures is a brand formed by a collaboration between Micromax’s founders and famed custom ROM maker, CyanogenMod. Cyanogen’s active support might help YU create a mass fan following for itself.
The first offspring of the collaboration is the ‘Yureka’. It flaunts a 1.5 GHz, 64-bit Snapdragon 615 processor, 2 GB DDR3, 16 GB internal storage and CAT-4 LTE. Yureka’s spec sheet looks better than any other release from Micromax’s stable.
Let’s look into why Micromax failed to be a brand that Indians could proudly call their own. Firstly, Micromax is not into the manufacturing business (if you didn’t already know), it rebrands handsets that it buys from China. This leads to a frequent disappearance or shortage of the devices from the market. Another adverse effect of this business strategy is the lack of spares for the devices. The company buys a limited quantity of devices by an estimation of sales numbers and if the Chinese manufacturer stops producing the model, the access to spares of that particular model also starts to dry up. This is the reason why sometimes phones with defects are stuck at their service center for weeks or even months.
Secondly, as the devices are bought from foreign manufacturers, there isn’t software support for them. The bootloader is locked, so advanced users find it tough to tweak around the device, unless someone takes the effort to unlock it. The lack of software updates is also a major bone of contention between the company and its customers. While products like the Motorola Moto G and E, which exist in Micromax’s home market, get almost instant updates; Micromax users are left fending for themselves.
Motorola, one of Micromax’s competitors, managed to deliver regular software updates whereas Micromax fell behind.
It isn’t like Micromax is short on cash. If we would have to bet our money on one company that could have become a stalwart of phone manufacturers in India, we would bet on Micromax. But instead, they took the easier approach by simply rebranding devices made by foreign manufacturers. The company has the resources and potential to become a respectable brand around the world, but it chooses to be an amateurish brand with no real long term strategy. It could have been India’s Xiaomi, but its choice of mediocrity and the lack of real effort is holding it back.
With YU televentures, Micromax hopes to take on the issues that have blown up its public perception. The new brand though is not setting up a manufacturing unit as of yet, which should be one of its top priorities. But at least Micromax has taken the first baby steps to answer its critics.
YU’s biggest strength, of course, is Cyanogenmod, the custom ROM brings improved functionality and provides immense convenience to the consumers. Running on CM OS 11 which is based on Android 4.4.4, the YU Yureka offers an immense amount of customizability. It provides themes, ability to manipulate the functions of the buttons, improved hardware performance and everything in between. Not just that, it adds features like Baton from Nexbit (a Silicon Valley partner of Cyanogen) that would make the transfer of data and apps from one device to another feel like a natural limb movement.
At the press event, the term ecosystem was used multiple times. The presenter spoke about establishing a common forum where customers and developers can interact with each other to improve the functionalities of the devices. This is also something Micromax could have created by itself in the past four years. But better late than never. With their new forum page, YU will be a collaborative effort between consumers and the company. Customers can discuss the issues that they have with their devices and the developers will try to address them. There will also be regular OTA updates every month which will keep these devices in sync with the latest developments.
Micromax’s collaboration with Cyanogenmod gives it an edge above others
For Micromax, the success of YU televentures can work as a great PR boost. For the business aspect of YU, the company is taking the approach of reducing distribution, advertising and retail end costs by releasing the device online. According to earlier reports the unit price of the imported device stood at Rs. 8301 and it is being sold at Rs.8999 so the margin for the company is minuscule. This is an effort to create a buzz for the device.
The service aspect of the Yu also garnered massive applause at the presentation. The company plans to begin a door-to-door service initiative by which professionals would come to the house of the buyer to service the device. This sounds like a far fetched plan for a device worth Rs. 9,000. To see if this initiative actually succeeds, we have to wait for it to arrive. But if it does succeed, we would be the first to applaud as it would raise the standard of customer support for mobiles in India.
The company also plans to get into the accessories segment (as it should). At present, it is only offering leather cases and a tempered glass screen protector but they plan to expand it further. They also plan to delve into producing devices like wearables and power banks. This would be an important step towards improving and expanding the ecosystem that the founders of YU wish to achieve.
YU’s grand plans sound amazing on paper, but we will still hold on to our skepticism. Micromax has always promised us grand things, but when it came to delivering, its past promises were found to be mostly empty. We do think that YU has the potential to revolutionize the mobile sphere in India, but bits like providing door-to-door services, still sound audacious for the company. We will keep a vigilant eye on the YU televentures in action to see if it stands true to the promises it has made. In the meanwhile, as a parent brand, Micromax should work towards fixing its follies to become a world-class brand that Indians could feel proud enough to flaunt. We are excited Micromax, don’t let us down.
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.
Micromax, the second biggest smartphone company in India, has some great plans for the upcoming future. Now with the intention of providing a unique user experience, the company unveiled their new brand called Yu.
According to the company’s Yu Televentures, will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Micromax Informatics. It’s the offspring of a tie-up between Micromax and Cyanogen. Cyanogen is, of course, known world over for making one of the best custom ROM’s for Android smartphones. So this tie-up will surely mean good things for the Indian consumers.
Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma said “This will be a game changer, not just in India, but globally too. Yu has been envisioned for building an ecosystem of connected devices and offer customized experience to users.”
Considering the use for a device with heavy customizability is for advanced users, the products of the brand Yu will be sold online. The company is currently in talks with e-commerce companies to pave a path for the roll out of these devices. The first device from this brand will be introduced next month.
In line with the open source nature of Cyanogen, Yu will be setting up a forum where the users can contribute with ideas and tweaks for the operating system. The suggestions from this forum might get incorporated in the fortnightly updates. For folks who complain about the unavailability of updates on Indian manufacturers, this should be welcoming news.
