Alina Lewis

Micromax has launched its first smartphone under the Yu range, called Yureka, at a price of Rs 8,999.

The unique selling point of this phone is that it runs on Cyanogen OS 11 based on Android 4.4.4. Cyanogen OS provides a host of customisations which you may not find in official Android smartphones. Micromax has promised that Yureka will be one of the first smartphones to get the Android Lollipop OS based version of Cyanogen.

Cyanogen has partnered with Next Bit, a cloud service that allows Yureka users to save all your games, log in credentials, app settings and other app data on the cloud. As it's a cloud-based service, you can sync data across multiple devices and maintain the current state of your apps on a different device with Next Bit installed.

Micromax's Yureka runs on a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 chipset with a 1.5GHz octa-core processor. This should allow for faster file transfers, better compression of larger files, low power consumption and should support all the latest games and apps. It's backed by 2GB of RAM and comes with 16GB of built-in storage.

The Yu smartphone features a 5.5-inch IPS display, with a pixel density of 267ppi. The screen gets a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 3 for better protection against scratches and should also be less reflective in bright light. The rear includes a 13MP CMOS camera with a f2.2 aperture for better low-light photography. In addition, there's 5MP front camera that has a 71 degree wide angle lens.

The Yu smartphone will be sold exclusively via Amazon. As the phone will be available only for online purchase, Micromax promises free service and replacements at your doorstep. It also says that the phone's warranty won't become void even after rooting it.

Micromax is said to have a lot invested in the Yu range and has signed an exclusive partnership with Cyanogen to be the only seller of Cyanogen smartphones in India. It recently filed a lawsuit against OnePlus for allegedly infringing upon its exclusive rights over Cyanogen OS.