Aquarius E4.5: The First Ubuntu Smartphone Announced!
If you are a fan of open source platforms like Linux, then here might be a good news for you. UK based computer software company Canonical, announced yesterday on 6th February that they will go ahead with the sales of the first Ubuntu Smartphone Aquarius E4.5 from Monday next week. Although, technically the first Ubuntu phone appeared in MWC 2014, made by Chinese company Meizu, however since there is no sign of Meizu MX3 from then, Aquarius E4.5 is the first phone that will actually come out in the market.
Going straight to the Ubuntu features, one USP for the phone will be Scopes. Scopes are reinvention of mobile interface. They are like a full-screen card which will show details about the relative services on phones or the apps that you are using. For instance, a Social Scope will show all the apps that will come pre-installed with the OS like Facebook and Twitter and the one the user has manually installed, for example the Telegram app. The user can go in-depth into each app via Scopes. Also, the user can set any Scope as the default screen which will show up when the user uses the phone. By using Scopes, Canonical wishes to attract developers because it said that developing Scopes by using its toolkit will be easier than developing the apps.
Canonical has assured that the phone will support the all traditional apps like Facebook, Twitter, eBay, Yelp, Amazon etc. The only negative here is that right now there is no support for the market dominant WhatsApp. There have been no promises by Canonical about its availability and right now will try to replenish the gap by the Telegram app. The phone will run on Ubuntu Touch and Ubuntu 15.04. Canonical are trying to implement the same OS both across PCs and phones as they said that in the imminent future, there might come a time when both the desktop app and the phone app will run on same code.
Now for the specs of the phone. The phone has a 4.5 inch wide IPS-LCD screen with a resolution of 960x540 pixels. It will work on 1.3 GHz Quad Core ARM Cortex-A7 processor. The phone will have 1 GB RAM and 8 GB of flash storage which can be expanded using the available microSD card slot. It will have an 8 MP rear camera with flash and autofocus and a 5 MP front camera. It will have the ability to record full HD videos. The phone will be dual sim both of which will be unlocked allowing the users to connect to their current networks easily. The only colour it is available in right now is black.
In a market inundated with smartphones belonging to big players like Android and Apple, Aquarius E4.5 has to do something different to get noticed. Canonical has naturally realized this and they will sell the phone via a website called #-Link-Snipped-# in multiple flash sales in upcoming months. With only a limited number of sales at a time, it is obvious that Canonical is trying to go for the word-of-mouth publicity. Right now, the phones will go on sales just in parts of Europe at the price of €169.90. It is possible that the price will vary with time. For more updates about the release, you can follow Ubuntu’s #-Link-Snipped-#page.
Source: #-Link-Snipped-#| Via: First Ubuntu smartphone, Aquaris E4.5, launches into cluttered mobile market | ZDNET
Going straight to the Ubuntu features, one USP for the phone will be Scopes. Scopes are reinvention of mobile interface. They are like a full-screen card which will show details about the relative services on phones or the apps that you are using. For instance, a Social Scope will show all the apps that will come pre-installed with the OS like Facebook and Twitter and the one the user has manually installed, for example the Telegram app. The user can go in-depth into each app via Scopes. Also, the user can set any Scope as the default screen which will show up when the user uses the phone. By using Scopes, Canonical wishes to attract developers because it said that developing Scopes by using its toolkit will be easier than developing the apps.
Canonical has assured that the phone will support the all traditional apps like Facebook, Twitter, eBay, Yelp, Amazon etc. The only negative here is that right now there is no support for the market dominant WhatsApp. There have been no promises by Canonical about its availability and right now will try to replenish the gap by the Telegram app. The phone will run on Ubuntu Touch and Ubuntu 15.04. Canonical are trying to implement the same OS both across PCs and phones as they said that in the imminent future, there might come a time when both the desktop app and the phone app will run on same code.
Now for the specs of the phone. The phone has a 4.5 inch wide IPS-LCD screen with a resolution of 960x540 pixels. It will work on 1.3 GHz Quad Core ARM Cortex-A7 processor. The phone will have 1 GB RAM and 8 GB of flash storage which can be expanded using the available microSD card slot. It will have an 8 MP rear camera with flash and autofocus and a 5 MP front camera. It will have the ability to record full HD videos. The phone will be dual sim both of which will be unlocked allowing the users to connect to their current networks easily. The only colour it is available in right now is black.
In a market inundated with smartphones belonging to big players like Android and Apple, Aquarius E4.5 has to do something different to get noticed. Canonical has naturally realized this and they will sell the phone via a website called #-Link-Snipped-# in multiple flash sales in upcoming months. With only a limited number of sales at a time, it is obvious that Canonical is trying to go for the word-of-mouth publicity. Right now, the phones will go on sales just in parts of Europe at the price of €169.90. It is possible that the price will vary with time. For more updates about the release, you can follow Ubuntu’s #-Link-Snipped-#page.
Source: #-Link-Snipped-#| Via: First Ubuntu smartphone, Aquaris E4.5, launches into cluttered mobile market | ZDNET
Replies
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Ankita KatdareThis is a wonderful, wonderful news. Thank you for this post. Wondering if the phone has a chance to really take off, because both Firefox OS phone and Jolla's Sailfish OS made a lot of noise when they first arrived, but haven't sadly been able to flourish.
What's your take folks? #-Link-Snipped-# #-Link-Snipped-# #-Link-Snipped-# #-Link-Snipped-# -
Abhishek Rawal169 Euro = 11865 INR, which is one decent price for unlocked device. Ubuntu is using binary blobs and I ain't going to bitch about it as at current state it is necessity if one OS wants to make use of all capabilities of SoC. Even jolla has closed drivers.
Sad part is Canonical is not hardware manufacturer hence they don't have control over SoC which OEMs gonna use. So Ubuntu fanboys bickering about MediaTek SoC use in Ubuntu device is pretty non-sense.
This OS is the shit! I mean the good shit (read awesome). I have used Ubuntu Touch on Nexus 4 and it has got potential to dethrone other mobile OS. Problem is Canonical ain't filthy rich like Google, MS or Apple. Thus I am afraid that Ubuntu touch will meet same fate as Jolla. But Canonical (or say Ubuntu) has much more fan following than Jolla, which could be the reason of success.
I just hope Canonical earn enough amount of money that they can develop their own hardware. -
Abhishek Rawal
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Programmerssits nice but does android apps are supported
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Anoop KumarFinally the wait is over. I wish they would have come with serious performance device to perform phone/PC at the same time.
![[IMG]](proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fassets.ubuntu.com%2Fsites%2Fubuntu%2F1291%2Fu%2Fimg%2Fphone%2Foperators-and-oems%2Fimage-phone-convergence.jpg&hash=30a433c5ed6c505c4e2e76ac24675536)
Imagine a Note4 running on Ubuntu Phone, which just able to support MS office apps. Corporates will welcome this with open heart.
Also for regular users, it is basic need to support all social apps, and super fluid UI.
Let's hope for the best.
But above device given is not much appealing either in specifications term or app support.
I see there is no physical button. Not good guys. -
Abhishek RawalWell, what you're saying is of 'Ubuntu for Android'. It was a time when Android and Ubuntu were sharing same kernel and used chroot to use Ubuntu OS on top of Android. Inshort, Ubuntu for Android is ubuntu desktop running on Android and when you dock the device, you can use as PC.
While, Ubuntu Touch is totally different. Docking Ubuntu Touch won't give you Ubuntu OS on PC. It's entire different OS. -
Anoop KumarNope, I am not talking about Ubuntu for Android,
#-Link-Snipped-#
Scroll to somewhere middle. The above phones is not the forked version the Ubuntu OS? -
Abhishek RawalNow that is interesting. Thanks for share 👍
But convergence will take some more time. Mir on desktop ain't ready yet. -
Anoop Kumarupdate convergence preview . Superphone
You are reading an archived discussion.
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