Ubuntu Phone Goes on Sale Next Week at €169

[johnkora]

Hardware
We’ve also covered the hardware of the Aquaris E4.5 a lot, so I’m sure most of you are well aware of its ins and outs by now. To recap the specifications:

4.5-inch screen (qHD resolution @ 540×960)
1.3 GHz Quad Core ARM Cortex A7 (MediaTek)
Mali 400 GPU @ 500 MHz (MediaTek)
8GB eMMC Storage (plus MicroSD card slot)
1GB RAM
2150 mAh Battery
Dual micro-SIM
8MP rear camera
I know: it’s hardly a beast of a phone, and far from being the ‘PC in your pocket’ that so many Ubuntu enthusiasts want. The lack of 4G will cause some to sneer, too.

But as firsts go — and one really shouldn’t forget how hard it is to get a device launched in a market so complacent with its victors — it does all it needs to.

Based on a few (rather gleeful) hours of playing with the device (admittedly hardly enough time to write a full review) it is a capable conduit for the Ubuntu Phone experience and what it’s trying to achieve — i.e., beyond apps, information at your fingertips, etc.

watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dpfHYpfEXY

[Ashly vincent]

The Ubuntu Phone is now on sale in Europe

At long last, the wait is finally over. The first Ubuntu-powered Smartphone’s first flash sale was on February 11 2015 in Europe on Spanish mobile manufacturer BQ’s site. The Phone Sells Out During First Flash Sale. The BQ Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition is available for around $195(about 12158 Indian Rupee). To recap, it features a 4.5-inch display, 1.3GHz MediaTek quad-core processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB storage, an 8-megapixel rear camera, 5 Mp front camera, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 ,2150 mAh battery dual-SIM slots and MicroSD support.
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What is Ubuntu phone?
Canonical is arriving late to the Smartphone and tablet party, but says this is an advantage since it has seen the success of Android and will be able to build upon it. Building upon it means producing a mobile operating system that puts the content you like most at your fingertips. Instead of grids of icons, which Canonical says are outdated, apps and content will be prioritized by 'scopes'. By the looks of it, these are very much like the carousel of recent content that you get on a Kindle Fire tablet.
Plus, when you swipe in from the left, you'll get a quick launcher full of your favorite apps. And, in a similar minimalist fashion to Windows 8, context-sensitive options are hidden off-screen until you swipe up from the bottom, leaving more room for the apps themselves. This isn't a success in Windows, as it's simply confusing, but it might work better on a smaller screen.
One of the big differences between Ubuntu phone and Android, iOS and other mobile operating systems is that it's designed to work like a desktop OS when connected to a big screen. Instead of mirroring the screen when you plug in an HDMI cable, you'll dock your phone with a monitor, keyboard and mouse and get a mouse pointer so you can use the OS like Ubuntu on a PC or laptop.