Another Ubuntu phone, the Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition, has been made available in Europe – but you’ll have to jump through a few hoops to secure one.
Canonical finally delivered the first smartphone powered by the Linux-based Ubuntu OS earlier this year. It swiftly followed up on the launch of the BQ Aquarius E4.5 with news of a follow-up, the Aquaris E5 HD Ubuntu Edition, which will also be made by Spain’s BQ.
But it’s not just BQ that’s making Ubuntu phones. Back in March we went hands-on with the Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition, an altogether more capable handset from an established Chinese manufacturer.
The Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition has been available to developers in China for a couple of months now, but we’ve just learned of its European availability starting from tomorrow.
You’ll need to secure an invite if you want to snag one, though. This involves going to the Meizu website and clicking through an “interactive origami wall” to obtain information on the phone. Only a limited number of daily invites will be released in this way, however.
The Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition itself offers a 5.36-inch 1920 x 1152 display, a MediaTek octa-core processor with 2GB of RAM, and a 20.7-megapixel camera sourced from Sony. It’s all backed by a decent-sized 3100mAh battery.
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But the main appeal of this phone, of course, lies in its OS. Ubuntu is notable for effectively scrapping the established app-driven way of doing things. It runs apps written in either HTML5 or QML, rendering them as swipable widgets called ‘Scopes’ rather than walled-off programs.
If you manage to get through the unusual invite process (which should be possible with a little persistence), the Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition will cost you €299, which works out to around £212.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.