Chinese smartphone maker Meizu plans to unveil its first phone running Ubuntu software at Mobile World Congress next week.

That will make Meizu the second company to launch a smartphone running the mobile version of Canonical’s Linux-based operating system. BQ launched a limited number of Aquaris E4.5 smartphones with Ubuntu earlier this month.

meizu mx4 ubuntu edition

While BQ is loading Ubuntu on a mid-range smartphone, Meizu’s first Ubuntu phone will be an alternate version of the company’s latest flagship device.

Meizu first announced plans to ship an Ubuntu phone almost exactly a year ago, but the operating system wasn’t ready for prime time yet. That means the first Meizu phone with Ubuntu will be the MX4 smartphone rather than the older MX3.

The Meizu MX4 features a 5.36 inch full HD display, a MediaTek MT6595 octa-core processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 20.7MP camera. The Android version of the phone sells for $449 and up. Meizu hasn’t yet announced a price for the Ubuntu version.

via @Meizu (1) (2)

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7 replies on “Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition smartphone coming to MWC 2015”

  1. I don’t like that it looks like an iPhone 6, but I like Ubuntu Touch. I could at least live with this design, because it is a viable design for a smartphone.

    1. FWIW I reckon Canonical are attempting to dispel Apple’s myth about the need for millions of apps. For 99% of the time, most of us use around a dozen or so apps accross all our devices. For the other 1% of the time of course a particular app is desirable if not absolutely vital.

      Scopes do a lot of the things many apps do, only better, since they can source data from more than one place. They’re easier (& therefore cheaper) to build than apps. And we’re already seeing non-coders building and sharing their own, which is very exciting.

      But the other thing is, since the OS code’s the same, all the apps already available for Ubuntu desktop just need (!) a bit of modification to make them work on phones and tablets.

      Still need that essential app? Well Canonical have said that translating an Android app to work on Ubuntu isn’t that big a deal for developers. So as Ubuntu for phones takes off, maybe coders will start doing that too.

    1. I don’t think so, but Canonical is working on getting apps ported to Ubuntu Touch.

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