First Ubuntu phone to launch next week – report

Want a smartphone but wary of the iPhone and various Android and Windows Phone devices? The long wait could be over.

 

Canonical, creator of the free open-source Ubuntu Linux operating system, may launch the first Ubuntu smartphone this coming week, a tech site reported.

 

PC World said the BQ Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu edition will go on sale but initially via “flash sales” with limited availability.

 

Ubuntu said the new phone will be availabe in London and Madrid starting Feb. 9.
 

"Canonical is promising apps from Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, Evernote, and Amazon, among others. Some will be native Ubuntu apps, while others will be based on HTML5. If any of this sounds interesting, Canonical says it will announce the flash sales through the Ubuntu Twitter, Facebook and Google+ pages starting next week," PC World said.

 

While it said winning users over may not be easy, the launch is a big deal for Canonical, which is trying to crack into mobile for the first time.

 

PC World said the new phone may cost 169.90 Euros, or about $190.

 

But it won't be too impressive, PC World said. The phone will have a 4.5-inch display with 540-by-960 resolution, a 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek chip, 8GB of storage with MicroSD expansion.

 

It will also sport 1GB RAM, and a 5-megapixel camera as well as dual SIM slots, but will not support 4G LTE networks.

 

The interface has themed panels called “Scopes” for news, music, videos, contacts, and nearby points of interest. — Joel Locsin/JDS, GMA News