NEW DELHI: After being introduced earlier this year in European countries, the first Ubuntu phones are now been announced in India. A Spanish manufacturer, BQ has unveiled its Aquaris E4.5 and Aquaris E5 HD smartphones in India with the price tag of Rs. 11,999 and Rs. 13,499, respectively. The firm has reported that these handsets will be available in Black and White color variants, exclusively at e-commerce retailer, Snapdeal by the end of the month.
“The success we have seen with the Aquaris E4.5 and E5 Ubuntu Editions in Europe has precipitated this follow-on launch with Snapdeal in India”, remarks German Lopez, COO of Spanish handset manufacturer BQ. “Snapdeal has proven to be an ideal launch partner given its fervent commitment to introducing exclusive and novel products to the Indian market, to ensure customers get a broad and differentiated choice”.
BQ Aquaris E4.5
The BQ Aquaris E4.5 features a 4.5-inch qHD display with 540×960 pixels of resolution and 240 ppi of pixel density. It is powered by 1.3 GHz Quad-Core MediaTek Cortex A-7 chipset, which is integrated with a Mali 400 GPU and 1 GB of RAM. Moreover, the 8-megapixel camera placed at back of the handset captures images like a 13-megapixel camera, similarly, the 5-megapixel of front facing camera manages to capture selfies like an 8-megapixel camera, all thanks goes to ‘picture-stitching technology’ applied to the smartphone.
The smartphone also offers Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, 3G (HSPA+), GPS/ A-GPS, Micro-USB with OTG, and FM radio as connectivity options.
On storage front, the manufacturer has provided an 8 GB of onboard storage to the device that can be expandable up to 32 GB by using a microSD card. The BQ Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition measures 137x67x9mm, weighs 123 grams, is fueled with a 2150mAh Li-Po battery.
BQ Aquaris E5 HD
As the name describes, the BQ Aquaris E5 HD Ubuntu OS running smartphone is fronted with a 5-inch HD display, along with a 5-megapixel user-facing camera for video chats. Meanwhile, it is backed with a 13-megapixel primary image capturing tool with dual-LED flash and a BSI sensor and Largan lens; and a 2500 mAh of battery, under the hood.
The OS and apps running over it are supported by a 1.3 GHz quad-core MediaTek processor that is paired with a 1GB of RAM. Featuring a 16 GB of internal storage the storage capacity can be expandable up to 32 GB by using a microSD card.
On connectivity front, the handset comes with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, 3G (HSPA+), GPS/ A-GPS, Micro-USB, and FM radio as options. It the measures 142x71x8.6mm, weighs 134 grams.
Ubuntu OS
The Ubuntu OS (formerly known as Ubuntu Touch) is a mobile version of the Ubuntu operating system developed by Canonical UK Ltd and Ubuntu Community. It is designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. Utilizing libhybris the system can often be used with Linux kernels used in Android, which makes it easily ported to most recent Android smartphones.
The OS enables the phone to get turned on without necessarily unlocking it with lock screen as applications will unlock if needed. The center of the “Welcome Screen” is a visualization of activity on the device. It shows your status and recent events on the welcome screen, completed with an animated design around the circle.
