Aquaris E4.5: The first Ubuntu phone

The world’s first Ubuntu phone will be the Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition, Canonical recently announced.

It will be available in Europe via BQ.com for €169.90 through a series of “flash sales” over the coming weeks, Canonical said.

A date, time, and URL for the first flash sales will be announced through the official Ubuntu Twitter account, the BQ Twitter account, as well as through the Ubuntu Google+ and Ubuntu Facebook pages.

Canonical said the Ubuntu phone operating system will include edge interactions — similar to those in BlackBerry 10 — and introduce “Scopes”.

Referring to the current smartphone application norms as “hackneyed”, Canoncial said Ubuntu Scopes would not bury content and services in multiple apps that are shown in an icon grid.

“Scopes are a reinvention of the mobile UI, presenting a new way to rapidly and visually access the most important digital life services — music, social, web, local services, photos, etc. — directly on the home screen,” Canonical said.

The Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition is dual-SIM and network unlocked.

Operators such as 3 Sweden, amena.com in Spain, giffgaff in the UK, and Portugal Telecom will offer SIM bundles in their regions, according to Canonical.

Screenshots of the operating system are shown below, along with a table displaying the device’s key specifications.

Specifications	Aquaris E4.5
Maker	BQ
Operating system	Ubuntu Phone
Display	4.5″ qHD (540×960)
Rear camera	8MP
Front camera	5MP
Storage, internal	8GB
RAM	1GB
Processor	1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek