World's first Ubuntu phone gets unboxed, operating system's 'scopes' showcased

15comments
World's first Ubuntu phone gets unboxed, operating system's 'scopes' showcased
Last week Spanish BQ and Canonical announced the Aquaris E4.5 – the first ever smartphone to run on the mobile version of Ubuntu OS – at an event in London. Costing just €170 unlocked, the device is pretty affordable, and is expected to go on a flash sale later today through a website that will be announced on the @Ubuntu and @bqreaders Twitter handles. A recent unboxing video, courtesy of YouTube user Jordan Keyes, takes us a on a quick tour of the device.

Recommended For You

As you can imagine, €170 won't get you a whole lot. The Aquaris E4.5 has 4.5-inch display with a qHD resolution of 540 x 960 pixels and Dragontrail glass for protection, an unnamed MediaTek processor clocked at 1.3GHz (we're guessing the MT6582), 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel rear camera with two LED flashes, and a generous 5-megapixel selfie shooter at the front. The phone will ship with just 8 gigs of internal storage, but thankfully, you'll be able to expand with up to 32GB more via a microSD card.

Recommended For You

The Aquaris E4.5 is no head-turner, either. In fact, it's rather generic-looking, especially considering its chunky bezels all around the display. The interesting part, really, is the software loaded on it, though Canonical will obviously have a lot of trouble driving developer interest for its platform, which, as we all know, makes or brakes a mobile OS. In any case, the video goes through the so-called 'scopes' available right from the homescreen, which serve as sort of feeds filtered by category. We therefore have a dedicated homescreen for just video or photos streams, and a few others including news and 'nearby'. 

Take a look.

Video Thumbnail

Get Visible as low as $20/mo for 1 year. Limited time offer with code: FRESHSTART

$20 /mo
$25
$5 off (20%)
Offer Ends 6.1.2026 at 11.59pm ET. New members get $5/mo off the $25/mg Visible plan, $35/mo Visible+ plan, or $45/mo Visible+ Pro plan for the first 12 months. Promo code FRESHSTART required at checkout.
Buy at Visible
Google News Follow
Follow us on Google News

Recommended For You

COMMENTS (15)
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless