BQ and Canonical has once again collaborated on a new Ubuntu OS running smartphone – the BQ Aquaris E5 HD Ubuntu Edition. The device succeeds the BQ Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition which was announced earlier this year.
“We have devised the BQ-Canonical collaboration as a long term project. Our next objective, which we are already working on, is convergence. We firmly believe in Ubuntu and the philosophy behind it. Working with Canonical on bringing the Aquaris E5 Ubuntu Edition has been very satisfying.
We share the same philosophy as them along with the same commitment to the Open Source Initiative. At BQ, our goal is to help people understand technology, encourage them to use it and inspire them to create it. That´s why the opportunity for creation that Ubuntu affords is fundamentally important to us”
. Alberto Méndez, CEO of BQ said, commenting on the launch.
Moving to the specs, the BQ Aquaris E5 HD Ubuntu Edition is said to be an upgrade over the Aquaris 4.5 Ubuntu Edition; it no features a 5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) IPS Touchscreen display, powered by a quad-core MediaTek Cortex A7 processor clocked at 1.3GHz paired with 1GB of RAM and 16GB space of internal storage.
On the rear there is a 13MP camera with Dual LED flash and a front facing 5MP camera for selfies; overall photo quality is expected to be at least score above average. The device makes use of standard connectivity options such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi but skips on 4G LTE which is slightly disappointing.
The Dual SIM enabled BQ Aquaris E5 HD Ubuntu Edition would be arriving in the market by Mid-June. For now only the European Union countries can purchase the device via BQ’s online store. It is sold unlocked and costs €199.99.
