The Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition is a

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

designed and produced by the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

manufacturer

Meizu Meizu Technology Co., Ltd. () is a Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer based in Zhuhai, Guangdong. Founded in 2003 by Jack Wong, Meizu began as a manufacturer of MP3 players and later MP4 players. In 2008, Meizu moved its focus to smart ...

, which runs on

Ubuntu Touch Ubuntu Touch is a mobile version of the Ubuntu operating system, being developed by the UBports community. Its user interface is written in Qt, and is designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers, ...

. It is a previous

phablet A phablet (, ) is a mobile device combining or straddling the size formats of smartphones and tablets. The word is a portmanteau of ''phone'' and ''tablet''. Phablets feature large displays that complement screen-intensive activity such as mo ...

model of the MX series, representing an alternative edition of the MX4. It is Meizu's first commercially available Ubuntu Touch device and the second commercially available phone with Ubuntu Touch overall. It was unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in March 2015.

History

In November 2014, Meizu and Canonical signed a cooperation agreement, which set the starting point for Meizu to release devices running on Ubuntu Touch. In February 2015, Meizu confirmed that there will be an Ubuntu Touch-based version of the Meizu MX4 and that it will be showcased at Mobile World Congress 2015. At the Mobile World Congress in March 2015, Meizu has presented the Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition, which is an alternative version of the MX4 running on

, becoming the second commercially available device on this platform.

Release

The Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition was released through an invite-only system on the European market on June 25, 2015.

Features

Ubuntu Touch

The MX4 Ubuntu Edition is running Ubuntu Touch, which is a mobile operating system based on the

Ubuntu linux Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed mostly of free and open-source software. Ubuntu is officially released in three editions: '' Desktop'', ''Server'', and ''Core'' for Internet of things devices and robots. Al ...

distribution developed by

Canonical The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean "according to the canon" the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, "canonical examp ...

. Its goal is to provide a free and open-source mobile operating system and deliver a different approach to user experience by focusing on so-called “scopes” instead of traditional apps.

Hardware and design

The technical specifications and outer appearance of the MX4 Ubuntu Edition is identical with the Meizu MX4. The Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition features a MediaTek MT6595

system-on-a-chip A system on a chip or system-on-chip (SoC ; pl. ''SoCs'' ) is an integrated circuit that integrates most or all components of a computer or other electronic system. These components almost always include a central processing unit (CPU), memory ...

with an array of four

ARM In human anatomy, the arm refers to the upper limb in common usage, although academically the term specifically means the upper arm between the glenohumeral joint (shoulder joint) and the elbow joint. The distal part of the upper limb between th ...

Cortex-A17 The ARM Cortex-A17 is a 32-bit processor core implementing the ARMv7-A architecture, licensed by ARM Holdings. Providing up to four cache-coherent cores, it serves as the successor to the Cortex-A9 and replaces the previous ARM Cortex-A12 spe ...

and four Cortex-A7 CPU cores, a PowerVR G6200

GPU A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed to manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display device. GPUs are used in embedded systems, mobi ...

and 3 GB of

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

. The MX4 Ubuntu Edition is only available in with 16 GB of internal storage and with a champagne gold body. The body of the MX4 Ubuntu Edition features a metal frame and measures x x and weighs . It has a slate form factor, being rectangular with rounded corners. The MX4 Ubuntu Edition features a 5.36-inch

AMOLED AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode, ) is a type of OLED display device technology. OLED describes a specific type of thin-film-display technology in which organic compounds form the electroluminescent material, and active matrix ...

multi-touch capacitive touchscreen display with a FHD resolution of 1152 by 1920 pixels. The pixel density of the display is 403 ppi. In addition to the touchscreen input and the front key, the device has volume/zoom control buttons and the power/lock button on the right side, a 3.5mm TRS audio jack on the top and a microUSB (Micro-B type) port on the bottom for charging and connectivity. The Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition has two cameras. The rear camera has a resolution of 20.7 MP, a ƒ/2.2 aperture, a 5-element lens, laser-aided phase-detection autofocus and an LED flash. The front camera has a resolution of 2 MP, a ƒ/2.0 aperture and a 4-element lens.

Reception

The MX4 Ubuntu Edition received generally positive reviews. ZDNet gave the MX4 a rating of 8.0 out of 10 possible points and mentioned that “the Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition offers a number of high-end hardware features at relatively low cost”. TechRadar stated that “Ubuntu Phone has plenty of potential” and praised the build quality, design and powerful specifications of the device.

References

External links

Official product page
Meizu
Official product page
Ubuntu {{Meizu, smartphones=yes, MP3=yes Ubuntu Touch devices Mobile phones introduced in 2015 Meizu smartphones Mobile phones with 4K video recording Discontinued smartphones