Hi guys, two weeks ago I ordered Meizu MX4 with Ubuntu Touch (15.04) and yesterday it finally arrived. I’m still discovering all the quirks and features of the OS (and the phone itself), but if you’ve got any questions, I’ll be glad to answer them.
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Never heard of that phone but sorta looks like a Chinese HTC / iPhone hybrid. Whats it like looks wise?
Did it ship with stock or custom android?
It shipped with Ubuntu touch... Hense the name
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Guess that makes sense, photos on amazon looked noting like it though so I just figured he'd put it on himself.
How's the performance? Have you had it long enough to see what battery life is like?
Is the source code available..
Build quality?
Meizu released the MX4 few days before Apple showed iPhone 6 design. Also, the MX3 (year older model) had almost the same design. It ships with either Android with custom FlymeOS ROM, or optionally with Ubuntu 15.04.
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Sweet.
The performance. At first, it was a bit disappointing, but after an update (400+ MB) it's much better. Still not top notch, but Canonical claims, it's gonna get better. From what I heard from BQ Aquaris E4.5 owners, it does get better a lot. It's too early to say for sure, but so far the battery life is similar to Android flagships, even though I would expect a bit better from 3100 mAh.
The source code is mostly available, but there are some Android binary blobs - drivers for the MediaTek CPU.
Hmm mediatek correct me if I'm wrong I've heard that they can be a bit hard to work with compared to say Qualcomm.
Does this version of Ubuntu have the convergence stuff that let's you plug it into a monitor and it switches to PC mode?
Not yet. Mir is not yet ready for that. The hardware is capable of it though, and the feature should be activated by updates in future months.
If you plug it into a computer Ubuntu should cram itself into the host's RAM and use computer's resources to run in full desktop mode. Does it work?
Also can you remove the battery?
Battery is a no apparently.
I don't think you've got the correct idea of convergence. You don't connect the phone to computer. You connect it to display and keyboard and the interface simply changes to full desktop. Ubuntu touch is in itself real Ubuntu, the only difference is that it is running Mir and Unity 8
Batery is non-removable but it seems, that only a few bolts are keeping it in. Might not be such a hassle after all
How is the app selection?
Edit: Seems pretty disappointing: https://uappexplorer.com/
Guess that's to be expected with a new platform though.
That depends... I now have more apps installed on my Ubuntu than on my old Android. It's true, there are hardly any apps per se, but the scopes are great and replace most website (cnet, wired and such) apps. Kodimote, uReadIt and Dekko are top notch and beautiful. Others, like the facebook webapp are barely passable. Having access to full bash is amazing enough to offset the app drought.
Can you connect a USB hub with a mouse and keyboard?
I don't own one. Once I get it, I will try it. I don't see why it wouldn't work, though, I don't really see the point, since the convergence is not yet enabled.
Sorta Old thread but how is it holding up? Do you use it for a daily driver?
Ubuntu's site is completely sold out of them.
Did you do the OTA update it is supposed to add convergence? If so, how is it?
I am genuinely interest in getting one. Want to use it to swap sim card between my Android phone and it
@Tylnesh.