Meizu MX4
Meizu's Flyme 4.0 powered MX4, that recently went up for international pre-ordering. Meizu

After Chinese smartphone brand Xiaomi, often referred to as the 'iPhone Killer' and 'Apple of China', managed to outdo big technology names such as Apple and Samsung, another Chinese brand Meizu is now being touted as Xiaomi's replacement with respect to posing intense competition to well-known technology biggies across the globe.

Also, going by Bai Yongxiang's (CEO and President of Meizu) recent statement that his company received 7.7 million pre-orders for the MX4 (another Meizu smartphone), the brand, at least on paper, looks capable of following in Xiaomi's footsteps.

Now, in yet another new development, Meizu and Canonical have signed a deal, to develop and release Ubuntu-powered high-end Meizu MX4 smartphones.

These open-source smartphones are expected to hit European markets during the earlier part of 2015, according to a GSMArena report that quotes a reliable Chinese portal.

The USP of the Ubuntu-driven Meizu MX4 should be the Ubuntu Touch that is expected to be implemented on top of the Meizu Flyme operating platform.

Ubuntu Touch brings across a uniform kernel and base application set, both of which yield a cross-application platform.

The cross-platform support promises a uniform user experience on both large-screen desktop devices as well as smaller display-clad mobile devices.

So, in theory, Ubuntu Touch should allow for apps to run on larger screens, after being launched from a future smartphone (likely Meizu's MX4 device).

Once official, the above aspect should add a touch of greater functionality to Meizu's MX4, in comparison to conventional Android and iOS devices.

Currently, the technical aspects of Meizu's Ubuntu powered MX4 have not surfaced, but these aspects should be identical to the already existing Flyme 4.0 OS driven MX4.

Meizu's MX4 currently incorporates the following technical specifications:

  • 5.36in display, with 1920 x1152 resolution, enclosed within Gorilla Glass 3
  • Meizu Flyme 4.0 operating system
  • Octa-core MediaTek 6595 chipset
  • 20.7MP rear camera, and a 2Mp front camera
  • 2GB RAM
  • 16GB/32GB/64GB internal storage variants (out of which, the 16GB and 32GB are currently up for pre-ordering)
  • 4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi and microUSB connectivity

The near £287 ($450) price-tag of the Meizu MX4 seems to go with the tech-specs of the device. Meizu MX4 may not be your perfect 'value for money' smartphone at £287 ($450), but the device looks capable of challenging high-end devices.

Recommended for You