vissha Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 A New Ubuntu Phone Is In Development References to a 'new handset' spotted in recent bug report Quote Midori is the name of a nimble WebKit-based web browser — but might it also be the codename for a new Ubuntu Phone? According to some recent chatter on the Ubuntu Touch IRC and on Launchpad, it could well be. Reader Richard S — and big thanks to you Richard! — pointed us to bug http://www.anonymz.com/?https://bugs.launchpad.net/telegram-app/+bug/1551811. This bug mentions the device codename ‘Midori’ with regards to a ‘trust prompt’ issue that causes a reboot on the MX4 and the mystery new handset. Later on in the bug report Pat McGowan, Director of Engineering at Canonical, says: “This will block midori rc”. RC is the Release Candidate channel for Ubuntu Touch images. A quick Google shows that the codename ‘Midori’ is in keeping with the codenames of previous Ubuntu devices, as it is, is once again, based on a character from the Dragon Ball franchise: Krillin Bq Aquaris E4.5 Arale Meizu MX4 Vegeta Bq Aquaris E5 Turbo Meizu PRO 5 Frieza Bq Aquaris M10 HD Cooler Bq Aquaris M10 FHD Midori Currently Unknown Using these codenames we can — with thanks to Stormflut for the deduction — guess that Meizu is the OEM of the new device, as: Quote “Midori Norimaki is a Dr. Slump character like Arale (MX4) and Turbo (PRO 5). She appears in Dragonball too, but only when the two universes meet, so she is not a true Dragonball character.” Evidence that this is a new phone (as opposed to a new tablet) is gleaned by some chitter-chatter on the #ubuntu-touch IRC channel. There, in a chat on June 21, Canonical Software Engineer Tony Espy make reference to “a new handset”: Quote we're working on a fairly large ofono change at the moment for a new handset so we expect to land a new version of ofono soon although not before the freeze for OTA12 Is this ‘new handset’ the ‘Midori’ device mentioned further up? Time will tell… A New Device Is Expected My usual Ubuntu Touch sources had told me that a new handset was ‘incoming’ but were unable to reveal much more. I had expected the new phone to be the reason for Canonical’s sudden press call a few weeks back (where, evidently, it wasn’t). Richard who tipped us sums up the situation as it stands: “I know these aren’t bullet proof facts, but I think Midori is a codename for a new phone. Maybe a Meizu one…”. We’ll carry on digging to find out as much as we can on this mystery new device and update you as soon as possible. But I should remind you that not all devices that get tested and/or used in Ubuntu phone development go on to a commercial release. For now treat this as rumor rather than fact. Source Does This Photo Show a New Ubuntu Phone? Quote We’ve been passed a photo that purports to show the ‘mystery’ new Ubuntu Phone we reported on yesterday. Our tipster didn’t have much to say about the image other than it originates from an ‘Ubuntu phone community developer’. We’re not entirely sure what to make of it — scroll down to see why — and the dearth of info to accompany it makes it hard to verify what it might be from. But there are a few things we can glean from it, so speculation hats at the ready, folks. Updated with a second, clearer image. Pixelated Leaked Image The image you can see below is what was passed to us. And it does, clearly, show an Ubuntu device of some sort running a converged Unity 8 desktop experience on an external monitor. As you’ll notice, the handset itself has been pixelated out. Why? No idea; perhaps it’s to amp up the intrigue. Either way the distortion is (a) annoying and (b) makes it much harder to attempt to gauge anything important about the device. Is one that’s already on the market? What sort of physical features does it have? Etc. We can see a handset — phablet or mobile, rather than tablet — driving an external display, presumably via the Aethercast wireless display support that debuted in OTA-11 for the Meizu PRO 5 as no connected cables are visible. The phone or phablet screen doubles up as a touchpad/trackpad in this converged mode, so we can definitely say the screen is running off of the handset. Second Image A second, clearer image of the mystery new device has been shared by Twitter user @xstex, who cites his source as saying the phone is by Meizu and is expected in mid-July. This image shows the handset unobscured. Other Clues If you look closely at the converged Unity 8 desktops you can see the Ubuntu Weather app running. This shows that whosoever desk it is, they are in Shanghai, home to one of Canonical’s two China offices. We can also take a haphazard guess as to its possible proportions. The Logitech K380 Bluetooth keyboard that the phone sits behind is roughly around 11-inches long. Allowing for perspective I quickly guesstimate that phone is larger than the 5-inch mark. The Meizu PRO 5 has a 5.7-inch screen. The Meizu PRO 6 has a 5.2-inch display. The Meizu m3 Note has a 5.5-inch screen. From what we’ve been able to gather from the scant details available ‘Midori’ uses an Android 6.0 BSP. This would rule out Meizu’s Android 5.x Lollipop devices, like the Meizu Note 3. Source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.