Ubuntu Insiders Hangout - news on new BQ and Meizu Ubuntu Phones.

So guys and gals I've got a lot of news for you! As an Ubuntu Insider we had a Hangout  just a fiew hours agoe and I am going to share with you all the good news Cristian Parrino, Joe Odukoya and Amrisha Prashar shared with us:

So first:

Next week,  on Tuesday 9th June  BQ is going to release a new Ubuntu Phone, the Aquaris E5: http://www.bq.com/gb/aquaris-e5, compared to the E4.5 it will have a bigger screen, better resolution, better camera (5 Mpx on the front one and 14 Mpx on the rear one) and it will be sold directly form BQ's site at 199.90 Euro. There is an article here: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2015/06/bq-aquaris-e5-ubuntu-phone-details with more specs.

Over the next couple of weeks (second, third week of June) we will also have the Meizu MX4 been sold in Europe, it will be sold at 299.99 Euro directly from the Meizu European site, but it won't be easy, to buy it, you will have to go to a special section of the site where you will find and origami wall that includes a couple of hundred of invites a day, you will have to poke around to get an invite to buy a phone. More on it here: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2015/06/meizu-mx4-ubuntu-phone-europe-release-date and here: http://www.meizu.com/en/products/mx4/features.html.

Remember Ubuntu Phone is still a phone for enthusiasts and developers, it's not yet for end users, ecosystem and product maturity are still missing for general consumers, but I am sure that by next year it will be ready also for that target.

Ubuntu Phone will get OTA (Over The Air) monthly updates (probably towards the end of every month), we will get OTA 4 soon, probably next week.

OTA 4 will bring general improvements.

Scopes improvements to understand keywords and tags, aggregating scopes will automatically add scopes tagged with certain categories.

You will be able to personalize scopes and there will also be updated layouts for news scope, for instance.

Web browser will have improved privacy, clearing cache and history,  bottom edge gesture will be much smoother and we will have better search integration.

Address book will have a couple improvements: you will be able to import contacts from your SIM and get a new settings panel.

We will have group chat in messaging so that we will be able to send messages to a number  of people at the same time.

There will also be performance improvements.

More here: https://insights.ubuntu.com/2015/05/29/phone-updates-may/?utm_source=ubunteu&utm_medium=url_shortner&utm_term=5Cb3IV&utm_campaign=shortner.

Here is what to expect in the near future: The apps will have cosmetic changes to work in a convergence world.

There will be the possibility to  add  personalized contents to scopes, it will be easy to add accounts from settings and get your scopes automatically configured.

Syncing will be made smooth and efficient.

There will be improvement of keyboards  to  make it easier to add new keyboard layout.

We will have better media handling, support for playlists in music app and the ability to use them in scopes and have music controls in the indicators.

You will be able to post and share to social media from and directly from scopes, being able to interact and have access with social media.

There will be in line playing of video and audio, you will be able to tap on content from a scope and be able to play and control media from them.

You will have more customization options, add your own scopes to aggregators  order scopes and improvement of positioning of scopes.

You will have more layout options.

Last and not least, looks like in October this year (but it's just a tentative launch date) BQ will launch the first Ubuntu Phone with convergence, more about this here: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2015/06/first-ubuntu-phone-with-convergence-is-being-made-by-bq.

Well I think I told you all I remember was said in the Hangout, even if probaly I missed something as a lot was said.

Stay tuned for more news.