Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition
A different kind of smartphone – but not in a good way
If you want a smartphone, you have only a few proprietary operating systems to pick from – Apple’s IOS, Google’s Android, Blackberry or Microsoft’s Windows Phone (soon to be Windows 10 Mobile). Here’s an alternative: Ubuntu Phone, based on the open-source Linux.
The first Ubuntu mobile, the BQ Aquaris, was poor. This second one is based on Meizu’s MX4, previously an Android phone. It’s a good-looking phone with a large, sharp screen, slightly broader than Full HD, and a decent 20.7- megapixel camera.
But even basic features are few and far between. While phone calls and texting are built in, email needs a third-party app. And Ubuntu’s app store just can’t compete with Apple or Google. Facebook and Twitter are supported, but Whatsapp only has an unofficial app, which is fiddly to install. You can get Cut the Rope, but not Candy Crush.
Besides apps, Ubuntu Phone has ‘scopes’, which are screens that show information from a particular source – BBC News, for example – or of related types. Their neat simplicity will encourage more services to support them, but doesn’t make up for failings like the dismal Here Maps app. There’s no equivalent of Apple’s itunes Store or Google Play, and we found transferring our own music or video files tricky from a PC and impossible from a Mac.
Despite powerful hardware, the software doesn’t run smoothly. The battery can last more than a day in light use but lessss than half a dayday playing video or games, and the phone gets really hot. We wouldn’t buy it. Nor should you.
Portable document printers aren’t cheap. Canon’s Pixma ip110 (£205 from www.snipca. com/17788, pictured) is probably the
Aclosest to what you want: it prints in full colour and is compact, weighing 2.2kg. There’s also a pricier version with a rechargeable battery (£234 from www. snipca.com/17789). HP’S Officejet 100 (£150 from www.snipca.com/17785) includes a battery at a lower price, but is bulkier and doesn’t work with ipads.
Black-and-white portable printers tend to be very expensive. Brother makes the most compact thermal printers, but they start at £400 ( www.snipca.com/17787).
Pocket photo printers cost £75-125, but
their special paper cartridges are expensive and, as you say, only really suited to photos. Canon’s Selphy CP910 (£79 from www.snipca. com/17786) uses ordinary paper and supports both PCS and tablets (though users report that it won’t work wirelessly with Windows 8 or higher), but it’s still limited to postcard size and only runs from the mains.