The second Ubuntu-powered smartphone is launching this month

Canonical may have struggled to launch its first Ubuntu-powered smartphone of the year, with two years of delays, but the next smartphone won’t take nearly as long to launch. Known as the Aquaris E5 HD Ubuntu Edition, Canonical’s second Ubuntu-powered smartphone is expected to launch sometime this month, and will pack some specs that are far more impressive than its predecessor, though still nowhere near flagship levels. 

Canonical, the creator of the Ubuntu operating system, took a long two years to get its first smartphone to market after first detailing its plans in 2013. Its next phone won’t take anywhere near that long. Canonical today announced that the second Ubuntu phone — the Aquaris E5 HD Ubuntu Edition — is coming in mid-June, only four months after the Aquaris E4.5 UE saw release. Like its predecessor, the new device is being built by Spanish manufacturer BQ, but Canonical promises the Aquaris E5 HD features some improvements over its older sibling. Primary amongst these is the larger screen. Where Canonical’s first phone had an underwhelming 4.5-inch screen capable of qHD resolution (540 x 960), the Aquaris E5 HD Ubuntu Edition houses a 5-inch IPS HD display, working at a resolution of 720 x 1280. While there’s no LTE capability and the newer Aquaris uses the same MediaTek 1.3GHz quad-core chip as before, the phone comes with more built-in storage: 16GB to the E4.5 HD’s 8GB. It also boasts two cameras — one 5-megapixel on the front, and one 13-megapixel on the rear — and two SIM slots so users can switch between two different operators.