The First Ubuntu Phones are Here: Available on Snapdeal

Canonical and BQ have had introduced the BQ Aquaris E4.5 and Aquaris E5 in February and June, respectively, but it was available only in the Europe. Now, they have launched it in India partnering with the online retailer Snapdeal. The low-end device comes at a price of Rs 11,999, and the big brother comes at a price of Rs 13,999 (but it is listed as Rs 13,499).

The Aquaris E4.5 sports a 4.5 inch IPS display with a resolution of 540x960, a rear camera with 8 MP and an LED flash and a selfie shooter of 5MP. The thing is powered with a 1.3 GHz Mediatek Quadcore Cortex-A7 processor and 1GB RAM. The internal memory is 8 GB and can be expandable up to 32 GB.

The Aquaris E5 comes with a 5 inch IPS HD display and 1 GB RAM. The processor and front facing camera are similar to that of its sibling. It sports an auto focus rear camera of 8MP with LED flash. It has 16 GB ROM and both the mobiles are powered by 2500 mAh Li-Po battery and have two slim slots. And they support 2G and 3G but not 4G.

Many would have doubts in buying these mobiles as the specifications are pretty mediocre and the price is nearly double what other big players like Motorola, Xiaomi and Micromax, to name a few, offers in the Indian market right now. Here is the deal. Ubuntu touch is an OS that has a different approach towards mobile technology. It offers you Scopes. To know more about what Scopes are click here. With scopes you don't have to leave your homepage to get ahold of news or your favourite content. And Ubuntu is offering Indian-specific contents, as of now Bollywood news, NDTV, etc., but this list will evolve over time. Last but not the least, the most important reason for me, and many more, is that we have got bored and frustrated with Android and other mobiles, and we always like a change. The other reasons are listed here. Go get yours now.

The Day I Tried On a 19K Rupees Watch: Blur, EA, and Elliot's Beach

It was a bright Sunday morning when I woke up at 7:00. Dad has already left for some place and Mom was cooking, as usual. It happened to be the Avani Avittam weekend, so I had to do the 1008 Gayathri Japam and I was aware of it. Still it's a Sunday and like every other office goers I was also lazy to do it. But then it was the day I promised to meet one of my best friends from college and so I hurried to the bathroom. It was 8:15 when I started the Sandhyavandanam. I had chosen a place that at first appeared to be shaded but even before I reached the 300th time I was directly under the sun's eyes. Somehow I finished it around 9:30, I know that wasn't the normal duration to complete 1008. The Sunday was exciting already. I was ready by 9:40 wearing my Avengers T-shirt. Since I had already informed Mom about going out she had prepared me my breakfast. I had it and it was already nearing 10:00.

Blur

My friend and I had planned to meet near Spencer Plaza at 11:00. He messaged me at around 10:05 that he had started already. So I put on my helmet and was ready to roll. I was at the Spencer's at 10:40. He had already been there and was waiting for me but on the opposite side. Since we did not identify ourselves from that far, he called me and within 10 seconds I spotted him on by his body language just like that. Then we rode to Satyam Cinemas, not for a movie this time. We went for gaming in Blur. It's the first time for me too and we were so excited. We were so early that the guy at the front desk asked us to wait until 11. Our enthusiasm was increasing and finally, we were able to get our backsides on the couch, one of which was not actually a couch. We chose to play in Xbox 360, and the first game was Split Second. It was just a mediocre racing game and we played only 3 races in the half an hour. We were allowed to change the game only then. Next was Gears of War 2 and that game was awesome. We enjoyed it a lot. I was not used to the console type gaming, but he was. We played it against the A.I., and it was total fun. Tag team, gun shots firing and, the fun part, both ending up dead. We bettered with each game and it was the thing we were expecting for. After an hour of Xbox, it was time for the bite, which we are famous for while being together.

EA

We walked to the Express Avenue and swiftly reached the third floor. Pizza Hut was our destination and we ordered a combo that had pizzas, garlic bread, and potato poppers. The last was my favorite. There was no hurry and we took our time to taste each and every bite of it. All we wanted was extra Pepsi. Then, the real fun started. We were just window shopping like most of the others and went to a watch showroom, Swatch. My friend was looking something special for someone special and needed my suggestion too. We looked a range of watches that was pretty cool. Girls need to try the Swatch at least once. After selecting the watch we just came out, typical isn't it. Across the Swatch showroom was the Fossil showroom. We weren't ready to leave that alone. Since I already had a Fossil watch, which I didn't wear that day (my bad), we needed to see if it's here and how much is it worth, my cousin got it from Australia. Here comes the defining moment of the day. I was just looking at all the watches and one caught my eye. It was so elegant, rich and immaculate. It was a see-through watch and it looked gorgeous. I enquired the price to a lady in the shop to come to know that it was “just” 19,000 rupees. She requested me if I would like to see or “try it on”. I was being modest and said wanted to see. She took it out and I was holding it in my hands. Meanwhile, my friend was looking for a purse for the same special one. She again asked me if I would try, seeing my eyes glittering. This time I wasn't missing the “chance” and I put it on my left wrist. The lady from the shop asked me to see myself in the mirror and it was a goose bumps moment for me. I showed it to my friend who was also awed by it. I was wearing it for just 2 minutes and I wanted to freeze that moment. I gave it back to her and thanked the lady for being so kind to me. Then, we were roaming for another half hour setting off to our next destination.

Besant Nagar

My friend was determined to go to a beach. Period. We decided the Elliot's Beach instead of the Marina because we would enjoy a small ride in Madras. He wanted to show me a place that one of his friends showed him last time. I was not aware of it till then. It's a lovely place. It was outside a house, which had bamboo gates, a big garden. It was a small estate in Chennai. It was too cool outside with the evening breeze feeling like a bliss. We sat for half an hour and decided to take the day. He set off on a direct bus to ICF and me on my bike to my house. The sun fell with that the day, which was so much fun and exciting. After all, that's what friends do when one is in other's hometown.