nsg's blog

Meizu Pro 5

2016-09-17

The grass is always greener on the other side, or something. I have gotten really tired on Android, it feels like it’s moving in the wrong direction, at least for me. So I have been thinking about my options, but Apple products are a nogo for me, and Windows Phone is a joke so ...

I have been tracking Canonical’s Phones for a little more than a year now. Still too early I thought, I need something usable. The last 6 months my aging Nexus 5 has been acting weird with connectivity and microphone problems, and it’s quite slow with today's standards. Still there has not been a replacement phone for almost three years (Nexus 6, 6P and 5X are larger).

So, I had been considering my next phone. Maybe buy a 5X, and accept the size? It’s okay and quite cheap (I have one for work), but, you now I already have one of these so two 5X sounds wrong. Why not just use the work phone? I like to tinker with my phone, keep work and private separate and it’s important that my work phone just works.

Wait until november for the new Nexus phones? Looks like it will be a 5-ish inch one this time. But it looks like they will be branded Pixel and be quite expensive phones. I was waiting for this… and then I listened to a podcast.

I was listening to Jupiter Broadcasting’s show Linux Unplugged, and Martin Wimpress explained how he recently bought the Android version of Meizu Pro 5 and succesfully flashed Ubuntu Touch to it, with full functionality. I had been looking at the phone on the official Ubuntu Phone store for a few months, and webshops, out of stock everywhere. But it was possible to buy the Android version, it’s an expensive phone. With explanations and links to guides provided, I bought the phone.

I ordered it from Meizu over at Amazon UK on the 9th, and got it a week later. Unpacked it and played with it a little to make sure it was functional and later that evening I started flashing.

So, I now has a Ubuntu Phone and I intend to try to use it as my primary phone. Time will tell if it’s ready. I’m willing to do some hacks and to lose some functionality, and I’m usually running around with the work phone to so I can install a few critical Android apps there.

... and yes, the phone is huge, a real phablet.

Please note that this is a old post from the year 2016 and the information may be outdated. All these 493 words are written by Stefan Berggren, feel free and contact me if you like.