The Aquaris A4.5, the same device that launched earlier this year running Ubuntu, is now also available with Android One on board. It will be sold in Spain and Portugal for 170 euro (~$192) from BQ's own website.
Android One is the project Google launched a year ago that promised stock (or rather "Google Experience") Android phones, with guaranteed updates coming straight from Google itself. The project launched initially in India, and then it started spreading to other Asian countries, until it arrived in Turkey earlier this year.
BQ, a Spanish retailer, has already launched two Ubuntu phones this year, with the first one being the same Aquaris A4.5. The company seems willing to experiment and differentiate against all the other "regular" Android phones out there, first with Ubuntu, and now with Android One.
The Aquaris A4.5 brings an octa-core 1 GHz Cortex-A53 CPU from Mediatek, along with a Mali T-720 MP1 GPU with a peak clock of 450 MHz, a 4.5" IPS screen with Dragontail protection and 960x540 resolution, 1 GB of RAM, and 16 GB of internal storage (10.5 GB free for the user). It also comes with a rather large 2,450 mAh battery for its size, dual-SIM support, microSD support (up to 64 GB), LTE and Bluetooth 4.0. It features an 8MP camera on the back and a 5MP camera on the front.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Aquaris A4.5 (Android One) |
|---|---|
| SoC | MediaTek MT6735M |
| Screen | 4.5" IPS |
| Resolution | 960x540 |
| RAM | 1 GB |
| Storage | 16 GB (10.5 GB free) |
| microSD support | Yes (up to 64 GB) |
| Camera | 8MP, f/2.0 |
| Front-camera | 5MP |
| Fingerprint sensor | No |
| LTE support | Yes |
| Dual-SIM | Yes (micro-SIM) |
| Battery | 2,470 mAh |
| Dimensions | 63,48 x 131,77 x 8,75 mm |
| OS | Android 5.1.1 |
Considering the OS is provided by Google, it will of course run the latest Android 5.1.1. According to BQ, Google will support the phone with updates for 24 months, which should include at least Android M and N (or whatever name Google will choose for the next major Android version).
It would be even better if Android smartphones received two years of OS feature updates, and three or even four years of security fixes, which would more accurately match how long many phones are used (not necessarily by the original owners). Today, people buy Android phones from others, long after the OEMs stopped sending security patches to them, which leaves millions using unsafe devices.
The 24 months of guaranteed support from Google is still an increase in the original standard of 18 months that Google helped push as well (although only a few companies stuck to it for their high-end devices, and none for all of their devices).
The Aquaris A4.5 with Android One is essentially a Nexus device that costs about half as much as a typical Nexus smartphone, allowing people with smaller budgets to get the clean Android experience as well as a more reasonable period of support unseen on the vast majority of Android devices at this price range.
The device can be purchased right now from BQ's store by those living in Spain and Portugal.
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