Canonical, the makers of Ubuntu, the Linux operating system, have announced the Ubuntu Edge smartphone. In order to actually bring the phone to market, Canonical has also launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo with the target of raising $32 million by 21 August and so far, in less than a day, the campaign has already raised over $3 million mainly thanks to users who are willing to buy the smartphone at launch for $600.
Concept images of the Ubuntu Edge have also been leaked on the Internet and show a smartphone that looks like a perfect rectangle with sharp edges. Canonical has revealed that the Edge will sport a 4.5-inch 720p display, ‘the fastest available multi-core processor’, at least 4GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, the largest we’ve seen on a smartphone. The Edge will be able to dual boot into either Android or Ubuntu Mobile and will be ‘fully’ integrated with the Ubuntu desktop OS once the smartphone is docked to a PC. The Edge will also have an 8MP primary camera and a 2MP front-facing camera along with support for 4G Dual-LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4 and NFC. The smartphone will have a metal body and will be 9 mm in thickness.
Canonical was offering the Edge for $600 (Rs. 35,800 approx.) to the first 5,000 backers and it’s still available for $830 (Rs. 49,500 approx.) for everyone else. There are also 50 ‘One of a Kind’ units available for $10,000 (Rs. 6 lakhs approx.) each, pledging for which will give you one of the first 50 Edge smartphones produced, email access to the phone’s designers and developers, an invite to the phone’s launch event and a spot on the Ubuntu Edge Founders page. Canonical is also offering 50 bundles of 100 Edge smartphones each to enterprises for $80,000 (Rs. 48 lakhs approx.) which also includes online support to help integrate Ubuntu into the workplace. If you’re interested in the Ubuntu Edge, head on over to the phone’s Indiegogo campaign page to pledge your support.
Source: Ubuntu Edge Indiegogo via The Verge