The Ubuntu Edge, a "superphone" in the making, seeks to raise $32 Million on Indiegogo by August 22 to fund a full-scale production of a smartphone that can also run your PC. Is this a lofty goal, or a reachable possibility? Within the first five hours, the crowdfunding project already raised $1 Million-- it seems that the public trusts that the Ubuntu Edge could bring much-needed innovation to the tech-intense corner of the smartphone market.
On the campaign site, the Ubuntu Edge is pitched as "a proving ground for the most advanced mobile technologies on the horizon, a showpiece for true mobile innovation. And at the heart of it all is convergence: connect to any monitor and this Ubuntu phone transforms into an Ubuntu PC, with a fully integrated desktop OS and shared access to all files."
Among the Edge's notable features are a 4.5 inch screen made of sapphire crystal ("a material so hard only diamond could scratch it"), and a modest 300ppi screen resolution. Because the phone has to act as a computer OS, it will have the fastest multi-core processor, at least 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. With these specs, the phone is shaping up to be the first truly mobile desktop computer.
Internally, the smartphone will dual-boot Ubuntu Phone Os and Android. This way, the smartphone user can harness the power of Ubuntu OS, while still being able to use their collection of Android apps, and they can converge the two systems upon launch.
The campaign will accept any donation amount, and has special offers at certain benchmark donation amounts ($20, $600, $830, $10,000, $80,000).
The Ubuntu Edge is a piece of the future that you want to invest in. Donate enough and you could get the phone discounted or mailed to you on its May 2014 release date.
