
Ubuntu Edge - ergo14
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ubuntu-edge
======
cs702
The $32 million fundraising goal might seem overly ambitious, but it's
actually more realistic than it appears at first glance, because at $600+ per
unit the campaign needs only around 50,000 buyers worldwide to be successful
-- or a bit over 2% of Ubuntu's enthusiastic user base, which was estimated to
be greater than 20 million in 2011.[1]

PS. I just ordered one, as I LOVE the idea of an unlocked phone designed and
built from the ground up by Canonical specifically for Ubuntu users, with
minimal interference from wireless carriers.

\--

Update: When I posted this comment, the total raised was under $50,000. Less
than an hour later, it had risen to over half a million dollars.

\--

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_(operating_system)#Inst...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_\(operating_system\)#Installed_base)

~~~
mrt0mat0
i have to wonder how many ubuntu users are using ubuntu simply for the cost of
owning it ($0). If that group is high, which i think it is, it may imply that
a lot of those same users, might not want to put money into a project.
Speculation.

~~~
mtgx
I think your speculation is quite wrong. Linux users are typically the highest
payers for games, on average.

~~~
chimeracoder
On every[0] Humble Bundle so far, the highest average donations come from
Linux users.

On some, they've even donated the same amount or more in _total dollars_
compared to OS X users - ie, Linux users have been more profitable _even
though_ they have a much smaller market share.

In short, Linux users are _very_ profitable (per-user).

[0] I can't confirm that it's 100%, but it's been every Humble Bundle I've
participated in (a lot), which I think is a large enough sample size for the
purposes of this statement.

~~~
tuananh
I noticed that too and have always wondered why.

Maybe the lack of games make Linux users appreciate it more?

~~~
kelvie
Or maybe it's because Linux users tend to be software developers, who are
mostly quite well off due to the industry right now.

~~~
DanBC
Or developers appreciate the effort it takes to program something, and want to
break away from the 99c per app approach and want to make a more fair payment?

------
ealexhudson
I upvoted this because I think it's an interesting experiment. Attempting to
raise $1M+ every day for a month, though, I think is insanely ambitious.
Asking people for $830 for a device that they won't get for a year is asking a
lot, particularly since the specs aren't worlds away from current phones (two
years time, and probably $500 would get you a device with those specs,
unlocked).

Worse, I just don't even get the use case. If I have to dock it with stuff to
make it work, that means I need some kind of installation. Spending more money
just so I can carry my PC around instead of having at home on a desk - hm,
really not sure about that. People who use their mobile as a primary device
tend not to have any sort of desktop, and I don't really get the impression
they miss it that much.

~~~
dkokelley
I'm wondering if the ambitious goal of $32M is part of their strategy. Given
that a higher goal is less likely to be met, I (and others who might consider
backing) may be willing to adjust our risk function for the $600-800 such that
we are more likely to back the project. Assuming that after 30 days only $20M
is raised, then the outcome is as follows:

1: Nobody is actually charged for supporting the project

2: Other interested parties (phone manufacturers and carriers) will see that
there is demand for a phone that doesn't even exist yet. These interested
parties might consider reaching this market to differentiate from the current
phone OS leaders.

3: Canonical still gets to see their OS in smartphones.

Maybe I'm reaching at straws. I do believe them when they say that
manufacturing at scale is expensive.

~~~
bryanlarsen
I would have backed based on this theory if it was a Kickstarter project.
Kickstarter uses Amazon and doesn't charge until the end of the drive.
Indiegogo uses Paypal, and charges immediately, giving a refund if the drive
fails. While both of these differences aren't quite showstoppers, they're
enough that I didn't pull the trigger on something that seems highly unlikely
to succeed. I wouldn't mind paying $600 for this thing if it actually
happened, but I would mind having $600 sitting around in my rarely used paypal
account.

~~~
sspiff
In my experience, refunds on PayPal go back to your credit card. Am I wrong
about this?

~~~
rlpb
From
[https://www.paypal.com/webapps/helpcenter/article/?articleID...](https://www.paypal.com/webapps/helpcenter/article/?articleID=94023&m=SRE):

"If you paid with your debit card or credit card, your payment is refunded to
that card."

------
ChuckMcM
Pretty ambitious. Presumably they are not going to build the phone, they will
do like Google and Apple and Microsoft did and find someone who is already
building phones, to build them a bespoke phone. One then wonders how many
units you have to commit to buying for LG to spin a variant of the Nexus 4 for
you. Certainly its more than 100K phones, which gets you into the 'best' price
for components (some vendors of phone parts (like some of the flash chips)
won't talk to you unless you order 100K pieces).

Clearly there is a value proposition to having knowledge about all the bits in
the phone, but as I discovered with the Android phones, working at Google,
there are some bits which are protected in a variety of ways (basically most
of the radios in phones these days are all software and that blob (the stuff
that makes the radio 'work') is strictly licensed. It was, for me at least, an
unexpected additional cost for the radio stuff. (I imagine that business model
started with soft modems where the line access chips were $1 and the code to
turn them into a 56Kbit modem was another $9 each).

Regardless of outcome, this will join a number of attempts at making a Linux
phone. I wonder if anyone has collected all of the attempts into a single
space.

------
fingerprinter
From nearly every perspective, this seems like a no brainer.

1\. The hardware they talked about would be better than anything out there
now, most likely better than anything in 2014.

2\. They mentioned dual boot. If you don't like Ubuntu, you can put on Android
and have a better phone than anything out in the next year.

3\. You'll get the first Ubuntu production phone.

For $600 (today) or $830 (not today?) this is a freakin' no brainer.

~~~
tjdetwiler
I disagree with (1)... that will probably be average hardware for 2014 (for
high end devices because lets face it, all high end devices have roughly the
same specs).

You make a lot of assumptions with (2) as well. Given Canonical has 0
experience in putting out HW I wouldn't assume a top notch product since
details like build quality and materials are important.

(3) would be a negative for me... you would get the slowest, least power
efficient, and most app-baron experience.

I agree it's a no brainer though... PASS! $830 is way too much for me to beta
test their product for them.

~~~
fingerprinter
You think 4 gigs of ram, sapphire display and 128gb ssd are going to be the
norm in 2014? Not very likely. That would be just about double the Samsung S4
right now. I don't think it is very likely for 2014. 2015, maybe though.

And I don't think Canonical is going to build the phone but work with someone
to do it.

> (3) would be a negative for me... you would get the slowest, least power
> efficient, and most app-baron experience.

Do you have any data to back that up?

And don't forget that Android had very few apps when first launched. Very few.
At least an Ubuntu phone will be able to run all the standard Ubuntu apps, and
in converged mode, you'll get all the desktop apps as well, which is awesome.

~~~
seabrookmx
The S4 has a 1080p screen (better than the edge) a Quad (comparable to the
edge) and with SD cards, can be expanded to 128gb of storage on the cheap.

Not to mention the app selection for Android is unbeatable. Sure it didn't
have many apps in the early days, but because it was one of the first to
market, it will retain this lead. Look at HP's touchpad, BB10, and Windows
Phone - they've had years to catch up and have failed.

The edge is a niche device and has it's place, but I'd say should be avoided
by the average user.

For $305 the Nexus 4 is the no-brainer.

~~~
synchronise
The Nexua 4 is a no brainer? The lack of MicroSD expansion says otherwise.

~~~
socillion
The battery is also mediocre, at least with stock Android.

------
falcolas
I love crowd funding, and this seems like a great project. But please, before
you pledge money, remember one thing:

This is not a pre-order: _nothing_ guarantees that you will ever get anything
for the money you've put in.

By pledging money, you become an underprivileged investor. Sometimes, you'll
get your money's worth. Sometimes, you'll loose that money. If that's OK by
you, then great. If you want a stronger guarantee of getting what you pay for,
then this is not the platform to use.

~~~
socceroos
It's worth noting that you don't lose your money if the funding fails - it
will get refunded to you.

~~~
lukifer
I think they're referring to the case where the funding succeeds. As a non-
proud Esquiso owner (who doesn't regret the gamble), I can testify that
hardware is hard.

That said, my money's on these guys to pull it off. My only concern is quality
control and support/maintenance.

~~~
RankHorror
That said, LOL!

------
ohaal
This has been a dream of mine for several years now, and I believe Ubuntu
(with Touch coming around) is currently the OS best suited for this task.
However I do have some concerns which still go unanswered. Until then, I'm
holding back my pledge.

1: I realize this is their first attempt at this, but if this phone doesn't
support 2+ monitors, then this simply won't work as a desktop replacement.
HDMI-output is nothing new. Who still uses a single monitor on their desktop?

2: I didn't find any mention of docks. I'd be interested to see if there would
be any future plans to create different types of docks. I.e. tablet dock with
extended battery life (like the Asus PadFone), desktop dock with 2+ 1080p+
monitor output. Preferably with the docks allowing USB connections, so that we
are not stuck with buying new gear all around. Maybe even a laptop style dock?

3: Context awareness. Not sure if this is already addressed, but it'd be nice
if when I docked it at work, I'd have the option of continuing where I left
off yesterday. Achievable through profiles combined with some NFC cleverness?
Personally, I can think of a few contexts I'd set up myself: desktop@work,
desktop@home, laptop, tablet, HTPC, nightstand, car... and of course, phone.

4: Waterproof. If I'm going to walk around with my personal computer in my
pocket, it'd be nice if a splash of water didn't kill it.

~~~
bobbles
IF it supports wireless game controllers as well (even when docked), theres no
reason this couldnt just replace an 'ouya' style device when you want to use
the lounge room as well.

------
drcode
Does anyone really still want a phone you can plug into a monitor? This would
have been a dream product back before broadband and wifi became ubiquitous,
and before extra PCs became so cheap.

Nowadays, it seems like a much better design is to have multiple devices with
different form factors that can access shared data via a cloud.

(unless this product is meant as an NSA-proof system, but I don't see that it
makes a very convincing product for that use case either...)

~~~
rocky1138
I'd love that. The biggest problem for me is that I have a number of monitors
and laptops that don't support HDMI. If there was a sub $10 adapter I could
get for VGA->HDMI<-VGA then it would be a perfect world.

~~~
macspoofing
>The biggest problem for me is that I have a number of monitors and laptops
that don't support HDMI

That's not a problem for anybody else. It's practically a non-issue.

~~~
commandar
Uh, no.

[http://shopping1.hp.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/WW-
USS...](http://shopping1.hp.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/WW-
USSMBPublicStore-Site/en_US/-/USD/ViewStandardCatalog-
Browse;pgid=jDJwlVlq2W9SR0Yk2kO1Yuen0000R5zK4eMT;sid=Q5KE5T-ENcek5W5p4w5PceaLkZy8lKDO05s=?CatalogCategoryID=ifYQ7EN6YnAAAAEuqI1.QQd0)

Those are the monitors HP aims at the enterprise. A lot of them have _VGA_
only, and _none_ of them have HDMI.

So in my organization, we have thousands of monitors that would require an
adapter at minimum and _maybe_ a couple dozen floating around that were
special ordered one-offs that might have HDMI built-in.

------
Casc
A bit late to the party on this post -

I think the next shift we see in mobile will be anointing the phone as the
arbiter of identity vs the current situation in which our desktop / laptop OS
user loosely holds the title.

I've previously expressed affinity for a future in which a device (smartphone)
becomes a wallet for saving state, identity, data & applications all served by
an OS that adapts based on operating environments while maintaining familiar
UI/UX. This is the closest implementation I've yet to see (smart phone driving
extensions and adapting to its environment by allowing full desktop OS), and I
hope funding comes through just so we can inch a bit closer to making this
reality.

Dropbox / cloud storage / iCloud have taken great strides in reducing the
friction involved in types of device to device transitions, but we're still
not truly mobile, and I'm not convinced they're the solution as opposed to
being supplementary. Saving state, using your phone as identity, and carrying
your data & applications with you is, what I believe, the next iteration of
mobile.

Whether this information transfer is accomplished by associating devices
together via the lan, a physical connection, or what have you, I feel there
needs to be a physical badge component in transferring identity, and the
smartphone may be it. A two factor auth of sorts for your digital self between
your smartphone and a 'dumber' device.

Consider the possibilities in cars; no more fighting that quirky car UI to get
directions or search through a music library. Parental controls ensuring new
drivers don't drive at extreme speeds or attempt to text while driving.
Abolishing keys. All possible when you have a portable device equipped with
identity attributes working in conjunction with other devices and their input
extensions.

28.8mm to go!

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4094318](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4094318)

[http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/28/apple-patent-would-use-
the-...](http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/28/apple-patent-would-use-the-ipads-
built-in-magnets-to-turn-the-tablet-into-an-in-car-entertainment-system/)

~~~
Mexxer
Sorry but I don't want any electronical mobile devices as my physical identity
badge which includes my whole life. The dangers of that far outweigh the
conviniences. You just wouldn't be able to stay anonymous anymore and
everything about you would be up for grab by the government or some hackers.
Also just imagine when your phone gets stolen. Your whole life in the hands of
a stranger.

~~~
Casc
Unfortunately, this is already the case. For instance, your mac address is a
pretty good identifier probing AP's periodically wherever you go, 99% of
smartphone owners aren't even aware, let alone know to turn off WiFi if they
don't want to be tracked.. If my phone fell into the wrong hands today, my
whole life IS at their disposal.

With education and advancement of proper security measures I believe these
concerns can be mitigated and benefits would outweigh the risks. Transferring
information is still too cumbersome, in order for us to progress, this is
going to have to become a reality at some point.

------
javis
If the Ubuntu Edge reaches its goal of $32,000,000, Indiegogo makes $1,280,000
off it.

~~~
audeyisaacs
I wonder why they wouldn't just set up their own crowdfunding page for this
project. Surely the effort would be worth $1,280,000.

~~~
zombio
People are more likely to contribute if it's on a platform they trust and
recognize.

------
ericfranklin
"We'll replace glass with sapphire crystal. A material so hard, you'll need
diamonds in your pocket to leave a scratch"

I got a laugh from this because the back of my iPhone 4 had a few big
scratches in it literally from carrying diamonds in my pocket (My company
sells lab-grown diamonds).

------
aroman
I really really hope I'm wrong (because I really believe in Ubuntu's vision),
but what I'm gathering from this is that Canonical really has no idea how to
make money.

~~~
RockyMcNuts
I'm gathering that the handset makers and carriers and VCs laughed them out of
the office, so they had to go this route.

I would have expected to read something like, the phone is an enhanced version
of x/y/z with these features, we got a great deal from (manufacturer), but we
need 50,000 pre-orders to proceed.

~~~
shmerl
I guess they just didn't find investors. Jolla managed to do it because they
have expertise and accumulated knowledge in the field. Canonical don't have
that.

~~~
slgeorge
Wrong guess I'm afraid. We (Canonical) haven't announced any hardware or
network partners for a general market launch.

Ubuntu Edge isn't aimed at the mass market. It's a special limited edition
hardware platform which accelerates lots of interesting hardware technology
combined with the Ubuntu phone. So it's designed for developers or technology
enthusiasts who really value cutting edge innovation.

~~~
shmerl
Then it's not so surprising, that going with extra high end non common device
before releasing one available for common users didn't attract investors. It
looks very risky.

Canonical had to start with practical and common device, before going into
super experimental one. And with resources from the first, go for more
experiments.

------
Zigurd
I would like to like this, but there are some red flags: It seems like they
are engineering their own high-end hardware. Are there really no off-the-shelf
platforms for this? No ODMs from which they could order 10k units, including
the GPU driver license?

Supposing they could get 10k units for $500 each, that means they could ask
for $1M or $2m and be far more certain of hitting their goal. Why not do that?

It seems as if they are trying to fund development of Ubuntu for phones on the
back of this hardware project. Or, unlike Jolla and Tizen and Firefox OS they
lack launch partners, so they are doing a "Microsoft Surface." Maybe the $900M
write-down of Surface hardware made them think $32M is a doddle.

Ubuntu should run nicely on Surface RT hardware... They could make an offer.

~~~
oblique63
> _Are there really no off-the-shelf platforms for this?_

From what I gather, it seems the entire purpose of this 'edge' project is a
_hardware_ one, not a software one. They're trying to gather the 'latest and
greatest' hardware and make a phone out of it, which would by definition, not
be found in an existing handset. I'm sure they'll try to push for their mobile
os regardless of whether this fails or not, as it seems almost orthogonal to
their mobile os efforts. Once they evaluate how feasible this 'cutting edge'
handset idea is, I'm sure they'll continue to find devices to slap ubuntu
touch on. But if they've had this 'premium phone' idea kicking around for a
while, why not? This isn't an either/or scenario.

~~~
ealexhudson
It will be interesting to find out how many real hardware people have had
input on this. As an example, the battery is going to be "silicon-anode" \- I
didn't even know that was a thing, and Google only turns up weeks/months old
articles on how researchers are trying to make them out of rice. Yet they're
going to stick it in a phone.

If each hardware choice has been made like that, there's a huge risk with the
project. If the battery doesn't come up to snuff mAh-wise, how long will that
4G RAM / beautiful screen / 128Gb SSD actually last day-to-day, including
phone calls?

There doesn't really seem to be much information about the people doing the
hardware, and why they think they can stuff so much new stuff into a small
package in the space of a few months.

~~~
Danieru
There appears to be a company working on silicon-anode batteries:
[http://www.nexeon.co.uk/about/an-introduction-to-
nexeon/](http://www.nexeon.co.uk/about/an-introduction-to-nexeon/)

They claim to have a prototype factory producing 500 phones worth of battery
material per day. Not the scale Samsung needs but enough for a one off phone
run.

------
BenoitEssiambre
I think this is a preview of things to come on other mobile OSs in the same
way the openMoko open source phone was a harbinger of the first iPhone.

This Ubuntu prototype phone shows that the technology is ready for good
phone/desktop integration. You can be sure Google and Apple are working on
their own version of this and probably doing it with much more resources.
Microsoft's attempt at convergence was premature and resulted in two OSs that
superficially look the same but aren't really integrated.

I do think Ubuntu has much more chances of succeeding than openMoko ever had.

This indiegogo approach is a smart and bold strategy that could bring higher
level of development resources than open source projects are usually able to
get. Open source is good for getting a great community and great ideas
together but often the thin margins and low barrier for competitors means we
don't get the level of investment necessary to bring the polish, documentation
and support necessary for mass appeal. A kickstarter/indiegogo approach could
help with this under-investment issue.

Will it be enough? As a longtime Ubuntu desktop user, I can only hope.

------
sz4kerto
Wow, lot of marketing speech from a platform targeted for geeks.

BTW: sapphire crystal is extremely heavy and shatter-prone compared to GG3,
for example. There's a reason Corning makes so much money.

~~~
mcintyre1994
I don't get the impression that Ubuntu is targeted for geeks, that non-geek
marketing speech has been there for a long time.

------
oscilloscope
I want this. I already pay an Ubuntu premium for System76 computers. Anyone
who has the Dell dev edition does the same.

But, Canonical, can you please extend the $600 price point for at least a
month? This sudden 24 hour sale is too much of an impulse buy.

~~~
BlackDeath3
No kidding. It's always so tempting to jump in on these sort of "founder"
things early, but $600 is not small change...

~~~
Danieru
I bought it. If nothing this is the kind of innovation which makes me excited
for computing and I want to support that.

Best case the phone will arrive just in time to replace my Nexus4. Common case
I get a refund. Worst case the thing is a dud, either poor build quality or
under-performance.

From a high level Canonical has taken the right decisions to avoid the worst
case. Being a high end device there is plenty of margin for a good case. The
System on Chip is off the shelf so perforamnce only depends on the software.
If Ubuntu is too heavy for mobiles then I can revert to android. The high fund
threashhold means the phone will have the volume for factory production.

Before my Nexus 4 I had a N900. The N900 was the closest thing yet to a linux
computer in your pocket. I loved it, you could tell engineers developed the
N900 as a phone for engineers by engineers. This Ubuntu Edge looks like a true
spiritual successor.

------
greganon
As a successful crowdfunder myself, I almost cringed when I saw how many
"rules" this campaign was breaking. Extremely high fundraising goal, long
video, and almost no compelling reward options for people who love the idea
but don't have $600 to spend. However, I think they've done at excellent job
of understanding their target market. They know that early adopter/open source
community relishes cutting edge hardware and a chance at becoming a consumer
test group for the next step in mobile computing.

Additionally, they explain their thought processes around how they will choose
the display and camera specs, which is much more powerful than explaining what
the specs will be. I truly feel like I am funding an intelligent group of
decision makers rather than a large scale manufacturing process.

I can't wait to see the results of the campaign and to hopefully have one of
these phones in my hand!

------
x0054
I love the idea, but I simply do not see how they can make it work at this
scale. Based on the numbers they will be ordering around 40,000 units. Can you
really buy custom made components in small quantities and expect to get
acceptable prices?

The only way I can see this working is if they partnered with a company who
will be making this phone anyway, basically a phone that looks almost exactly
like Ubuntu Edge. So basically they would start with maybe a $200 (to make)
top of the line smartphone from one of the big manufacturers, and then spend
$600 upgrading it with sapphire lens, fastest ARM CPU, 4GB ram and all the SSD
memory. Here is the thing, I can see this working, because they can sell these
phones at cost, or below cost, as an investment into the ecosystem. So, this
might actually be a $800 phone that costs $800-900 to make.

However, I am worried about some of the unproven components like the sapphire
lens and silicon-anode batteries. Can they find suppliers, and can they make
it work in the phone. And will they have to recall all 40k of those phone when
the battery expends to 4x the size or blows?

The problem to liking it with Formula 1 is, in F1, the engines, the cars, and
all the other components are blown all the time, and then get rebuilt, tested,
refined, and tested some more, by people who know what they are doing, not
consumers.

I like the ambitious project, I just feel like they really need about 4x the
budget or more to pull this of.

------
sciurus
"If we don’t reach our target then we will focus only on commercially
available handsets and there will not be an Ubuntu Edge."

That makes so much more sense to me that I'm having a hard time understanding
why Canonical would even attempt to design and manufacture their own handset.

~~~
freehunter
For the same reason Microsoft made the Surface and Google has the Nexus
devices. "This is how it's done" sets a very strong precedence for OEMs to
follow. Canonical can set the bar high right off the bat to avoid being like
the first few years of Android phones.

~~~
objclxt
> _For the same reason Microsoft made the Surface and Google has the Nexus
> devices._

The Nexus handsets are basically third party handsets with some input from
Google, but primarily engineered and built by the hardware partner (LG,
Samsung, etc). It's not really comparable.

Microsoft do engineer and build the Surface themselves, but last time I
checked they just took a $900 million loss on it. Hardly great stuff.

~~~
socceroos
You've got to remember that Canonical have openly said that they wish to be
the open source version of Apple - and to even exceed them, if possible. So
when this philosophy collides with the practical approach of the Nexus series
then you have this device.

------
infinii
Currently they are at $3.2M which is only 10% of their target. Yet the $600
level is sold out. If they had removed the cap on $600 orders, I could see
this getting funded. But not if they expect the bulk of their money to come in
at the $830 level.

------
runn1ng
I am not the right person for this, I guess.

I constantly break my phones by smashing them (by mistake) into various solid
things or water, so I never buy any phone more expensive than 200 dollars. I
_really_ won't buy a phone for 830 dollars.

~~~
sukuriant
sapphire screen. I am in love with the idea of a sapphire screen. It's the
same material as higher end watches, and those don't get scratches. I wonder
how that affects its strength under dropping.

~~~
umsm
The hardness doesn't mean that it won't break or crack. The only difference is
that in low-impact situations it won't scratch as easily.

~~~
sukuriant
I wonder how it'll handle high impact situations, then, like being dropped.

Given the novel shape, I imagine there won't be very many cases released for
it...

------
cupcake-unicorn
I'm kind of torn about this. While I would like to see more diversity in the
phone world, I wish that the focus this time was more on the open hardware and
specifications. If Ubuntu is pushing this phone tied to the Ubuntu OS, they're
really not that much different than what Apple and MS are doing with their
mobile devices.

I'm assuming and hoping that if this launches, the hardware and software will
be open enough for people to start making their own OSes. It's just
unfortunate, and I feel in a way backwards thinking, to make this Kickstarter
with such a huge funding goal and not have the focus be on why it's important
and why it stands apart - which is I believe the open standards for hardware
and software.

I'm just not a big fan of Ubuntu as an OS, and I'd love to have a phone that
was so open that I had as many options in distros as I do on the desktop. I'd
much rather see a Kickstarter for a completely open hardware phone that
encouraged people to be creative with both the hardware and the software,
which I don't think this project is going to promote other than an
afterthought.

------
primelens
Canonical really seems to believe in the convergence of multiple computing
platforms. They've staked a lot on it and ticked off a lot of people in the
process. I don't know if it'll succeed, but I sure love seeing them try with
such gusto. Succeed or fail, this sort of choice and innovation (not to
mention debate)is what makes the FOSS community so interesting.

------
kub
The 4.5" 1280x720 screen kills it.

It needs to have at least 5" 1920x1080 to display 1080p content without
destroying information and to match or exceed the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy
S4 (and S5 since they ship in 2014).

And preferably non-Pentile AMOLED.

And also removable battery and one or more SD/micro-SD slots.

It's a pity since everything else seems great.

~~~
lbenes
Wow, I expected better from people on HN. I suppose you are also one of those
smug people with a 20 megapixel point and shoot who thinks it takes better
pictures than my 12MP DSLR. Well I have news for you buddy. It doesn't and
your 1080p pentile S4 looks no better playing movies than the Nexus 4, when
held at a comfortable distance. In our house we have both a N4 and S4, and
I'll take the N4 any time.

I'm no Ubuntu fan boy, but on this point, Shuttleworth is absolutely correct.
1080p buys you nothing, but costs valuable battery life and requires a much
more powerful GPU to get the same performance.

~~~
Synaesthesia
Yes Mark has the right approach here, the colour rendition/accuracy of the
iPhone 5 really makes it the best looking display I've seen. And I can't see
the pixels - no need for higher res than that.

------
lettergram
The price for one of the phones doesn't seem all that outrageous, I know if
you wanted to buy a Samsung Galaxy S4 it's like $700 without a contract.

Being a college student I currently can't afford it, but I up voted and hope
it works out. In the future I would love to buy a phone like this, it looks
awesome.

------
marcamillion
I know this may seem silly, but just reading this little copy below the
'Contribute Now' button...made me chuckle:

 _This campaign will only receive funds if at least $32,000,000 is raised by
Wed 21 Aug 11:59PM PT._

Oh...just $32M. Even though I read the $32,000,000 above and as of this
posting they have already raised $3.2M, I am accustomed to seeing "this
campaign will only receive funds if at least $50,000" or some other reasonable
figure is there. Almost feels like an April's Fools.

Alas...I hope they achieve it - if nothing else for the history they will
create....and the shockwaves it will send through the VC community.

Every time a crowd-sourced project passes some psychological barrier - say
$1M, $2M, $5M, $10M it makes people perk up.

If they pass $2^5M....that will send shockwaves.

------
pavs
I think this is excellent marketing, if they get funded, they will prove that
there is a market for this and it will make news for being the biggest crowd
funded campaign ever. It will be all over the news and even people who have
never heard of ubuntu will take a notice.

------
shmerl
Is it going to use normal glibc EGL drivers for GPU, or it will use bionic
ones with libhybris?

~~~
kklimonda
bionic with libhybris

~~~
shmerl
Not exciting then. More interesting would be to crowdfund glibc drivers.

~~~
kklimonda
Maybe [1], but then Canonical is aiming at getting Ubuntu into as many phones
as possible, and it working with the Android stack is helping in achieving
this goal.

[1] On the other hand what would be a benefit of investing into getting
drivers work with glibc, other than running your classic Linux distribution?

~~~
shmerl
_On the other hand what would be a benefit of investing into getting drivers
work with glibc_

To run without any translation layers and bionic quirks. That's the main
benefit. When the system is using glibc (like Sailfish and Ubuntu do), and
drivers aren't, the only way is to translate it like libhybris does. It's a
crutch at best and not ideal. It can perform well, but it's still not direct.

~~~
kklimonda
What are the practical drawbacks of using libhybris? Have there been some
benchmarks done yet?

~~~
shmerl
I guess Jolla engineers would know the most, since they are primarily
developing it:

* [http://mer-project.blogspot.se/2013/04/wayland-utilizing-and...](http://mer-project.blogspot.se/2013/04/wayland-utilizing-android-gpu-drivers.html)

* [http://mer-project.blogspot.se/2013/05/wayland-utilizing-and...](http://mer-project.blogspot.se/2013/05/wayland-utilizing-android-gpu-drivers.html)

But I didn't see any comparative benchmarks published so far. Translation cost
might be not critical (i.e. tolerable), but it's still a cost and native
approach should be always better.

------
pieterhg
I have not been this enthusiastic about a product since the introduction of
the iPhone, iPad or Google Maps and I'm not even a Linux-fanboy.

I love how they are pursuing convergence of desktop and mobile, I haven't seen
anyone try this successfully yet.

------
gcr
How does this compare to Mozilla's Firefox OS? Are both phones similarly "open
source" in terms of hardware and software?

------
fdm
>We also believe the race for ever higher resolution has become a distraction.
Beyond 300ppi you’re adding overhead rather than improving display clarity.

This isn't completely true, higher PPI improves readability (and looks) of the
text that's written using more complex characters like Chinese Hanzi or
Japanese Kanji even beyond that line at smaller distances. Here's an image
that illustrates this:

[http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/2011/1-toshibab...](http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/2011/1-toshibabites.jpg)

Not to mention it's useful for displaying 1080p without losing information.

~~~
lbenes
I don't read Chinese on my phone, but I do care about gaming and battery life.
In both those cases, an equivalent 720p phone will outperform a 1080p phone.
Shuttleworth is making the right trade-off in this case.

------
tonyblundell
I really like the idea of an Ubuntu phone, but the desktop thing is just
weird.

I really can't see a use-case for it.

Aside from a drastic increase in the chances of dropping my entire computing
resources in a toilet, or leaving them in a pub, usable desktops can be had
for around £200.

And you still need a desk at home with a monitor, keyboard and mouse. At a
time when people have largely ditched that idea in favour of a laptop or
tablet form-factor.

The fact that it's on Indiegogo suggests they've tried to get commercial
investors and failed because it's unmarketable, which is frustrating because I
think a straight Ubuntu phone could really make an impact.

~~~
PavlovsCat
I have an use-case, but I doubt it's very widespread: I always carry my DSLR
around, and wouldn't mind a few extra pounds in the bag.. so instead of a
phone, I'd rather see a small _brick_ ; not even meant to be held to your face
ever, but used with a headset, and with plenty of USB ports on it.

I mean sure, phones will get as fast as desktops are today, but then a bigger
computer will _still_ be faster, and I would _still_ have to do any heavy
lifting on the desktop.

I don't do video myself, but even "just" processing photos and using Renoise
requires more resources than I think even this thing can offer; basically, I
have songs I can't work on unless the machine is at least as fast as my
current desktop. The same would apply for doing stuff with WebGL: it doesn't
have to be a gamer GPU, but it can't be a phone either. For me, that at best
does for consuming, but not for creating. Especially since creating becomes
more fun when it's more fluid, the minimum requirements don't cut it and more
is better.

Even a mouse I have to lug around, and a foldable full keyboard, sound better
than a laptop keyboard to me - I can't stand touchpads, or keys with 50
functions on them to save space. I could even get used to running around with
a backpack if it meant I could have a real keyboard. And of course there's
always internet cafes, which I would expect to offer a working spaces where
you use your own computer, if stuff like this became reality.

------
mongol
Is it realistic to deliver the phone at this time frame, given the vagueness
of the specs? My only crowdfunding experience (Pebble) was not pleasant in
it's long delays, and they gave the impression of being closer to production
than Ubuntu Edge. Also, what previous experience does Ubuntu have of hardware
design and manufacturing. I also realize that they can source this, like from
Taiwan as they mention, but they still need to be significantly involved.

My prediction is that backing will slow considerably now when the lower
backing price point has closed.

~~~
thomasjames
The missing bit that stands out is the processor. They seem to have all of the
peripheral hardware fairly well specified, but the power consumption and final
dimensions, etc. are strongly dependent on the processor they choose.

------
mwcampbell
I thought about backing this myself, but then I remembered that it's our
propensity as developers to get the best hardware for ourselves that leads to
resource-hungry software, which means a poor experience for the less fortunate
of our users. In that light, it seems to me that a super-high-end phone like
this, particularly one aimed at developers, is obscene. So I won't be buying
one of these. Indeed, I'm thinking of deliberately buying a low-end Android
phone whenever I eventually decide to switch from my iPhone 4.

~~~
bbrks
I have a low end Android phone (Galaxy Ace) and it's painfully slow to use. It
won't even keep up with me typing in the Messages app, let alone browsing the
web or using any apps.

So much so that all I use my phone for (besides the occasional call) is to
enable wireless tethering and use my iPod Touch as my primary device instead.

------
mromanuk
"For a phone to run a full desktop OS, it must have the raw power of a PC.
We’ll choose the fastest available multi-core processor, at least 4GB of RAM
and a massive 128GB of storage"

I would love to be wrong but I'm not buying the promise of a (real world
functioning) PC on a phone. ARM based chips are 1 order of magnitude slower
than a desktop x86 counterpart, currently there is no such processor to
perform as desktop. Maybe they are going the intel road, anyway the indiegogo
pitch sounds more like wishful thinking than a real plan.

~~~
achiang
My team dogfoods Ubuntu for Android every single day on the Nexus 4, and I'll
say that it's performant enough to be a daily driver as a desktop replacement.

Edge has 4GB of RAM planned, and will run even better than the N4.

~~~
michaelbuddy
hows the camera for you? I use the n4 with android and the camera digital blur
/ tearing is pretty annoying. did you get around that or not use the camera
much?

~~~
achiang
Ubuntu for Android is our convergence product:
[http://www.ubuntu.com/phone/ubuntu-for-
android](http://www.ubuntu.com/phone/ubuntu-for-android)

So we still use the Android software to drive the camera.

As a photographer though, I have to say that I don't exactly hate the N4
camera. Built-in HDR is kinda nice, and has saved many shots for me.

------
dangoor
Interesting that 27 people have opted to pay the $830 today, rather than the
$600 that they could have paid.

~~~
cschmidt
I feel kind of bad for them. They really should convert these people with poor
reading skills to the $600 price.

~~~
lambda
Why do you think they have poor reading skills? Perhaps they wanted to throw
in a little extra, but not the next tier up at $10,000.

Remember, you can donate at any level you want. If someone donated $1000, they
would probably chose the $830 option to give more people a chance to get the
$600 option.

Remember, you shouldn't think of Kickstarter or Indiegogo projects as a pre-
order. It's a donation to a project that you think is worthy; where you may
get a substantial reward if that project goes well.

------
codex
The Edge is trying to solve a problem in hardware which is best left to
software.

The problem: when you move between your devices, your apps look and act
different, and they don't auto resume your state. But that's just because the
software isn't mature yet. Eventually you will be able to compose a draft in
Gmail online, unfinished, and the Gmail app on your smartphone will open to
the draft automatically, and cloud apps will work the same everywhere--on the
phone, on the desktop, and on the web.

And even if the apps are not completely identical, they will be good enough: I
can switch from driving my car to a rental car without any issue; the
interfaces to a car are fundamentally similar across all cars. So too with
apps on various devices. It's just not a big deal. This is actually good for
the Edge as most desktop displays do not support touch (and wouldn't work well
if they did) so you'll still be shifting between touch and mouse, or touch and
keyboard.

Solving this problem in hardware is sub-optimal: you'll always be fiddling
around with monitor, keyboard, and mouse cables; your CPU, GPU, and RAM is
limited; and your Internet connection will be slower from the phone than it
would be had you plugged in to your 100Mbps+ cable connection from your cheap
Ubuntu or Mac desktop.

------
kenferry
"Although our core business is software for PCs and the cloud, we know the
phone industry pretty well too."

"We’ve scoured the research labs of the biggest companies and most exciting
startups for the latest and greatest mobile technologies to specify the first-
generation Edge."

Do the people involved actually have hardware experience? That's not clear to
me, and the second passage gives the impression of treating a phone as a
collection of parts.

32 mil is a pretty risky first project…

~~~
achiang
Yes, we have collective centuries of hardware experience.

No, we do not think a phone is a collection of parts.

~~~
kenferry
Good to hear!

------
mtgx
It would be great if it came straight with the 64-bit ARMv8 architecture (a
quad core Cortex A57 chip, I suppose), although that would mean being released
in 2nd half of 2014, but they should probably wait until they can put Ubuntu
14.10 (Mir-only) or at least Ubuntu 14.04 LTS anyway. Coming with stock
Android 5.0 or 5.1 would be great, too.

Why no 802.11ac Wi-Fi though? By then pretty much all high-end devices should
have it (HTC One and Galaxy S4 already have it).

------
rsynnott
> at least 4GB of RAM

This seems... odd, or the 'at least' bit does. The first 64bit ARM chips are
due late next year, and will be very much server-targeted.

~~~
ricardobeat
You're thinking AMD?

Current ARM processors already support up to 1TB of RAM via something called
"Large Physical Address Extension".

~~~
rsynnott
Eek, yes, forgot about that. PAE comes back from the grave, to annoy people!

------
ubersync
Am I missing something? How is this phone any different from say Google Nexus
4, or Samsung Galaxy S4? E.g. Google Nexus 4 has almost the same specs other
than RAM, Storage and Dual LTE. But it is only for $300.

More specifically, how does the Formula 1 analogy fit in? This phone is priced
about the same as iPhone, Samsung Galaxy and has almost the same specs.

~~~
socceroos
You consider double the RAM, double the storage space, the fastest CPU
available by HW sign-off, sapphire crystal and full metal uni-body to be
'almost the same specs'?

I must admit, I do like the look of this phone and I've followed Canonical for
years now - but please, lets be realistic on both sides here - these specs are
_not_ 'almost the same'. They're not even close.

------
buro9
This is the opposite of what I want.

What I want is a hub device along the lines of a Huawei Mifi device that will
share a 4g connection with numerous other devices using a low power hardware
and software stack, perhaps the latest Bluetooth.

Then I want my phone to be less powerful, to run most apps on the cloud and
generally do little more than render things prettily.

I want camera lenses, display surfaces, input devices (keyboard, pen/stylus,
augmented reality glasses, headsets, etc) to all mesh together, sharing
bandwidth for intra-device communication... and ultimately all using the hub
for communication.

I no longer want large and ever more powerful and feature rich phones or
computers, I want to smash things up and have a choice of small bits that each
do one thing very well.

Basically Star Trek communication device and then a lot of peripherals.

~~~
jessaustin
This is what the market will produce, eventually, after it has tried
everything else, but especially everything that acts to lock consumers into
long-term deals with the 2.5 remaining wireless carriers.

(Actually if this constellation of devices is mesh-like enough in
architecture, the 4g modem won't be particularly special either: you'll keep
it in your pocket, never look at it, and it will only be used [automatically,
seamlessly] when wifi or its successors aren't available.)

------
reactor
Reached 100+ K in an hour!!!

~~~
ealexhudson
They have to _average_ $42K an hour for the next month for this to work. That
realistically means they need to pull in a few million in the first few days.

~~~
keithpeter
I wonder how many of us are going to watch the site for a few days, track the
average hourly funding rate, then decide if we want to commit based on the
likelihood of the round being successful? Sort of Victor Vroom outcome
motivation.

~~~
reactor
Why do we do that? if you are interested commit, if the project fails you get
the money back for sure.

~~~
greganon
That may or may not be true. Indiegogo (unlike Kickstarter) offers a flexible
funding option which lets fundraises keep what they raise, regardless of
whether or not they meet their goal.

[EDIT] - Never mind, just saw the fixed funding underneath the fundraising
target :)

------
mindprince
In just 4 hours, it is at $703,945. Already the 9th most funded project on
Indiegogo.

[http://www.indiegogo.com/projects?filter_country=CTRY_US&fil...](http://www.indiegogo.com/projects?filter_country=CTRY_US&filter_quick=most_funded_all)

------
girvo
To start with, I was skeptical. 32mil? But, I watched the video, and realised
that Ubuntu are trying to achieve what I've always dreamed of and asked for:
an enthusiasts phone at the cutting edge.

I've backed it. I hope that this is the future of mass produced electronics.

------
jonrx
I don't know how viable a crowd-funding campain can be for a smartphone.

1 year until delivery seems fair for the makers, but unfortunately the
competition will during this time release new devices with better specs.

Looks cool though. Reminds me physically of the Motorola DROID RAZR.

~~~
justincormack
Fairphone hit their target; they haven't shipped yet but it looks good.
[http://www.fairphone.com](http://www.fairphone.com)

~~~
crawrey
Props for mentioning Fairphone! I can't wait to get mine in October.

Ubuntu Edge does look good though, mostly because it should be a viable hybrid
Mobile/Desktop replacement. While I won't be supporting it, I do hope it goes
ahead.

------
AndrewGaspar
Is it just me, or does it seem like Canonical is taking all of their design
cues from Microsoft at this point? Ubuntu's mobile OS uses all the same kind
of edge swipes that Windows 8 uses and this phone looks like a small Surface.

~~~
nivla
At this point, everyone in the mobile OS, whether it be Android, iOS or
Windows Phone is "inspiring" something from one another. I am just glad there
are new competitions in the mobile space along with the fact that they are
encouraging HTML5 apps.

------
ldng
Wait a second ... 32 millions ...rings a bell. Isn't that current Canonical
debt ?

~~~
ensmotko
"they may still be $7millionGBP from being insolvent" source:
[http://www.linuxadvocates.com/2013/05/is-canonical-ltd-
finan...](http://www.linuxadvocates.com/2013/05/is-canonical-ltd-financially-
insolvent.html)

~~~
socceroos
LinuxAdvocates...

I wouldn't advise using that guy as a source of reliable information.

For far more balanced views that aren't pro-Ubuntu (necessarily) it would be
more advisable to visit a site like The Var Guy.

~~~
ldng
Neither would I recommend taking my comment too seriously. I was half-joking
;-)

~~~
socceroos
Yeah, I was referring to parent comments link to LinuxAdvocates. =)

------
shmerl
Using crowdfunding wastes a huge part of the raised money on taxes. It looks
like a sign of Canonical not being able to find investors. Jolla for example
did, and I take it as a sign of maturity and expertise in the field.

~~~
slgeorge
Seriously, how exactly does crowdfunding 'waste' more money than buying
something - you have to pay taxes of everything you buy anyway. You can at
best argue that it's a 'waste' if we don't hit the target and no phone is
produced.

The reality is that the Phone industry isn't incentivised to build products
like Ubuntu Edge. It's a limited run, high-end product rather than mass-
volume. In that context coming up with interesting ideas and then testing
whether there's interest with crowdfunding is completely appropriate.

ps I work for Canonical so obviously I'm biased.

~~~
shmerl
_Seriously, how exactly does crowdfunding 'waste' more money than buying
something - you have to pay taxes of everything you buy anyway._

Unless I misunderstood something, crowdfunding (in current form) has low
effective outcome, since it's taxed as presales (which axes the raised funds
significantly). I think it's a bit weird, since in essence this is
fundraising, and not presales, but this how it works for some reason.
Investment doesn't work the same way, and the input can be used for the
intended purpose much more effectively.

------
eutropia
Canonical, put Intel in this thing. 22nm Silvermont or 14nm silvermont will
make this thing a beauty to behold. Reach out to your contacts within intel,
because that will offer the performance you are looking for!

------
ludoo
32 million dollars? 830$ for a device, when high end MTK based phones cost max
300 (Zopo, THL, etc.) on the European market, and less than that in China?

They haven't got a clue... Why don't they start making working ROMs for
existing phones. If they targeted a few existing high end phones and the
ubiquitous and cheap MT6589 models (quad core, many with full HD screens) they
might have a better chance of starting to spread their OS and intriguing users
and developers.

~~~
wmf
High end and Mediatek are a contradiction. They're probably looking at
something like a Snapdradon 900.

------
bshanks
I would have preordered it if it had a physical QWERTY keyboard.

------
laxatives
Am I the only one not using paypal for large purchases? I came home just to
verify my paypal account (required for purchases over $500 and needs a check
to get the routing info), but it takes 2-3 days to complete the process. I
would love to support this project, but it doesn't look the logistics of it
are going to work out for me. edit: Just got off the phone and my account was
actually restricted for some reason. I'm in for one at the $600 rate.

~~~
robjh
I didn't have a paypal account before last night. After signing up I found the
payment gateway quite broken (paypal have sent me several emails now saying i
have successfully added a card ending in 0000). So now I have £800 floating
around somewhere in cyberspace, accounts on two websites that I don't care to
give any business to and most key to the issue; no pledge to this project.

Screw Paypal!

------
ender89
It sounds like it will only be available to people who support the
crowdfunding. I'd love to buy one, but I'm on CDMA at the moment and
committing to buying a phone 9 months out seems a bit idiotic, especially when
you consider that I'd have to switch service providers before I can even use
it. I think I would buy the phone (I love the concept) but its not something I
can commit to so far in advance, even if it means missing out entirely.

------
umsm
I love this concept, but I can't help but think:

If apple releases the next iphone with an hdmi compatible connection, that
would eliminate the benefit of this, no?

~~~
shock
You don't get a full desktop OS (Mac OS X) when you dock the iPhone. I assume
that's what you mean, your comment was a little unclear.

~~~
umsm
I am imagining a layout similar to an ipad, just for a larger monitor. Apple
is slowly moving their desktop OS to a mobile-like experience.

~~~
shock
I don't think I would like a 30" iphone/ipad interface. Would you?

~~~
umsm
I don't have an iMac, so I can't say :)

But seriously: IMO, that's where the market is heading.

------
Jhsto
Any idea does this also ship from UK? That's a big difference for Europeans
since else we have to pay for the high import taxes (24% here).

------
nnash
I really think they're overestimating who they perceive their target audience
to be. 830USD is more than an unlocked iPhone 5...

~~~
socceroos
I think you'll find that, with due respect, this will kick an iPhone 5's ass
around the neighbourhood and back by the time it's released (pending funding
success). Not least because it will have better specifications.

~~~
rimantas
Specs don't make the phone. Original iPhone with lousy specs still would kick
some modern Android phones asses in smooth-scrolling department.

------
narzac
I admire this effort. However what we need is a fully free phone (Hardware
schematics, source code). I am really disturbed about all that network
connection, GPS yet so little transparency.

Have you ever seen a movie, where the rogue agent does not take out and
destroy the phone, like it is a devil work :P

Any knowledge on hardware schematics, source code, license issues?

------
hayksaakian
Can I assume this won't work on Verizon?

~~~
achiang
We are not currently planning on supporting CDMA.

------
napoleoncomplex
There might be some financial sense in backing this, whether you intend to use
it or not. If it does not get funded, you get your money back. If it does get
funded and made, you'll be an owner of a limited edition run of a beastly
phone, whose resale value will probably be significantly higher than its
current price.

------
jwarkentin
I love the convergence thing. I've been predicting and hoping that things
would get to a point where I could just have one device that I use for home,
work, and everything. Canonical is making it happen and I will do anything I
can to support it and be a part of it!

------
mariusmg
Regarding the desktop side....hardware wise we're not there yet but personally
i'm convinced that this is the future (maybe in 5-10 years if Intel and AMD
keep it up ? ). Single device which will be desktop, phone, game console,
ebook reader etc.

------
dschiptsov
Something must be wrong here.) If it such a good idea, then there will be a
long queue of big shot investors, like that one before the Apple store.

It seems that Canonical have only good concepts, but not a world-class
engineering team (like Google's) to make it real.

------
RRRA
Interesting, but we'll need a faster selling rate, any friends? ;)
[http://movebits.net/2013/07/23/ubuntu-edge-funding-
level/](http://movebits.net/2013/07/23/ubuntu-edge-funding-level/)

------
boothead
$32 million? Well they mention formula 1, are they bootstrapping a new team
maybe?

------
lelf
This is all cool of course. But will it last more than 2 hours on one charge?

------
quackerhacker
I'm so happy Canonical is pushing this innovation. As soon as I heard about
their initial attempt in mobile OS on a Atrix, I knew this is where computing
had to be going.

That phone's design looks so slick too!

------
harel
I was just talking about me wanting a mobile device I can call my phone and my
laptop at the same breath. Something I can take in my pocket and hook up to a
keyboard/monitor setup when needed.

------
tomphoolery
Well that's fucking awesome.

But uhh...doesn't Canonical already have money? :P

~~~
pekk
There is a limit to how much money one can waste while remaining wealthy.

------
stephensikes
A few stats for the past hour (0900-1000 EDT, 23JUL):

$18,000 raised _, $14,940 from Ubuntu Edge (18 handsets, 83% of total),_ 8
undisclosed donations

Translates to $432,000/day and $12,960,000 for the next 30 days.

------
legierski
is it possible to download this "Ubuntu for Android" application that they are
showcasing in the Software video, running on Nexus 4? Can't find anything
about it...

~~~
nissimk
Not according to this:

[http://askubuntu.com/questions/307054/is-ubuntu-for-
android-...](http://askubuntu.com/questions/307054/is-ubuntu-for-android-by-
canonical-available-to-the-average-user-yet/307060#307060)

------
jamesbrennan
I wonder what 'Fastest multi-core CPU' actually equates to. Has anyone found
technical specifications that include a more specific value than 'fastest'?

~~~
wmf
The fact that they don't provide details probably means that the processor
hasn't been announced yet. Presumably it will be faster than a Snapdragon
MSM8974.
[http://www.anandtech.com/show/7082/snapdragon-800-msm8974-pe...](http://www.anandtech.com/show/7082/snapdragon-800-msm8974-performance-
preview-qualcomm-mobile-development-tablet)

~~~
scholia
Yesterday, Shuttleworth said the processor hadn't been chosen yet.

------
mbesto
I only have one question - battery life? This is the only thing that matters
if it becomes a hinderance, and the only thing that doesn't matter if it's
not.

~~~
larkarvin
We have the same question, they did not mention anything about battery life.
I'm not sure about the video, I don't have my sound card installed on my
office workstation. If this could last as 5 hrs for an Ubuntu Desktop, I'll
buy one.

~~~
achiang
We assume it will be plugged into AC when in desktop mode.

------
aram
Dummy question:

 _" Dual LTE antennas"_

Does this also mean double the radiation?

~~~
dkokelley
I think this means that the phone is equipped with antennas for different
"LTE/4G" frequencies. This makes the phone work with different carriers
throughout the world. The second antenna is for compatibility.

It's unlikely that the phone will spend power activating antennas that are not
in use given the carrier/geographic standard, so my best guess is this: No.
You will not see double the radiation.

(I could be completely wrong here, though. I'm not a cellular engineer by any
standard.)

~~~
mtgx
No, it seems double MIMO antenna or something. There already are multiple LTE
bands. Qualcomm's S800 will support 20 different ones, and they are planning
for 40 in the future.

------
codezero
$600 is a lot to go all-in on a phone that won't hit the market until May
2014. The specs look great, but who knows what will happen in 6-8 months.

------
tcoppi
They don't even have final specs nailed down, and they're trying to raise $32
million for a production run?

~~~
reactor
I think that’s why it is called an "experiment".

~~~
tcoppi
Except there isn't "experiment" anywhere on that page, it is being billed as a
final, nearly-complete product.

~~~
reactor
the campaign, I meant.

------
lucb1e
> Forget gorilla glass, we have crystal!

I liked that part

------
rikacomet
32,000,000... I missed a zero, first few times I read it.

If they make it, I will give a damn about Death Star not getting funded :P

------
tled
Can I program, build and install app right on this device without the need of
another machine(macbook, pc)?

------
reirob
Does the $830 perk include as well the docking station additionally to the
phone? Or is it the phone alone?

------
alexose
I ordered one, but there's absolutely no way this is going to crack 10
million, let alone 32.

------
skizm
Can I hook this up to my Verizon account (which I currently still have
unlimited data on)?

------
sneak
Man, that guy needs to spend some of his money on a body language coach.

------
tele_throwaway
More importantly: 37 people decided they wanted to pay $230 extra?

------
gummydude
God's phone

------
davidbanham
I want to hook this up to an Oculus Rift.

------
chaselee
Money well spent that it was.

------
dakimov
What a talentless useless bullshit.

~~~
shock
So don't buy it :) Better yet, don't waste another moment thinking about it!

------
sublimit
Haha oh wow. They're charging hundreds of dollars to add a free OS into a
smartphone. And they expect to get 32 million just for the promise. Someone
lock these people up before they do some real damage.

~~~
shock
I would downvote you if I could. I'm pretty tired of seeing snark like this
and thinking how many people get discouraged of trying something new and bold
for fear it would be met with an attitude like yours. Piss off.

~~~
sublimit
Except it's not "new and bold", it's literally Ubuntu on a smartphone for far
above the market price. Add some marketing buzzwords about how it will
revolutionize computing and people start seeing clothes on the emperor.

~~~
primelens
I don't know if they'll pull off the desktop integration, but meanwhile can
you recommend a phone I can put into a dock and work on as a desktop PC. That
seems pretty new and bold to me.

~~~
scholia
In February, i-mate announced a Windows 8 Phone (not Windows Phone 8)
[http://blogs.seattletimes.com/brierdudley/2013/02/25/new-
win...](http://blogs.seattletimes.com/brierdudley/2013/02/25/new-windows-8-pc-
phone-revealed-plus-tablet-and-desktop/)

A decade or so ago, a Pocket PC would have done the job. I think it was
Toshiba who offered a $25 adaptor so you could plug in your PC's USB keyboard.

------
izietto
Why not 1920x1080??? WHYYYYYYYY?????

------
vonskippy
Shuttleworth has a 2012 net worth of $500 Million USD plus - yet he wants the
common Ubuntu fanboy to fund his latest project?

Um....no.

~~~
scholia
He's shopping for _customers_

------
txutxu
So how this works... ?

I fund, then Amazon tracks what I search by default on my machine ?

Or I fund and you FIGHT AGAINST a project maintained by voluntary people ?

OK, I 'll NOT fund you.

~~~
txutxu
I see down votes in this comment I did.

Sorry if someone did feel offended.

I did feel offended by Cannonical seeking my funds, and I've my personal
reasons to not fund them.

Maybe I did not express it the best way, but anyway it's my personal opinion.

I could fund them if I could make them sign a contract, about what and how is
going to be done. I don't trust them, and what I did say in that comment it's
just 2 little examples.

