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Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth and friends have been working to bring the open source operating system to smartphones and tablets. And last month they introduced a side-project, a phone called the Ubuntu Edge which would dual boot Android and Ubuntu and work both as a phone and a desktop computer (when docked to a mouse, keyboard, and monitor).
But in order to transition the Ubuntu Edge from a concept to a real product, the team figured it’d take about $32 million — and turned to crowd-funding site Indiegogo to try to raise the money.
It’s starting to look like that won’t happen. Halfway through the campaign, donors have only pledged about a quarter of the amount needed. But Mark Shuttleworth says that’s OK, because the project has helped push forward the idea of a converged device and helped promote Ubuntu Phone OS.
Even if the Edge is never built, the project makes it a little more likely that one day we’ll see someone else create this type of device. At least that’s the theory.
Shuttleworth also hints that the team could offer some new pledge levels and rewards to try to jump-start the stalled fundrasing campaign.
Here’s a roundup of tech news from around the web.
- As Ubuntu Edge crowd-funding slows, founder Mark Shuttleworth says it’s OK if the project doesn’t make its goal
While the Ubuntu Edge project got off to a good start, raising $3.5 million in pledges in its first day, it’s looking increasingly likely that the project won’t reach it’s $32 million goal. Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth seems cool with that. [CNET] - XBMC for Android can now act as an AirPlay receiver, be the default audio/video app on Android device
The latest builds of XBMC are out for Android, Windows, Mac, and Linux, and there are a few new goodies in the Android app including Zeroconf support. [XBMC] - What’s new in the latest Google Play Store app for Android
Google released a new version of the Play Store app for Android this week. It offers a look at recently updated apps, shows one notification when multiple updates are available, and more. It’ll be rolled out to most devices automatically soon, but you can download it ahead of time now. [Android Police] - Firefox 23 released, adds sharing, security features
Mozilla releases a new version of Firefox every 6 weeks, so new versions aren’t as big a deal as they used to be. But Firefox 23’s most notable changes include a share button for sending content to social networks, and improved security when visiting sites with both HTTPS and HTTP content. [Firefox Release Notes] - New Android build numbers for Nexus 7, Nexus 4 suggest that Google Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie testing is underway
Sure, we don’t know what’s new in Android 5.0 yet, but it looks like it might be the next update after Android 4.3. Maybe. [Droid Life]
You can keep up on the latest headlines by following Liliputing on Twitter, Google+ and Facebook.
“Shuttleworth also hints that the team could offer some new pledge levels and rewards to try to jump-start the stalled fundrasing campaign.”
Ubuntu Edge is and expensive $830 dollar high end phone, so for people to buy any pledge level will help. The phone is expensive, but you have to remember that this phone has 128 GB storage, 4 GB RAM, the best multi-core processor available when produced, and a GPU that will be able to output full HD to a external screen.
You must also remember that this is a unlocked phone with dual-LTE and GMS, cabale of runing in most networks i US and Europe, and most other countries. It is an unsubsidiced device, that is not locked to any carrier, for any amount of time. With this device you can choose the best or cheapest carrier, and the best and cheapest way to finance it.
The price for an Ubuntu Edge, a phone that also can run Android, is currently $780. An Apple iPhone 5 with 64 GB storage and 1 GB RAM costs $850.
What I would like Canonical to do is to set up a perk that for some money, included a easy way to finance the phone. Cononical will have to pay the difference, but before you receive your phone, you will have to sign a contract to finance the rest (with some overhead). But I don’t think that is going to happen, so the best ting to do is to order the phone now.
This is a one time offer. You can only buy this phone at the IndieGoGo project page.