Canonical are known for their ability to build tension leading up to a reveal, from the controversial Unity interface to the interesting Ubuntu TV, they always love to keep us guessing to the last minute. In the previous examples, you could arguably say that the reveal didn’t live up to the hype, while I love Unity these days, upon release it wasn’t the best, and I haven’t really heard much about Ubuntu TV since it’s announcement, however this time they aren’t pulling any punches.

This ambiguous message was displayed on ubuntu.com for 4 days up until the big reveal.

Ubuntu Edge

The latest surprise to come out of Canonical is without a doubt their biggest, most ambitious stunt yet, an exclusive, crowd funded, absolutely gorgeous smartphone from the future, dubbed “Ubuntu Edge”.

This new piece of hardware is being released with limited availability, exclusively to contributers to the Ubuntu Edge Indiegogo campaign.

Indiegogo

The Ubuntu Edge smartphone is not being released in any traditional sense, the project seems to be more like an exciting hobby project for the team at Canonical, and as such, they have started a pledge for $32,000,000 to be raised by the community, within 32 days.

If the $32,000,000 goal is not reached, the Ubuntu Edge will not exist. If the $32,000,000 goal is reached, everyone who has contributed funds to the campaign above a certain amount will be getting a phone, and in the process Canonical will have broken records for the amount of money pledged to a crowd funding project.

You can check out the Indiegogo campaign on this page here, as well as get all the information you need on the phone and the campaign:

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ubuntu-edge

Reddit AMA

As the guys in the office know, I’m a big reddit fan, so of course I read through Mark Shuttleworth’s AMA (Ask Me Anything) about the Ubuntu Edge, where he got a slew of interesting questions from the reddit community, you can read through the thread here:

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1j166z/hi_im_mark_shuttleworth_founder_of_ubuntu/

Specs

The Ubuntu Edge looks solid, feels solid, and packs some serious punch on the inside

The idea of “convergence” is one that is being very heavily pushed by Ubuntu Edge, this idea is that you can have 1 device, running 1 operating system, across all of your work environments. The way that Ubuntu is achieving this is to have your smartphone double as your desktop PC by docking the phone, to a screen, keyboard and mouse.

You can check out the convergence functionality in this video here, keep in mind this functionality is running on a Nexus smartphone, which is considerably less powerful than the Ubuntu Edge, and the code is still in a beta stage, so performance will not be the same as the finished product.

With this functionality in mind for the Ubuntu Edge, there is an obvious need for some serious power in the phone itself, take a look at the specs below:

• Dual boot Ubuntu mobile OS and Android
• Fully integrated Ubuntu desktop PC when docked
• Fastest multi-core CPU, 4GB RAM, 128GB storage
• Micro-SIM
• 4.5in 1,280 x 720 HD sapphire crystal display
• 8mp low-light rear camera, 2mp front camera
• Dual-LTE, dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4, NFC
• GPS, accelerometer, gyro, proximity sensor, compass, barometer
• Stereo speakers with HD audio, dual-mic recording, Active Noise Cancellation
• MHL connector, 3.5mm jack
• Silicon-anode Li-Ion battery
• 64 x 9 x 124mm

As well as the raw power offered in the multi-core CPU and the whopping 4GB of RAM, there is also quite a bit of experimental hardware being put to the test, such as the ‘Silicon-anode Li-Ion battery’, which is said to offer much higher battery life than standard Li-Ion batteries, and the sapphire crystal display, which is said to be extremely scratch resistant (although easy to shatter from what I’ve heard).

Mark Shuttleworth says that in the smartphone industry, there is no testing bed for new tech to be proven, no “Formula 1” of the smartphone space, so he wants Ubuntu Edge to fill this gap, to be the “prototype” phone to test the cutting edge technology of any given time (Canonical is hoping to release an Ubuntu Edge device every year, if they can gain funding).

What do you think? Are you going to be contributing to the fund and receive your very own Ubuntu Edge? Do you think they can reach their target? (at the time of this writing $7,415,102 has been raised towards the $32,000,000 goal, with 22 days to go.) Let us know in the comments below.