Hasta La Ideas

Earlier this year, popular Linux-based operating system Ubuntu announced their mobile OS, leading to speculation about a forthcoming foray into hardware. Last week saw the launch of an ambitious crowdfunding campaign for the very same: Canonical, the company behind the OS, is seeking a whopping $32 million to introduce a “low-volume, high-technology platform,” The new smartphone is expressly designed for “enthusiasts and mobile computing professionals”—Ubuntu draws an analogy to Formula 1 racing, in which performance-oriented R&D “accelerates the adoption of new technologies and drives them down into the mainstream.”

To that end, the first generation of the Ubuntu Edge—available only via presale on IndieGogo—features a clever dual-boot system, such that the device runs Ubuntu mobile OS and Android simultaneously. Moreover, since the Edge runs a full version of Ubuntu desktop OS, it can also serve as a full-fledged PC when connected to an external monitor. Thus, the smartphone also represents “the future of converged computing,” in which a single piece of hardware serves as the brain behind a suite of applications: mobile, desktop and potentially anything in between.

Of course, the rectangular black slab itself has duly impressive specs, with a 4.5-inch, 1280×720 sapphire glass screen, plus 4GB of RAM and a massive 128GB hard drive, as well as Dual LTE, Bluetooth, front- and rear-cameras—in short, the works. Designed in-house at Ubuntu, industrial designer Chee Wong has posted a first look at the “materials, stories and process [behind] the development of the Ubuntu Edge.”

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