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Ubuntu Edge - Less than 24 hours left, $20 million to go

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Re: Ubuntu Edge - Less than 24 hours left, $20 million to go

#61
post #36
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But I agree with gregpilling. Why did they have to add all of those untested features to the spec. Is sapphire glass really better or is it just a fancy sounding gimmick? And what's up with "Silicon-anode Li-ion?" More RAM sounded good to me and the whole ubuntu in your pocket thing also sounds great, but premium pricing and new hardware technologies that are unproven worry me.

Sapphire glass will be used on several new upcoming high-end smartphones, and is already used by Vertu. So, yes, it is just a fancy sounding gimmick and will be commonplace in 2014.

Sapphire glass is far from being a 'fancy sounding gimmick'.

It is, in fact, the "transparent aluminum" from Star Trek. Which was an elaborate joke on the fact that pure aluminum oxide is harder than anything except elemental boron and diamond.

Keep emery boards away from your sapphire screen and it simply will not scratch. I can't wait, personally, and have been disappointed that the camera lens on iPhones is not yet sapphire since the 4.

Re: Ubuntu Edge - Less than 24 hours left, $20 million to go

#63
post #10

It's sad to see this die :(. Hope it will rise from ashes some day.

It was badly formulated in the first place. Ubuntu on phones is interesting because it's Ubuntu, not because some team with no previous track record in hardware wants to build a high-end phone. Making it about the hardware was unnecessary. How many of you would have bought a pre-configured Ubuntu phone on any decent existing ODM hardware platform?

Completely agreed - I couldn't care less what Canonical thinks about phone hardware, unless that includes all of the hardware being completely open. I just want a replacement for my N900, and supported w/community rather than hacked together.

I just want proper Gnutils and to be able to port Linux apps over after writing a little QML. I also want to be able to use languages other than Objective-C and Java. Jolla and Ubuntu are the only candidates right now.

Re: Ubuntu Edge - Less than 24 hours left, $20 million to go

#64

I would have been tempted to pay for this, if it was going through. But with it clearly not going to go through, I wasn't going to put several hundred dollars in, just to get it back again two weeks later. I wonder how many others thought the same way.

But I think part of the purpose of all of this is to prove to phone manufacturers that there is a demand.

If you put your money in for a couple weeks and then got it back, you'd be contributing toward that goal. And it sounds like that's a goal that maybe you care about, since you were tempted to pay for it.

Re: Ubuntu Edge - Less than 24 hours left, $20 million to go

#65
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sapphire glass will be used on several new upcoming high-end smartphones, and is already used by Vertu. So, yes, it is just a fancy sounding gimmick and will be commonplace in 2014.

Sapphire glass is far from being a 'fancy sounding gimmick'. It is, in fact, the "transparent aluminum" from Star Trek. Which was an elaborate joke on the fact that pure aluminum oxide is harder than anything except elemental boron and diamond. Keep emery boards away from your sapphire screen and it simply will not scratch. I can't wait, personally, and have been disappointed that the camera lens on iPhones is not ye…

I'm sorry if I was being unclear. By "Fancy sounding gimmick" I meant it's not something that special. Many quality watches have used sapphire for a long time, and the use on phones is a result of scaling up production.

Scratch resistance is not the only measure of a desirable screen material. It has to bend and resist breaking due to flexing and impact. Sapphire is unlikely to take over all phone screens because it is unlikely to have superior properties for all parameters.

Re: Ubuntu Edge - Less than 24 hours left, $20 million to go

#66
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sapphire glass will be used on several new upcoming high-end smartphones, and is already used by Vertu. So, yes, it is just a fancy sounding gimmick and will be commonplace in 2014.

Sapphire glass is far from being a 'fancy sounding gimmick'. It is, in fact, the "transparent aluminum" from Star Trek. Which was an elaborate joke on the fact that pure aluminum oxide is harder than anything except elemental boron and diamond. Keep emery boards away from your sapphire screen and it simply will not scratch. I can't wait, personally, and have been disappointed that the camera lens on iPhones is not ye…

Sounds gimmicky to me:

http://ceramics.org/ceramic-tech-today/sapphire-versus-goril...

I haven't heard many people complain about scratches on their smartphone screens, but I have seen a lot of people operating phones with shattered screens.

Re: Ubuntu Edge - Less than 24 hours left, $20 million to go

#67

695 plus taxes(and in Europe it is at least 21-23%) is lots of money for a phone. Why they don't finance it? It is the only way normal people could buy it.

IMO finance is not a good idea for this sort of thing - it would only encourage people to buy something they can't really afford. This is a luxury even in the modern era of smartphones being commonplace, nobody needs to have it.

Re: Ubuntu Edge - Less than 24 hours left, $20 million to go

#68

I would have been tempted to pay for this, if it was going through. But with it clearly not going to go through, I wasn't going to put several hundred dollars in, just to get it back again two weeks later. I wonder how many others thought the same way.

I'm in the same boat.

Re: Ubuntu Edge - Less than 24 hours left, $20 million to go

#69
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sapphire glass is far from being a 'fancy sounding gimmick'. It is, in fact, the "transparent aluminum" from Star Trek. Which was an elaborate joke on the fact that pure aluminum oxide is harder than anything except elemental boron and diamond. Keep emery boards away from your sapphire screen and it simply will not scratch. I can't wait, personally, and have been disappointed that the camera lens on iPhones is not ye…

I'm sorry if I was being unclear. By "Fancy sounding gimmick" I meant it's not something that special. Many quality watches have used sapphire for a long time, and the use on phones is a result of scaling up production. Scratch resistance is not the only measure of a desirable screen material. It has to bend and resist breaking due to flexing and impact. Sapphire is unlikely to take over all phone screens because it…

All true. As I mentioned, camera lenses would be the biggest improvement. Likely universal within a year or two.

Re: Ubuntu Edge - Less than 24 hours left, $20 million to go

#70
The idea that Canonical was just testing the market with this crowd funding effort, and that they are using it to prove demand to carriers is absolutely ridiculous! A failed crowd funding campaign is not good publicity. I would bet that after this a significant number of the persons/organizations who pledged will not pledge so easily again.

I would love if this phone saw the light of day. But Canonical were way too ambitious with this campaign. They should have asked for less money, and gotten a majority of it from large investors. But I guess they didn't want to give up any stake in the venture.

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