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Ubuntu Edge is dead, long live Ubuntu phones

arstechnica.com

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Re: Ubuntu Edge is dead, long live Ubuntu phones

#11

Post by crdoconnor »

bayesianhorse wrote: post #9

I really didn't and don't understand what Ubuntu was trying to achieve with the Edge campaign. The project sounds great and I would have bought one, but there was no chance in hell they were pulling this crowdfunding campaign off. That they got 12 Million is already a big achievement and surprise.

I'm pretty sure it was a way of kicking risk averse asian handset manufacturers into action. Setting the bar at $32 million meant that they could demonstrate interest without actually dealing with the headache of making the phone themselves.

Re: Ubuntu Edge is dead, long live Ubuntu phones

#12

Post by akr »

yuhong wrote: post #8

Personally, I wish for an ARM notebook market coming out of the Chromebook, with different configurations for Chrome OS and Ubuntu etc.

This. I really would like a small netbook type ARM device which runs a normal Linux distribution and doesn't cheap out on battery capacity. The Samsung ARM Chromebook comes near but it could have a better display, casing and keyboard (ideally with a trackpoint).

Re: Ubuntu Edge is dead, long live Ubuntu phones

#14

Post by ChrisNorstrom »

If the phones had more realistic specs, meaning they got the price down to $500 or so, and ran the campaign for 60 days instead of 30 they probably would have succeeded.

The phones they were competing with had 1gb and 2gb of RAM, yet the Ubuntu Edge was given 4gb. Really? What happened to launching a modest product, and after gaining traction improving it?

PLUS they should have warned people and starting advertising that their indiegogo campaign was going to launch 2 months before it actually did. That way they'd have a huge list of people ready to pre-order and ad campaigns set up by the community just in time for the campaign launch.

Re: Ubuntu Edge is dead, long live Ubuntu phones

#15

Post by Roboprog »

teejaygreen wrote: post #13

"Since the campaign didn't meet its funding requirement, refunds will be processed to backers within five business days, Canonical said." Do you think Indiegogo made interest on that 12 million dollars over the past month? If so, how much?

1) Less than inflation

2) Something, which won't be going back with those devalued refund dollars.

Re: Ubuntu Edge is dead, long live Ubuntu phones

#16

Post by chmike »

The phone was too expensive and the risk too high that at the time it is delivered it would be outdated.

Here in France we have a company configuring and selling wiko smartphones (made in china) which are very cheap for their capacity.

Offering Ubuntu on such cheap phones could be a better way to get adopted by the Ubuntu community that doesn't have the money to buy Apple or windows computer. People would be much more forgiving for some software flaws or glitches.

Re: Ubuntu Edge is dead, long live Ubuntu phones

#17

Post by __alexs »

teejaygreen wrote: post #13

"Since the campaign didn't meet its funding requirement, refunds will be processed to backers within five business days, Canonical said." Do you think Indiegogo made interest on that 12 million dollars over the past month? If so, how much?

No idea but I'm sure PayPal are going to do their best with the $12m in new account balances they just got though.

Re: Ubuntu Edge is dead, long live Ubuntu phones

#18

Post by pqs »

There is something I can't understand. They couldn't produce a really necessary Ubuntu laptop and they think they will be able to create a phone that doubles as netbook. They are deluded.

I'll soon have to buy a new laptop. I really would like to buy an "Ubuntu Air" laptop, if it existed. But it doesn't. Those that wan't to buy an Ubuntu laptop (or any other linux laptop) must study all the components of the computer they are going to buy and check for driver compatibility, plus some prayers, because you never know if it is really going to work well. This is really painful, and I'm not taking into account the usual regressions when upgrading.

At the end, I will probably buy a Mac. I have a baby and I don't have time to spend configuring wireless card drivers for days. But I'd love to have a high quality linux laptop.

Re: Ubuntu Edge is dead, long live Ubuntu phones

#19

Post by izacus »

pqs wrote: post #18

There is something I can't understand. They couldn't produce a really necessary Ubuntu laptop and they think they will be able to create a phone that doubles as netbook. They are deluded. I'll soon have to buy a new laptop. I really would like to buy an "Ubuntu Air" laptop, if it existed. But it doesn't. Those that wan't to buy an Ubuntu laptop (or any other linux laptop) must study all the components of the computer…

sigh

Not this FUD again. Ubuntu will work well on pretty much any single-graphics Ultrabook currently on the market.

Can we leave the wifi problems complaints in previous decade where they belong?

Re: Ubuntu Edge is dead, long live Ubuntu phones

#20

Post by dhoe »

pqs wrote: post #18

There is something I can't understand. They couldn't produce a really necessary Ubuntu laptop and they think they will be able to create a phone that doubles as netbook. They are deluded. I'll soon have to buy a new laptop. I really would like to buy an "Ubuntu Air" laptop, if it existed. But it doesn't. Those that wan't to buy an Ubuntu laptop (or any other linux laptop) must study all the components of the computer…

The Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition, which has Ubuntu preinstalled, is as close to "Ubuntu Air" as it gets. Don't like it?
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