The Ubuntu Edge was to be a top-end i9500 S4 smartphone-Priceangels.com

The Ubuntu Edge was to be a top-end smartphone that would be built on a zero-profit basis, offering the ability to run both Google's Android software and Canonical's Ubuntu Touch mobile desktop software. With 128GB of storage, Shuttleworth saw it as combining the capabilities of a i9500 S4 smartphone and desktop PC: by attaching it to a screen, it would in effect offer a desktop PC replacement.

The high funding target was necessary because of the device's specification and the cost of tooling to build it, even for a comparatively small production run. But in the end only around 11,000 people pledged to buy a total of 17,230 phones. Only one company, Bloomberg, pledged to buy one of the 50 "enterprise" allocations of 115 phones for $80,000 – and that came on the 17th day, when independent statistical analysis had already suggested the project would fail.

On the fundraising page, Shuttleworth said "Thousands of you clearly want to own an Ubuntu phone and believe in our vision of convergence, and rest assured you won't have much longer to wait." He said a number of handset manufacturers have tested prototypes of the Ubuntu phone software, and that carriers are interested in deploying it.

A British attempt to raise a record $32m (£20.5m) through crowdfunding to build top-end smartphones has raised a unprecedented $12m, but because it failed to hit its target will now return all the money.Can you believe the modern smartphone has only been around for six years? In that short time, it's changed the way society does business, communicates, flirts, gets news, makes news, plays games and so much more. According to a Pew survey, more than half of adults in the U.S. own a smartphone.nyh67SD 

That isn't to say most people are Air Gesture smartphone experts. Just owning a smartphone doesn't mean you know all the tricks. In fact, here are five that you might not know, but really should.If the phone has a removable battery, take it out. Then fill a container or bag with uncooked rice and put the smartphone in the container overnight. The rice will help pull the moisture out of the gadget.Under no circumstances put the phone in the oven or microwave!The next day, put the phone back together and turn it on. If it starts up, congratulations! If not, you're off to the store for a new one.

Smartphone cameras are great for the casual shutterbug. You can snap pictures no matter where you go and post them online.Of course, if you aren't careful you're also sharing your location with everyone. GT-I9500 S4 Smartphones can embed GPS information into photos that anyone can read.You could turn off GPS when you're taking pictures. To turn it off on your iPhone, go to Settings>>Privacy Location Services. You can turn it off for everything or just for the camera.

The apps we use are not the only issue – battery technology is lagging behind and the power needs of smartphones are increasing. Most devices (smartphones, laptops, cameras) are fuelled by lithium batteries. They're light and hold a lot of energy but they also start to degrade as soon as they're manufactured. If you need a replacement, make sure it was manufactured recently.

Samsung and Apple Successfully Fend Off Low-Cost GT-I9300 Smartphone Vendors-Priceangels.com

For the second calendar quarter in a row, GT-I9300 smartphone shipments represented more than half (52%) of the world’s mobile phone shipments. Led by electronics manufacturer Samsung, an estimated 408 million handsets and 214 million smartphones shipped during the second quarter of 2013, according to market intelligence firm ABI Research. Feature phone shipments declined 20% year-over-year to 195 million units as low-cost manufacturers continue to claw their way up-market with increased device specifications.

Due to typical seasonality gains at mid-year, handset shipments grew 0.5% sequentially and more than 7% year-over-year. Smartphone shipments maintained a healthy growth rate of 5.5% sequentially and nearly 44% year-over-year. “Despite concerns of premium tier smartphone saturation, both Samsung and Apple were able to deliver better than expected results in the second quarter,” says senior analyst Michael Morgan.

The high end of the smartphone market continued to perform well in 2Q as Samsung Galaxy S4 and Apple iPhones outpaced the overall market. Despite the surprising tenacity of premium smartphones, Apple’s market share (14.6%) dropped to its lowest point since 3Q’2011. ABI Research attributes this share loss to the success of the Samsung Galaxy S4 launch and the continued growth of low cost and mass market smartphone shipments.

GT-I9500 S4
As competitors such as Huawei, ZTE and Lenovo move their GT-I9500 S4 smartphone portfolios upstream, ABI Research expects increasing margin pressure on the premium smartphone segment where the majority of industry profits reside.These findings are part of ABI Research’s Mobile Handset Markets service, which includes detailed smartphone and mobile handset shipments, forecasts, and market share.gff45DG3s

“This timely launch of the Huawei Ascend P6, our latest flagship smartphone, is a firm demonstration of our commitment to growing the brand and our market share in this country”, said Huawei Malaysia Country Head Consumer Business Group Gary Xu at the smartphone launching ceremony here today.

Leading mobile phone chip maker Qualcomm said on July 25 that the next generation of smartphones will take another stride forward as the company reported robust quarterly earnings. "We still think the next smartphone is going to surprise you with the things it can do," Qualcomm director of CPU product management Travis Lanier told reporters. "There is a way to go in innovation."

The "system-on-a-chip" design of Snapdragon allows for N7100+ Note 3 smartphones or tablets to be designed with features such as playback of ultra high-definition video or surround-sound in headsets plugged into devices. A 'Quantified Self' movement driven by wearable computers such as wristbands or pendants with sensors that relay information to increasingly sophisticated smartphones or tablets is weaving the devices even deeper into lives.

Ubuntu Edge GT-I9300 Smartphone Announced in £20m Crowd-Funding Campaign-Priceangels.com

Launched on 22 July, the Indiegogo campaign has already reached $400,000 from more than 600 contributors, and the company hopes to use the $32m raised to design, produce and deliver the phone by May 2014.

The Ubuntu Edge is hoped to be the most powerful and feature-packed GT-I9300 smartphone ever made. Although plans for the phone have not yet been finalised, the Ubuntu team want it to have a 4.5in display - however they say pixel density does not need to go beyond 300 per inch - and be powered by "the fastest available multi-core processor," with at least 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage - more than any smartphone on sale today.

Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu, said the Edge smartphone is "the ultimate convergence device - challenging established norms for PCs and smartphones. The crowdfunding approach is a new way to prove demand for cutting edge technologies and new classes of device; supporting the Ubuntu Edge is the best way to catalyse the next generation of personal devices from industry."

Shuttleworth likens the GT-I9500 S4 smartphone industry to the motor industry, stating that while car manufacturers have Formula One as a testbed to try out new technologies, smartphone makers do not, so they hold back and only develop products which they know will be a mainstream success.

For $600 - but only on the 22 July launch date - funders will receive their own Ubuntu Edge once the device has entered production next year, while $830 is the regular price for the phone once the discounted initial offer ends.Finally, for $80,000 backers will receive 100 Ubuntu Edge smartphones for use in their company, plus access to practice workshops and 30 days of online support to help IT managers integrate Ubuntu for Android into the workplace.dr4sbfvcD

Canonical has announced it is seeking crowdfunding for its Ubuntu Edge smartphone that will run its Ubuntu Linux distribution.Canonical already announced its plan to put its popular Ubuntu Linux distribution on smartphones, but now the firm has shown off rendered designs for its own showpiece smartphone that when docked becomes a thin client. The firm's Ubuntu Edge smartphone project is seeking $32m (£21.5m) in crowdfunding before it will see the light of day.

Canonical's Ubuntu Edge N7100+ Note 3 smartphone has very rough specifications, with the firm hoping that the rendered design will be enough to tempt users to part with $600 for a handset on the first day and $830 for the remaining 30 days. The firm said that the smartphone will have a 4.5in HD 720p high resolution screen, a multi-core processor, at least 4GB of RAM and an 8MP front camera, and said that the device will be able to dual-boot Ubuntu Linux and Google's Android mobile operating system.