An ambitious crowd funding project aims to raise $32 million to develop a mobile phone running Ubuntu Linux. London-based developer Canonical hopes to raise that amount to fund a production run of 40,000 devices, dubbed “Ubuntu Edge”.

 

The Ubuntu Edge will dual-boot Ubuntu phone OS and Android and will transform into a PC when docked with a monitor, with the full Ubuntu desktop and shared access to all files. For this it will be equipped with the latest, fastest components and 128 GB of storage. The screen will be sapphire instead of glass for toughness, and the Ubuntu Edge will pioneer the use of long-life silicon anode battery technology. A special dual-LTE solution will all allow high-speed roaming with access to 4G LTE broadband in both Europe and the US.

 

If the project receives sufficient funding, backers will receive one of these groundbreaking mobile devices in May 2014. The 4.5-inch quad core device will have a 1,280 x 720 pixel display, 8 MP rear camera and 2 MP front camera with dual-LTE, dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4 and NFC, as well as stereo speakers with active noise cancellation.