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Ubuntu Handhelds Operating Systems Portables Hardware Linux

Canonical Reveals the BQ Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Tablet (omgubuntu.co.uk) 118

LichtSpektren writes: Several tech sites have now broke the news that Canonical has revealed their BQ Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Tablet. Joey-Elijah Sneddon builds the hype: "A stunning 10.1-inch IPS touch display powered a full HD 1920×1200 pixel resolution at 240 ppi. Inside is a 64-bit MediaTek MT8163A 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of internal memory. A micro SD memory card is included, adding storage expansion of up to 64GB. Furthermore, the converged slate includes an 8-megapixel rear camera with autofocus and dual LED flash (and capable of recording in full 1080p), plus a front facing 3-megapixel camera for video chats, vlogs and selfies. Front facing Dolby Atmos speakers will provide a superior sound experience during movie playback. The M10 measure 246mm x 171mm x 8.2mm, weighs just 470 grams — lighter than the Apple iPad Air — and has a 7280 mAh battery to give up to 10 hours of use. ... Tablet mode offers a side stage for running two apps side-by-side, plus a full range of legacy desktop applications, mobile apps and scopes. LibreOffice, Mozilla Firefox, The GIMP and Gedit are among a 'curated collection of legacy apps' to ship pre-installed on the tablet. It will also be possible for developers and enthusiasts to install virtually any ARM compatible app available on Ubuntu using the familiar 'apt-get' command." A photo gallery can also be seen on his website here. The price is not yet announced, but the Android version of the same tablet is currently on sale for €229.
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Canonical Reveals the BQ Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Tablet

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  • Excellent! (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Shut up and take my money!!1

    • Well said.

    • Those specs are so 2 years ago. I was reading and was more like "meh" than anything else.

      • I agree in a way. 16GB of internal storage is pretty lame, unless the 64GB micro SD is seen as "native" storage.

        But to keep things in perspective: Android is Java, and adds a huge amount of cruft and overhead to the underlying Linux OS. I've been wondering for a long time why we weren't seeing plain native Linux tablets, without all that Google junk.

        As long as I have LibreOffice, Firefox, and a few other apps for it I'm good to go. I could wish for a more plain-Linux experience than Ubuntu, but if it
        • Storage is always going to be an issue. Without integrated Cloud/Web Storage (like Google Drive, Box, Dropbox ...) even the SD card option is lame. As for Libre/Open Office, those are nice, but having live documents I can edit from just about anywhere is a huge benefit for me, and "Office" suites no longer suffice in today's world (IMHO)

          • Storage is always going to be an issue.

            I'm not convinced that's true. Today you can get a 128GB Micro SDHC, which is pretty darned good for storage for a mobile device. Even if it only takes 32GB (most modern devices accept at least that much), it's not a problem to carry around a few Micro SDs.

      • [quote=Archangel Michael]Those specs are so 2 years ago[/quote] What tablet would have bought with a 64 bit ARM processor 2 years ago. Mind you, it doesn't say if it is running 64 bit ubuntu....
    • Shut up and take my money!!1

      Sorry, I'm not ready to forgive Shuttleworth for that whole Unity fiasco just yet.

      Besides, I hardly think he needs my money, he has quite enough of his own.

      • He's like a cat with a laser pointer, else this would have been in market two years ago. Speed of execution is not a strength on that platform, it seems.

      • The beauty about Ubuntu, is that it doesn't matter what Shuttleworth wants to do, you can do something different.

        I won't hate Shuttleworth unless he takes choices away from me.

    • by Lumpy ( 12016 )

      Why? just get a google Nexus 4 and install the ubuntu phone image. that wy you can find what the rest of us have.... it sucks and then you re-flash back to android.

      • Why? just get a google Nexus 4 and install the ubuntu phone image. that wy you can find what the rest of us have.... it sucks and then you re-flash back to android.

        LOL, between you and "Try it for free". by truck_soccer, I'll step lightly here thnx.

      • by chmod a+x mojo ( 965286 ) on Thursday February 04, 2016 @03:31PM (#51440829)

        This.

        I tried out Ubuntu touch on my Nexus10. It was OK, and probably would have been decent if this was what tablets came out as, but it was just too different from any kind of UI that has been done up to now that it was overly jarring to user perception. No "home screen" with icons / app drawers, everything looks like it is in a file manager that has no options, and recommending being set up to use a pin for screen locking - and then never popping up the pin pad on the lock screen, forcing you to use the keyboard numbers to put in your pin where what the deal killer was for me.

        That and the "app store" was a horribly under-populated joke, and even if you installed "scopes" it was never really explained how / what to do to use them. it lasted about a day before I went back to stock rooted android.

        • by Lumpy ( 12016 )

          I tried to use it as a phone for 1 week. Even the version back in November you would still get the phone ringing but no way to answer it as the phone application refused to launch.

  • by future assassin ( 639396 ) on Thursday February 04, 2016 @01:23PM (#51439853)

    Ducks....

    I don't care much about tablets but what's with always the small storage capacity and low ram? For power consumption?

    • So you'll store everything in the Ubuntu Cloud. Oh right they killed that...

  • SSD (Score:5, Insightful)

    by blackomegax ( 807080 ) on Thursday February 04, 2016 @01:24PM (#51439857) Journal
    When I can get 128gb of flash for 40 bucks, 16GB onboard is an unforgivable sin and goes against their entire mission to make a true crossover device ala the Surface
    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      It's okay for the price I suppose... Basically average mid range specs, memory is a bit low but it's a cheap device for the size. A Surface competitor this ain't, it's in another league spec wise.

      I think it's main problem will be competing with the many other similar tablets in this spec/price range, many of which can run Windows or Linux. Business will want Windows, consumers will want Windows or Android because they have never heard of Ubuntu or Linux... It's a reasonable device but a hard sell.

      • I think it's main problem will be competing with the many other similar tablets in this spec/price range, many of which can run Windows or Linux.

        Do you have any links? This intrigues me.

        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Search Amazon for "Windows tablet".

      • consumers will want Windows or Android because they have never heard of Ubuntu or Linux

        I think this runs a little deeper than consumer education. Consumers will want a modern spec'd device. This is 2 years ago at best. Consumers will want a mature app ecosystem.

        Consumers will require 10 hours of battery life. Android has many restrictions on what apps can and cannot do based on conserving electrons. If you just run a bunch of desktop-developed Linux packages, I can guarantee you, you'll be looking at 4 hours of battery, if you are lucky. Probably less.

    • Blub says "A micro SD memory card is included," but I'm guessing they meant just a slot for one. Very few things like this come with the expansion card already with it. But hey, I could be wrong.
    • And why the hell is the SSD slot limited to 64GB? Even my $100 MP3 player (FiiO) can take a 256GB card.
  • Please I urge you all to try ubuntu touch if you have a compatible device. It really sucks.
    • I think it's fairly good.
      • I support and respect your opinion. I just couldn't get over the widescreen only, rotation locked "home screen" that has a background available in every color as long as it's white. Everything else seemed ok, but the over all experience I was left with was "meh". Perhaps if I had used it long enough to get used to the various quirks I wouldn't have minded it as much, but for now I'll stick with marshmallow on my nexus 7.
  • Okay, I don't thin Apple really has much to worry about except their pricing model.

    This tablet can't be any worse than any version of Android on a tablet, given the quantity of Android Apps with a good tablet UI (not many at all).

    Can it?

    • by zlives ( 2009072 )

      plus it comes with Aquarius BBQ sauce so... bonus

    • This tablet can't be any worse than any version of Android on a tablet, given the quantity of Android Apps with a good tablet UI (not many at all).

      Please, explain what sort of app you are looking for, that isn't available on an Android tablet? Oh ... um ...

      • A web browser that isn't awful. Anything that can run uMatrix would suffice. The only way to get a decent browser on Android is with a real linux chroot and X11 app (and the X11 app ruins Chromium's built-in touch support). All the native browsers are fucking horrible. FF for Android is arguably the best, and it's still awful, supporting only a tiny subset of FF addons (no NoScript, no uMatrix). Chrome for Android doesn't support extensions at all.

  • by Lumpy ( 12016 ) on Thursday February 04, 2016 @01:26PM (#51439879) Homepage

    Pass, I'll spend the same coin on a used surface pro 2 and install a full 64 bit ubuntu and get a dramatically better device.
    Or get one of the china celeron based $199 windows tablets and install ubuntu if I really have to go for a cheap throw away.

    I do not understand what they are after with a high price tablet running the mobile ubuntu.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      You can pair a mouse/keyboard and it becomes full Ubuntu.

    • I am very excited about the BQ device but I like the suggestion about the Surface Pro 2. However, I have heard that there are issues with wifi on the Surface 2 causing the machine to lock up. I don't see anywhere on the BQ's specs where it says it's running a different version of Ubuntu. Would it not be the same as what's installed on the desktop (apart from the UI, maybe)?
      • FTFS:

        It will also be possible for developers and enthusiasts to install virtually any ARM compatible app available on Ubuntu using the familiar 'apt-get' command

        It runs ARM, but beyond that it will run anything compiled for it.

  • 10.1" is just the perfect size for a tablet for me, Quad core at 1.5GHz I just don't think is going to be game worthy though. Rest is just a darn fine system.

  • But does everything still work after you resume? :)

    But more seriously, do they have a software repository that specifically caters to it? Ie: Have they vetted software and indicated which ones will not run like crap on a tablet? Microsoft has demonstrated repeatedly that trying to shoehorn desktop UI onto a tablet just does not work. Ubuntu created Unity, which helps with core OS usage, but what about individual apps?

    A typical desktop app is annoying as hell when you're using fingers instead of a mouse.

    • Oh, I just came across this [omgubuntu.co.uk] article that goes into some more usage details than what was included in the summary.

  • by fnj ( 64210 )

    Is the battery user replaceable? Unless it is, I have ZERO interest. That goes for any tablet or phone.

    • by Threni ( 635302 )

      You're missing out on a lot of really good phones if that's your main criteria. I've had my z3 for 18 months and it's great. I'm sure i'll get another phone in the next couple of years and this'll probably still be working then. Not sure what I could have got instead that has a replaceable battery. Why is it important? Have you had a lot of problems with batteries in the past?

  • That'd be high specs for that little OS.
    But expensive for a toy. Also, it's boring not to have a stylus.
    4" Firefox OS smartphone, I've tried. Lacks a stylus and a bit tiring to hold the thing, as there is no stand. No apps is a feature. Well, the LCD screen sucks too (perhaps high end LCD is fine. Non-LCD would be better). I'm not used to these little stupid mobile things. Perhaps someone one day will have the brilliant idea to put left/right cursor keys on the virtual keyboard so you can go back and correc

    • Perhaps someone one day will have the brilliant idea to put left/right cursor keys on the virtual keyboard so you can go back and correct part of a URL.

      The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have "cursor keys" (for left and right movement in a Text Field) on the "Landscape Mode" Keyboard Layout. The "key caps" look like "" but they are cursor keys.

  • by wjcofkc ( 964165 ) on Thursday February 04, 2016 @01:56PM (#51440157)
    About a year and a half ago I bought one of those funky convertibles. I found the ability to fold it into a quasi tablet was actually pretty useless with Windows (tent mode did have advantages). So as with most computers that come into my possession it ended up running Linux. Not being in a mood to potentially have to fight it's strange hardware, I used Ubuntu. Before I go any further I need to state for the record that I hate Gnome 3 even for than I hate Unity. Which is to say I hate it a lot. No hate for users, just my person taste.

    I was kind of surprised when everything down to the touch screen and changing aspect with orientation worked great. Then it struck me: this thing would be fucking awesome with Gnome 3. Sure as shit it is. Every aspect of Gnome 3 almost seems intentionally designed for a tablet.I have made an effort to show it off to everyone from hackers to people who somehow believe that iOS is the internet and Steve Jobs made it. People are universally impressed. You can even use Google Now, albeit through a browser but even that seems insignificant to the overall experience. So I have been thinking for awhile now that perhaps there is no room for Linux to have a "year on the desktop" and perhaps that's not a bad thing. Perhaps it does not even matter. After all, I know very few people who have desktops and to lesser extent laptops these days.

    I think this has massive potential to................... fall flat on it's face. If this ships with not only having Unity as the default, which of course it will, but does not even have Gnome 3 as an option then the crowd the are targeting - everyone - won't give a shit. Canonical has always aimed their sites toward some sort of common consumer legitimacy, but when it comes down to it, they only ever preach to the choir.
    • You can uninstall Unity and replace it with whatever DE you want. But speak for yourself. Unity is not a terribly great desktop DE, but it's fantastic for mobile, and lots of people are excited for it.
      • by wjcofkc ( 964165 )
        Perhaps I should clarify. Within the context of my statement about this device and DEs, I intended to express that if they are aiming at the mass market, which it only makes sense to do and makes no sense not to, the interface is critical. I on board a lot of new Linux users. People who had never used it before. I always present the regular every day type with multiple DE's to choose from. After showing them the ropes I let them hop around between them for a week so they can settle on whatever they are the
        • Opinion noted, but could you maybe back it up with something other than itself?

          why should he? he provided just as much evidence / facts as you did that unity sucks. none.

          • by KGIII ( 973947 )

            Except they never made that accusation. They were quite specific in saying that it was their personal preference. They even went as far as to say they hate it but that they've no hate for the users. Hell, he even said it was a matter of personal preference. I've no idea why you'd piss in your knickers over someone saying that they don't like a DE.

            • It's called being a hypocrite? He offers no explanation for his ire but then insists that someone else back up their opposite opinion. Duh much?

              • by KGIII ( 973947 )

                Hmm... I don't know if he's being a hypocrite so much as he appears to be (legitimately) asking for more information? Given their initial post, they indicate a willingness to change their mind. So, I'm still not sure I agree with your assertion.

                • why should someone offer more information to him, when he offers none himself.

                  person 1: i really like president obama, but i'm not going to say why.
                  person 2: i dislike obama.
                  person 1: you dislike obama? you'd better provide a good reason for that!

                  yep, sounds like a pretty reasonable discourse.

                  • by KGIII ( 973947 )

                    I think that's a bit unfair. Person 1 indicated a willingness to actual learn and change their mind. You seemingly opted to ignore that. Tone counts, no?

                    Then again, maybe you're right? Maybe I'm misreading it. To me, it looks like a legit request for more information - by someone who's actually willing to take new information and process it and make new choices. That's a rarity.

                    Add to that the two of 'em are discussing things that are largely opinion based... So, yeah, it looks like a legit question and not

                    • As a matter of fact, I would very much like to know what draws you to LXDE. Don't worry, not going pull out the flame thrower, I really am just curious. I still believe in an open community around Linux where ideas can be shared without getting attacked. Well, that's how it was a long time ago. BTW I am the OP and I got set on fire by a mob that could not have possibly read the whole post. Personally, I have a thing for Openbox and awesome WM.
                    • by KGIII ( 973947 )

                      I like LXDE for its simplicity and speed. I don't need (or want) "pretty" so much as I want functional. LXDE is functional for me. I'm even able to make it look good (in my view). Here's an image that I took a while back - it's "busy" but it's not normally that busy.

                      http://i.imgur.com/8u6dr2r.png [imgur.com]

                      The dock at the top only appears when I mouse-over the top and off-screen. That's not really a part of LXDE but I made it with the tools offered to manage task bars. Err... I'm not sure that was the goal of those wh

              • You misunderstand, and I'm not sure how. The context of my post was regarding using the best interface for such a device in order to achieve mass appeal. The evidence I cite for Gnome 3 is based on what is probably by now a conversion of over 2 dozen regular everyday non technical "I just want it to work and be easy to use" types. That number is not an exaggeration - I do this a lot. So my evidence is after leaving them for a week with all the major DEs to try, all but one out of all those people chose Gnom
    • by fsagx ( 1936954 )

      What is the brand and model number of this funky convertible?

      • by wjcofkc ( 964165 )
        Dell Notebook i7347 13-Inch

        http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NJNEE3O?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

        Note that it uses a hard drive. It appears that disassembling it is straightforward, but I've never done it.
  • by Anonymous Coward

    Ubuntu Phone, Firefox OS, Ubuntu Tablet...all are products that at first blush sound like cool open source devices, but then no one wants them.

    Why not exploit the power of Linux and really make something irresistible that will sell like hotcakes. For example, many nerds have been longing a fresh successor to the Nokia Internet Tablets, especially the N900.

  • by Type44Q ( 1233630 ) on Thursday February 04, 2016 @03:34PM (#51440849)

    have now broke the news

    Surely they meant to say "broked."

  • Canonical has revealed their BQ Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Tablet...

    Ah, the name just rolls off of the tongue! "Say, is that the new BQ Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Tablet?"

    • Maybe it's supposed to be an acronym. "BQAMtUbT"

      I think I'll buy one, and then drive back to "The Mews at Wuthering Heights" to surf the web.
  • Something to spend the Jolla refund on

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