Canonical’s latest update related to Ubuntu has been the announcement of Ubuntu for tablets. Since the last few days, the Ubuntu web site had been teasing this upcoming announcement with the “Tick, Tock, Tablet Time!” message. Now that the details have been made clear, it seems Canonical is all set to release Ubuntu as a single platform across all form factors. The operating system allows apps across devices like Desktop, Phone and Ubuntu TV to integrate with each other and offer a single user interface for each form factor. This will result in the fact that apps written for Ubuntu desktop will also be able to run on the phone and tablet versions of the same operating system.
The tablet will be able to act as the complete PC when a keyboard and mouse are connected to it. The overall interface is very content centric and has true multi tasking built into it. On this following Thursday Canonical will release a Developer Preview version for Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4, Nexus 7 and Nexus 10. Ubuntu for tablets has been built to support screen sizes ranging from 6 inches to 20 inches and resolutions between 100 to 450 ppi.
The recommended hardware requirements as mentioned on the website are Dual-core Cortex A15 processor with 2GB memory for an entry level tablet while a Quad-Core A15 or Intel x86 processor with 4GB memory for a High end tablet that will be able to support “full desktop convergence”.
HTML5 is one of the main technologies through which apps can be built for the platform. Ubuntu for Tablets offers deep integration for all HTML5 apps into the system functions with the help of APIs. Besides, if the developer wishes – they can choose to develop their app with the native toolset like QML, Javascript and the complete native OpenGL. Apps that use Ubuntu SDK and which are published for any single form factor will then be easily accessible from the unified interface of Ubuntu Software center for devices like desktops and phones too, with minimal effort on part of the developer.
