World's first Ubuntu tablet goes up for pre-order at £200

THE WORLD'S FIRST UBUNTU TABLET, the BQ Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Edition, is now available to pre-order ahead of a release in April.

The BQ Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Edition was shown off at this year's MWC, and Canonical touted it as not only the first Ubuntu-powered tablet but the first that can transform into a fully-fledged PC. 

Canonical said that Ubuntu is the only platform capable of running a full touch-based mobile experience and a proper PC experience from a single device, taking a dig at the Continuum functionality offered by Microsoft's pushy Windows 10 operating system.

Once hooked up, the BQ Aquaris M10 switches from a touch-friendly tablet interface to a desktop interface. For example, apps go from full-screen to floating windows that can be resized and moved around, just as with Windows or Mac OS X. 

"Competitors are moving in the same direction, which I think offers some validation of this vision that we have been laying out for several years," Canonical said.

On the hardware side, the BQ Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Edition features a 10.1in screen powered by a quad-core MediaTek chip. There's also an 8MP camera with autofocus and dual LED flash, 16GB of storage expandable up to 64GB, a 7,280mAh Li-Po battery and a microHDMI port for connecting the tablet to a monitor. 

The Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Edition can be picked up for €259 (around £203) or €299 (around £236) on BQ's official website, depending on whether you opt for the standard HD or Full HD tablet. You'll get an iPad-style case thrown in too. 

No exact release date has been given, but BQ promises that deliveries will begin in the second week of April. µ 

Source: World's first Ubuntu tablet goes up for pre-order at £200