Like Ubuntu phones, Ubuntu tablets can become full PCs
For now, let’s talk a little more about what we know. Ubuntu for tablets will run on ARM chips (at least), supporting screen sizes from 6″ to 20″ and resolutions from 100 to 450 pixels per inch. Just like Ubuntu for phones, an Ubuntu tablet can be docked with a keyboard, mouse, and monitor to provide a full PC experience.
Although Ubuntu is supposed to run smoothly on entry-level tablet hardware, the docking can only happen with “high-end silicon.” Canonical did not specify what types of chips are required for Ubuntu tablets to double as PCs, but with phones the requirement is a quad-core Cortex A9 or Intel Atom processor and at least 1GB RAM. While it stands to reason that Intel chips would be supported on Ubuntu tablets, the announcement we have doesn’t mention any specific processor platform besides ARM.
Tablets in PC mode will be able to access Windows applications remotely through standard protocols from Microsoft, Citrix, VMWare, and Wyse.
Canonical is clearly targeting businesses with the aforementioned Windows support as well as full disk encryption, support for multiple user accounts on a single device, and an IT management tool covering Ubuntu servers, PCs, smartphones, and tablets. “An Ubuntu tablet is a secure thin client that can be managed with the same tools as any Ubuntu server or desktop,” Stephane Verdy, head of enterprise desktop and thin client products at Canonical, said in the announcement.
The tablets aren’t business-only, though. A one-minute video Canonical showed us yesterday displays a very Kindle Fire-like experience in scrolling through available TV shows and movies. The video also shows that the tablet interface is largely similar to the Ubuntu phone interface but obviously scaled up to the bigger screen size.