Canonical and BQ have had the great pleasure of informing OSSMalta and its followers today about the upcoming availability of the world’s first Ubuntu converged device, the BQ Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Edition tablet.
The BQ Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Edition tablet will be unveiled at the upcoming MWC 2016 event in Barcelona, Spain, as the world’s first device to offer an Ubuntu convergent experience, as well as the first tablet powered by the Ubuntu Linux operating system, which users can easily and painlessly transform into a full-fledged desktop experience by connecting mouse and keyboard peripherals via the latest Bluetooth 4.0 technologies.
“The Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Edition is our third mobile device to ship with Ubuntu. Our customers were delighted with the Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition and Aquaris E5 HD Ubuntu Edition phones, and we’re excited to be the first OEM to ship the converged Ubuntu experience. It’s this kind of innovation that makes BQ and Ubuntu such a great fit,” said Rodrigo del Prado, Deputy CEO of BQ.
Technical specifications
Canonical also informs us about the technical specifications of the upcoming BQ Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Edition tablet, which boasts a 10.1 inch multi-touch screen, a MediaTek Quad Core MT8163A processor running at 1.5GHz, 2GB RAM, and 16GB internal memory. Also worth mentioning are a MicroSD slot supporting up to 64GB, frontal speakers, as well as a Full HD (1080p) camera for super-sharp video recording. The device’s 8MP camera features dual flash and autofocus.
With its thin 8.2mm profile and weighing 470g, the BQ Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Edition tablet also sports a micro-HDMI port so you can connect it to an external LCD for full convergence, a micro-USB OTG for charging and connecting external media, GPS, and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n. A high capacity Li-Po battery (7280mAh) will make sure that your Ubuntu convergence experience will last a lot longer. The tablet is, of course, powered by the latest Ubuntu mobile OS, which lets users run X11 apps like Firefox or GIMP.
Price and availability
No price/availability details have been revealed yet, except for the fact that it will be on sale from Q2 2016 via BQ’s online store, and that the Android version is currently selling at 259,90€ ($290.90). BQ will most likely sell the tablet in Europe and possibly US.