Ubuntu tablet rumored for early 2011 launch

I smell a rat...

...If you brighten up this photo:

http://www.gizchina.com/wp-content/uploads/images/ubuntu-linux-tablet-spy-picture.jpg

or this one:

http://www.gizchina.com/wp-content/uploads/images/ubuntu-linux-tablet-menu-screen.jpg

You'll notice something that looks very much like a Windows logo on the right-hand edge as shown.

I don't know enough about the tablet market to identify what it is, but I'd wager it's just some Windows-based tablet PC that somebody has whacked Ubuntu on or some Chinese knock-off thereof. Or perhaps some screenshots of Ubuntu displayed in fullscreen.

Either that, or it is real and the manufacturer of the thing has made a really stupid choice of logo.

Sounds like...

The kind of specs that you need in a netbook, you know, something with a little more space so it can accommodate a larger battery and last more than 2 hours.

Someone Somewhere will be doing this.

Whether this tale is true or not is another matter. I would really like it to be true though.

There is the problem of where exactly it will be available. Will it follow the old fashioned rule of available in the USA and then, once Version2 comes out, the rest of the planet gets to try out V1.

Or perhaps it will follow the newer way which is to come out in Taiwan, Korea and China and ignore everyone else for a while?

Trouble is, will I get one? I didn't get a netbook when they were new and now that you can only get Windows ones I am not sure I want one. Maybe I will just get a touch screen netbook and install Ubuntu on that. Once my bank balance has recovered from Christmas anyway...

will also offer a cover with built in keyboard

I'm pretty sure I've been using tablets with a cover with a built-in keyboard for at least 10 years now. What's clever is that the folding mechanism is designed so that the keys and the screen are on the 'inside' and hence protected from damage.

I Smell Fake

Even if it is true then it is an idiotic idea. Debian/Ubuntu already has an ARM build available so why saddle your tablet with Wintel hardware? All that would achieve is an over priced and over sized tablet with poor battery performance that all the Windows Fanboys would buy to put dodgy copies of XP on and then complain about it not running Photoshop Extreme Edition as well as their quad core desktop does.

Tablets shmablets

After toying with an Android one for a week I've yet to discover a compelling use for a tablet.

Too big to be a phone, too crippled to be a laptop.

What does one do with a tablet?

Nice, want ARM tablets too...

Finally, the uPad!

Wish it comes with more choice like ARM chips.

Here is my take

It seems a good idea at first, but then who exactly its target user group will be? If it is true, then this thing is just a keyboardless netbook (would be more expensive too). Adding the cover with keyboard, you get a netbook. I mean, why would anyone buy one of those? I admit I dont see much use about iPad or any iPad copy, I see even less reason for this device.

they don't get it do they...

Look, i don't need to babysit 3 completely different systems that don't like to talk/sync/backup to each other, each require separately licensed software, and have to be maintained. I want a single main PC and "companion" devices used to work with stuff I have on it, plus bring their own perks.

iOS is nice. Apple gets it. A PC that has everything and can do everything, and a series of small portable devices that interact with it and contain portions of the data set, all linked by LAN or cloud. I don't want to have to worry about how many licenses of some app I have, whether I need AV or not, manage a dozen plug-ins and helper apps, and have to u[pdate 3 apps every time i turn on a device I've not used in a week, and all on my portable devices. i want life SIMPLE.

The iPad or an android based tablet gives me moderate power and performance for 90% of my daily tasks. If I know I'm going to need more, I can break out the notebook and bring it along. I have a NAS for hosting data instead of a giant desktop PC left on 24x7, a $99 media streamer, a high performance notebook to handle decent game-play and basic video editing, a smart-phone for on the run needs and notifications, and I could see many uses for a simple media tablet. I do NOT want a full PC OS on any of my devices except the main computer. Software for desktops is expensive, maintenance is a pain, security is a concern, and it only brings me the 10% my other devices can't? Why would I want more than 1???

If they can make an under 2lb tablet at 13" with desktop class resolution and CPU/GPU power, that has a 10 hour battery and a full keyboard, and a optical drive, then i don't need both a tablet and a PC, but so long as tablets ware low performance secondary systems, then I want them running secondary OS and relying on a main PC for it's ongoing services.

If a have a business reason to have proprietary apps that benefit a tablet form factor, I'll go buy a $1500 true tablet PC, but all i want is a media companion device that does things a 4" screen can't, a smart-phone, set top boxes, and one single PC.

Yes, I get that a full blown HTPC can do more than a set top. I get that a tablet OS that's Ubuntu can do more. I'm NOT however willing to deal with the performance limits lower end (lighter) hardware bring to that OS, or the higher price and equivalent weight to simply having a laptop to get it. I like buying one app and using it legally on 5 device, and paying $0-10 for the app instead of $50-300 per machine. I like not having to back up 5 different systems. I don;t want to pay the much higher TCO just to do a few things that either carrying 2 extra pounds with me, or taking 30 seconds to just plug the laptop into the TV already do.

Apple gets it. Google understands. Microsoft, the Linux community, and the laptop manufacturers have no concept of this. They're flailing about trying to remain relevant in a world that's leaving them out.

Tablets that make touch easy on an OS designed and streamlined for the 90% of tasks and simple time wasting things we like to do is good. Trying to use a mouse-oriented interface with a fat finger, and needing 2-3times the horsepower, half again the cost, less than half the battery life, and no standby usability (the iPad gets alerts while asleep, just like smart phones, Windows and Ubontu can't do that), not to mention $60/month for a data plan instead of 30 for a mobile OS? why would anyone do that?

Tablets have been on the market since 1999. They went NOWHERE. Its not the price, it;s the function. it can't be your only PC due to the design, and nobody wants to babysit (or pay for) 2 machines that 90+% overlap in use.

"Cruft"?

Someone said "Ubuntu has cruft" - but what does that mean? If you don't like something, you remove it. You have a standard set of apps in the default installation, the ones that Canonical thinks everyone wants, but you're not stuck with them. This even applies to the graphical interface e.g. if I get one of these, I'll probably install the standard GNOME desktop and use that instead. Or I'll try GNUstep on it, the Linux version of the old NeXT window manager, which is heavily icon-based and can still work with an onscreen keyboard.

The point is that it will be a full computer, far more customisable than one of those appliances with Android or iOS on board. If it's the same hardware as a Windows 7 tablet, why is that a problem?