27 ms·

Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Tablet – Pre-order

238 points by legierski 11y ago

0942v8653 11y ago
Archive: http://archive.is/J0Yj4 http://archive.is/J0Yj4
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
reddotX 11y ago
one word: balls!
hauget 11y ago
Anyone have experience with BQ HW? Is it any good? For the price (300eur) I'd actually be willing to try the HD 1920 x 1200 version, IF the HW and battery life turn out to be solid.
- bprieto 11y ago
  My son has a BQ smartphone, and battery life is much better than his previous Samsung's.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- adventureloop 11y ago
  I have a BQ E5 Ubuntu Edition(running android now) that I got nearly 1 month ago. Hardware has been okay so far, this phone has ram trouble with ubuntu touch. It is okay running android, a little under powered I think.
- galfarragem 11y ago
  I recently bought my first smartphone(!), a BQ A4.5, pure android, always updated, with 5 years of guarantee(!) by 150€. I recommend it: good battery, good western design and enough performance for me (low resolution with a good screen improves performance).
  - 0xFFC 11y ago
    What do you mean by always updated?
    - galfarragem 11y ago
      Google itself guarantees updates for 2 years (Android one). E.g. It was already updated to Android 6, not bad for a cheap phone.
  - ersii 11y ago
    Curious, what do you mean by "western design"? Had a look at images of "BQ A4.5" - but I can't really tell what's "western" about it.
    - galfarragem 11y ago
      By western design I mean that it looks more like an iPhone 5 than with a typical chinese phone. Its size is also smaller.
nailer 11y ago
I've seen a lot of Linux tablets, and so far they've always been a touchscreen added to an early 2000's desktop-style interface: small touch targets, gestures don't work in obvious places etc. That said, it's been a while so I could be out of date: is the Linux desktop UI and apps used by the Ubuntu tablet touch focused? Edit: Linux as in the common usage of 'Linux kernel, glibc, X', not Android. Which you knew.
- reddotX 11y ago
  yes it's just like an android tablet, only better
  - deelowe 11y ago
    Right. Because Android is built on a desktop interface... The state of tablets could better but it's not that bad.
    - reddotX 11y ago
      the tablet mode is just like android but you can change to desktop mode, hence better than an android tablet
      - deelowe 11y ago
        What does that have to do with early 2000s linux desktops?
- exprx 11y ago
  Haven't you seen a single of these “Android Linux” tablets in the last five years or so?
  - odinduty 11y ago
    We all know what he means by "Linux tablet", you don't really have to nitpick...
- 11y ago
nileshtrivedi 11y ago
As a consumer, I find it completely uninteresting unless it can run Android apps. If Play Store is an impossibility, support alternative apps stores such as F-Droid or 9apps.
- gagege 11y ago
  I'm completely the opposite. I was always disappointed that Android can't run normal Linux apps.
  - puetzk 11y ago
    https://guardianproject.info/code/lildebi/ https://guardianproject.info/code/lildebi/
  - odinduty 11y ago
    What do you mean by "normal Linux apps"? GTK+? Qt? Who'd want to use an application that is completely not optimised for a small touch screen?
    - Pxtl 11y ago
      A lot of Android tablets get keyboards and even mice plugged into them.
      - jakub_h 11y ago
        Well, I'm happy with running the basic stuff using GNURoot. (I have no intention of running more complicate GUI apps anyway, even though that should be possible as well.)
        Pxtl 11y ago
        How well does the git client work with that? I've been wishing I could tinker from my phone but all the Android github apps don't actually pull repos.
pitchroll 11y ago
The linked page states it's using Ubuntu 15.04 as OS, however 15.04 is marked as EOL-ed on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases Is there an easy OS upgrade path? I wonder why they did not go with an LTS release, 16.04 is just around the corner in April and would probably serve their release better.
- reddotX 11y ago
  15.04 is EOL on desktops (unity7) not on Phones/Tablets (unity8).
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- FD3SA 11y ago
  This is the main thing that jumped out at me. Any Ubuntu other than an LTS is not meant for end-users, as it is deprecated in 6 months. Why did they go this route instead of 16.04 LTS?
andrey_utkin 11y ago
I even don't hope it is free of closed-source drivers. Thus I won't even look at buying it.
andersen1488 11y ago
But... why?
- Brakenshire 11y ago
  There's lot of talk of people moving away from laptops and full computers, and just buying a tablet instead. If you only want a device for watching videos, reading articles, online shopping, social media and email, a tablet is probably fine. This concept in principle allows you to have a tablet, which is relatively cheap and can be used on the sofa and in bed, but retain the option of adding a keyboard, and/or using desktop applications on occasion, when you might need them. The drawback is that you lose access to Android/iOS native apps, and also that ARM processors are slow. I would say it's not a million miles behind Chromebooks or Android tablets (given that Chromebooks are quite limited, and Android tablet apps don't have a great reputation). If ARM processors take a step forward over the next year or two, companies continue to develop for the mobile web rather than shift towards native apps, and Linux userspace software stacks (and developers) become more tolerant of touch, something like this could be a serious competitor.
  - criddell 11y ago
    > If you only want a device for watching videos, reading articles, online shopping, social media and email, a tablet is probably fine. Will this tablet do all that? The video part is what I'd be most worried about. Netflix will probably be there, but what about Hulu, HBO, and other popular services?
- CaptSpify 11y ago
  for me personally: I want an actual linux tablet. Not android
  - ekianjo 11y ago
    Yes, 100 times yes. I'd love a Linux tablet as well, I can't stand Android anymore.
- Eric_WVGG 11y ago
therealmarv 11y ago
Does anybody know if a "normal" Android BQ M10 can be converted to a fully Ubuntu tablet? When yes, how to install Ubuntu there?
HemanHeartYou 11y ago
how about that ubuntu phone
andrewclunn 11y ago
IT says it has external memory expansion. Does this mean that there's a micro SD card slot anywhere? The only real issue I see is that (after the OS) I'd only have about 10 gig for applications and files. If I could put an sd card in there, no problem, otherwise it would hardly suffice as a PC.
- gagege 11y ago
  Yep, I'd rather lug around a laptop with a 500GB SSD than have to deal with an external usb drive, just so I could have a tablet.
  - w0m 11y ago
    States MicroSD (200gb current cap; 2tb future)
- notspanishflu 11y ago
  It says in the specifications: "MicroSD™ up to 200 GB1 (ext3). Available space for storing multimedia files".
tluyben2 11y ago
As per usual; I wonder what the battery life is like. That is really / still the only thing I look for. If it's good enough I would pre-order.
- tgb 11y ago
  Do you buy a lot of tablets or do you find most to have unacceptable battery life? The battery on my 2013 Nexus 7 is crazy good as far as I can tell and lasts for days of moderate use even two years into its life span. Compared to my phone which likes to die partway through the day even without me touching it.
  - jonknee 11y ago
    I imagine it's Linux that causes the concern. Android and iOS are very highly optimized for mobile power management while Ubuntu is not.
    - tluyben2 11y ago
      As it says I can leave my laptop at home so then I would hope it rivals my x220 or t100 both of which get 12-14 hours with me coding and browsing under Ubuntu. I do not care too much about performance usually as long as it is not annoyingly slow.
    - JupiterMoon 11y ago
      Did Google not start to mainline their kernel changes?
eckza 11y ago
> The world’s first convergent tablet Sorry guys, M$FT had you beat to market by about... what, four years? > 16 GB internal memory Come the fuck on, now. I don't want to deal with the atrocious read/write speeds of MicroSD. 16 GB internal memory hasn't been impressive since sometime around 2007. This looks promising but it's definitely not for me. I hope someone uses it and likes it, but I think it still has a ways to go before it's more than a novelty.
- fit2rule 11y ago
  I was a little confused about this but I think that this 16G is partly-used to boot the /root partition (i.e. the OS) and then the rest is swap space. This makes it all a little more usable in my opinion, since there is only 2Gigs RAM onboard ..
- ekianjo 11y ago
  Oh is there a Microsoft tablet available for 300 USD? I thought so. And there's nothing convergent about the Surface. Without a keyboard what can you really do with it?
  - wlesieutre 11y ago
    > Oh is there a Microsoft tablet available for 300 USD? I thought so. If they wanted to say "The first convergent tablet for 300 USD," then maybe they should have said that. > And there's nothing convergent about the Surface. Without a keyboard what can you really do with it? Netflix? Internet? Read emails? Write with its pretty fantastic handwriting recognition? What can the Aquaris M10 do without a keyboard that the Surface Pro can't? Is it somehow "more convergent"?
  - quicklyfrozen 11y ago
    The surface isn't the only Windows tablet... You definitely could find a Venue Pro under $300 in the past couple years.
- wlesieutre 11y ago
  The first Surface Pro was released February 2013, so just over 3 years. That's a pretty strange claim for the Ubuntu folks to try and make. Call it the "first open source convergent tablet" or "fist cheap convergent tablet" if it needs a first-something claim, but the "let's stick our heads in the sand and pretend nothing MS does exists" schtick doesn't make anybody look good.
GUNHED_158 11y ago
I'm happy to see an Ubuntu tablet but about "A tablet when you want it, a PC when you need it.", who wants a PC with 2 GB of RAM?
- DanBC 11y ago
  Plenty of people only need 2 GB of ram. See all the notebooks which have tiny SSDs (64 GB) and small amounts of ram (less than 4 GB). That's fine for email, youtube, streaming movies, listening to music, doing a bit of light word processing or spreadsheeting. It's great for social media and most website use. And these machines are very cheap.
- optforfon 11y ago
  The same people that buy chromebooks
puppetmaster3 11y ago
Wrong title, missing: in UK.
- Symbiote 11y ago
  Did you try? It looks to be available worldwide. The company is Spanish.
- SparkyMcUnicorn 11y ago
  Everywhere: https://store.bq.com/gl/delivery-information/ https://store.bq.com/gl/delivery-information/
  - r3bl 11y ago
    In a lot of countries, but not everywhere. My country (Bosnia & Herzegovina) is not listed anywhere.
edent 11y ago
Just ordered one. I had a chat to the BQ team in London recently. They're selling CyanogenMod Android phones as well. The CEO was quite clear that flashing a new OS wasn't going to void the warranty. I didn't get to play with their Ubuntu tablets, but their Android ones are well built, responsive, and have very clear screens. This isn't going to replace your totally tricked-out MacBook - but as a portable web-browser / word processor / coding machine, I have high hopes for it.
- mtw 11y ago
  So you can install and run nginx, redis, Atom.io, postgres etc. on this?
  - edent 11y ago
    Yes. It's a full Linux machine. Well, that's what I've been told - we'll see once they ship.
    - mtw 11y ago
      Nice. Tempted. I wish they'd offer a nice keyboard that goes with it and clips (magnets?) to the tablet.
    - balamaci 11y ago
      I wonder how hard it's to program running a remote desktop connection to a desktop computer at home. I run Intellij Idea for java dev, so no way I can run on the tablet considering the battery drain. It would be nice to program in the park by just bringing the tablet and a keyboard. On the other hand the latency alone might distract me enough to just give up.
      - darpa_escapee 11y ago
        I run JetBrains IDEs in a persistent Xpra session on a Exynos board. It is pretty usable on subpar connections, much more so than VNC. It has options to use NX behind the scenes as well.
beshrkayali 11y ago
Seriously? 2 gigs of ram! I wonder how much Unity will be hogging when running in PC mode.
- ekianjo 11y ago
  Unity is not a memory hog anymore.
- SXX 11y ago
  Unity 8 unlike previous version isn't based on Compiz, but Qt.
FussyZeus 11y ago
All looks really interesting but only 16 GB internal memory? I mean if I could move my user directory in it's entirety to the MicroSD I could see that working as 16 would be way more than enough for system, but that seems hackey. I feel like they could easily get that to 64 GB and add a few bucks to the price tag, I would buy one of these in a hot second if they did.
green7ea 11y ago
I want to be really excited by this because this seems very cool but the mediatek processor and the 2 GB of RAM makes this a lot less interesting. Mediatek usually provides a closed off, low price, low performance chip which kind of clashes with what I want from an Ubuntu device.
- bcook 11y ago
  What was your intended use of an Ubuntu tablet? Server-farm? Gaming? I am pretty excited, but it is Linux on a tablet, which is kinda the worst of the worst from a performance perspective. Hopefully this marks the beginning of an increasing trend of more open & capable Operating Systems on our mobile devices.
  - lqdc13 11y ago
    I'm concerned the browser will crash after you open 3 tabs. Ubuntu Desktop is really really memory hungry. It is currently using 8gb RAM on my Desktop which has been steadily increasing since last restart. The only thing you can possibly do on this thing is use a not very power hungry text editor. No VMs, no machine learning, no data processing and no games. If they had maybe 8gb RAM, 128 gb storage with a faster CPU, it might have been interesting.
    - gnufx 11y ago
      My Ubuntu desktop at work has 2GB and has been up for ~300 days (uptrack-patched) for development work. The phone version only has 1GB and doesn't crash when the browser has three tabs open.
- goodplay 11y ago
  Different strokes for different folks I guess. I've been interested in evaluating Mediatek processors for desktop usage for a while now. I think this tablet offers the best opportunity (and lowest friction) to do this due to who they're target this at: developers and open software folk (unlocked, open software). Hopefully, this'll turn out a positive experience and more OEMs hop on board.
bachmeier 11y ago
Looks like it's ARM. I suppose that's okay for many, but if you need programs like R, you're out of luck. I'd immediately buy one if it had an Intel or AMD processor.
- ekianjo 11y ago
  What are you talking about? I am using R on Slackware 14.1 on an ARM device. It works perfectly once you compile it.
  - bachmeier 11y ago
    You can use base R but (unless something has recently changed) not all packages are going to work. I also program in D - including interacting with R - and that won't currently work.
    - ekianjo 11y ago
      I have compiled numerous R packages as well (dplyr, ggplot2, FactoMineR) and they all work fine on ARM. I agree that you may face issues when it comes to packages relying on JAVA, but otherwise never seen any other problem so far on ARM.
      - ashitlerferad 11y ago
        Java 8 builds on all the 3 Debian ARM platforms so it probably works on Ubuntu too. https://buildd.debian.org/status/package.php?p=openjdk-8&suite=sid https://buildd.debian.org/status/package.php?p=openjdk-8&sui...
    - ashitlerferad 11y ago
      I don't know which D compiler you are using, but Debian builds gdc from GCC 5 for the 3 ARM platforms so it will probably work on Ubuntu Phone. https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=gdc-5 https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=gdc-5
w0m 11y ago
interesting. Think Webstorm/Intellij would run decently on this? I've been looking for a new tablet; and have been dreading getting an Ipad...
netcan 11y ago
"A tablet when you want it, a PC when you need it" I'm not sure if I'm being naive, but it seems to me that for a decade, the laptop market has had a ridiculous hole. There is a market for something which is not windows, at a sub $500-$600 price that is good. Tablet UI, desktop, whatever. Something that can run skype, whatsapp, tinder and the other network-effect apps that can replace their 3 year old home laptop and be an improvement. How is it possible that all the mobile stuff from the last decade has not opened up real and substantial competition to Windows in that bracket. Anyway, this looks easily worth €259 if think you may want one.
- mtw 11y ago
  Why would you want tinder on a laptop? I'd pay more for a device that allows you to code, write a doc, do basic photo processing, etc. In my case, I wouldn't bring my 15" macbook pro when travelling or going a business meeting, but this could go anywhere
  - netcan 11y ago
    I didn't really mean tinder. I just meant it as a shorthand for "software you run because other people run it."
- digi_owl 11y ago
  Asus tried with the EEEPC. MS And Intel stepped in it to protect their ultraprotable markup.
  - netcan 11y ago
    They did. They did well. Lets have 9 more of those.
- takno 11y ago
  Isn't this exactly what all those Chromebooks are? I mean they haven't exactly set the world on fire, but they exist.
  - 11y ago
shaneqful 11y ago
Time to spend the Jolla Tablet refund money I suppose :)
analog31 11y ago
Ask HN Can I install something like this on my Windows 10 tablet, and could it run jupyter/Python?
- ashitlerferad 11y ago
  If your tablet is ARM and running Windows RT then you probably need a Windows exploit to be able to run your own code. http://www.wpinternals.net/ http://www.wpinternals.net/ If your tablet is a PC (Intel/AMD/x86 etc) then turning off UEFI Secure Boot and booting from USB should let you run your own code. Once you can run your own code you should be able to install Python/jupyter.
supremeanger 11y ago
>no dedicated full sized USB port Why is the surface the only tablet to have a dedicated full sized USB port? It seems like one of the most important things to have in any tablet.
progman 11y ago
It's exciting that Ubuntu offers phones and tablets. But what's the gain to have a PC frontend while not having a real PC? Ubuntu should seriously consider to offer an additional Tablet with 4 GB RAM and real Linux, at least in a docker like vm. Only such a device would be really interesting for Linux developers and sys admins. 2 GB are good for basic things (surfing, emails, office) but compilation, simulation, testing etc. would be problematic. If such things are not possible then a notebook remains the better choice.
rocky1138 11y ago
Why would I buy this over a laptop?
- handzhiev 11y ago
  Weight is fairly important factor for me. This beats my travel laptop.

238 points by legierski 11y ago

0942v8653 11y ago

Archive: http://archive.is/J0Yj4 http://archive.is/J0Yj4

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

reddotX 11y ago

one word: balls!

hauget 11y ago

Anyone have experience with BQ HW? Is it any good? For the price (300eur) I'd actually be willing to try the HD 1920 x 1200 version, IF the HW and battery life turn out to be solid.

bprieto 11y ago
My son has a BQ smartphone, and battery life is much better than his previous Samsung's.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
adventureloop 11y ago
I have a BQ E5 Ubuntu Edition(running android now) that I got nearly 1 month ago. Hardware has been okay so far, this phone has ram trouble with ubuntu touch. It is okay running android, a little under powered I think.
galfarragem 11y ago
I recently bought my first smartphone(!), a BQ A4.5, pure android, always updated, with 5 years of guarantee(!) by 150€. I recommend it: good battery, good western design and enough performance for me (low resolution with a good screen improves performance).
- 0xFFC 11y ago
  What do you mean by always updated?
  - galfarragem 11y ago
    Google itself guarantees updates for 2 years (Android one). E.g. It was already updated to Android 6, not bad for a cheap phone.
- ersii 11y ago
  Curious, what do you mean by "western design"? Had a look at images of "BQ A4.5" - but I can't really tell what's "western" about it.
  - galfarragem 11y ago
    By western design I mean that it looks more like an iPhone 5 than with a typical chinese phone. Its size is also smaller.

nailer 11y ago

I've seen a lot of Linux tablets, and so far they've always been a touchscreen added to an early 2000's desktop-style interface: small touch targets, gestures don't work in obvious places etc. That said, it's been a while so I could be out of date: is the Linux desktop UI and apps used by the Ubuntu tablet touch focused? Edit: Linux as in the common usage of 'Linux kernel, glibc, X', not Android. Which you knew.

reddotX 11y ago
yes it's just like an android tablet, only better
- deelowe 11y ago
  Right. Because Android is built on a desktop interface... The state of tablets could better but it's not that bad.
  - reddotX 11y ago
    the tablet mode is just like android but you can change to desktop mode, hence better than an android tablet
    - deelowe 11y ago
      What does that have to do with early 2000s linux desktops?
exprx 11y ago
Haven't you seen a single of these “Android Linux” tablets in the last five years or so?
- odinduty 11y ago
  We all know what he means by "Linux tablet", you don't really have to nitpick...
11y ago

nileshtrivedi 11y ago

As a consumer, I find it completely uninteresting unless it can run Android apps. If Play Store is an impossibility, support alternative apps stores such as F-Droid or 9apps.

gagege 11y ago
I'm completely the opposite. I was always disappointed that Android can't run normal Linux apps.
- puetzk 11y ago
  https://guardianproject.info/code/lildebi/ https://guardianproject.info/code/lildebi/
- odinduty 11y ago
  What do you mean by "normal Linux apps"? GTK+? Qt? Who'd want to use an application that is completely not optimised for a small touch screen?
  - Pxtl 11y ago
    A lot of Android tablets get keyboards and even mice plugged into them.
    - jakub_h 11y ago
      Well, I'm happy with running the basic stuff using GNURoot. (I have no intention of running more complicate GUI apps anyway, even though that should be possible as well.)
      - Pxtl 11y ago
        How well does the git client work with that? I've been wishing I could tinker from my phone but all the Android github apps don't actually pull repos.

pitchroll 11y ago

The linked page states it's using Ubuntu 15.04 as OS, however 15.04 is marked as EOL-ed on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases Is there an easy OS upgrade path? I wonder why they did not go with an LTS release, 16.04 is just around the corner in April and would probably serve their release better.

reddotX 11y ago
15.04 is EOL on desktops (unity7) not on Phones/Tablets (unity8).
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
FD3SA 11y ago
This is the main thing that jumped out at me. Any Ubuntu other than an LTS is not meant for end-users, as it is deprecated in 6 months. Why did they go this route instead of 16.04 LTS?

andrey_utkin 11y ago

I even don't hope it is free of closed-source drivers. Thus I won't even look at buying it.

andersen1488 11y ago

But... why?

Brakenshire 11y ago
There's lot of talk of people moving away from laptops and full computers, and just buying a tablet instead. If you only want a device for watching videos, reading articles, online shopping, social media and email, a tablet is probably fine. This concept in principle allows you to have a tablet, which is relatively cheap and can be used on the sofa and in bed, but retain the option of adding a keyboard, and/or using desktop applications on occasion, when you might need them. The drawback is that you lose access to Android/iOS native apps, and also that ARM processors are slow. I would say it's not a million miles behind Chromebooks or Android tablets (given that Chromebooks are quite limited, and Android tablet apps don't have a great reputation). If ARM processors take a step forward over the next year or two, companies continue to develop for the mobile web rather than shift towards native apps, and Linux userspace software stacks (and developers) become more tolerant of touch, something like this could be a serious competitor.
- criddell 11y ago
  > If you only want a device for watching videos, reading articles, online shopping, social media and email, a tablet is probably fine. Will this tablet do all that? The video part is what I'd be most worried about. Netflix will probably be there, but what about Hulu, HBO, and other popular services?
CaptSpify 11y ago
for me personally: I want an actual linux tablet. Not android
- ekianjo 11y ago
  Yes, 100 times yes. I'd love a Linux tablet as well, I can't stand Android anymore.
Eric_WVGG 11y ago

therealmarv 11y ago

Does anybody know if a "normal" Android BQ M10 can be converted to a fully Ubuntu tablet? When yes, how to install Ubuntu there?

HemanHeartYou 11y ago

how about that ubuntu phone

andrewclunn 11y ago

IT says it has external memory expansion. Does this mean that there's a micro SD card slot anywhere? The only real issue I see is that (after the OS) I'd only have about 10 gig for applications and files. If I could put an sd card in there, no problem, otherwise it would hardly suffice as a PC.

gagege 11y ago
Yep, I'd rather lug around a laptop with a 500GB SSD than have to deal with an external usb drive, just so I could have a tablet.
- w0m 11y ago
  States MicroSD (200gb current cap; 2tb future)
notspanishflu 11y ago
It says in the specifications: "MicroSD™ up to 200 GB1 (ext3). Available space for storing multimedia files".

tluyben2 11y ago

As per usual; I wonder what the battery life is like. That is really / still the only thing I look for. If it's good enough I would pre-order.

tgb 11y ago
Do you buy a lot of tablets or do you find most to have unacceptable battery life? The battery on my 2013 Nexus 7 is crazy good as far as I can tell and lasts for days of moderate use even two years into its life span. Compared to my phone which likes to die partway through the day even without me touching it.
- jonknee 11y ago
  I imagine it's Linux that causes the concern. Android and iOS are very highly optimized for mobile power management while Ubuntu is not.
  - tluyben2 11y ago
    As it says I can leave my laptop at home so then I would hope it rivals my x220 or t100 both of which get 12-14 hours with me coding and browsing under Ubuntu. I do not care too much about performance usually as long as it is not annoyingly slow.
  - JupiterMoon 11y ago
    Did Google not start to mainline their kernel changes?

eckza 11y ago

> The world’s first convergent tablet Sorry guys, M$FT had you beat to market by about... what, four years? > 16 GB internal memory Come the fuck on, now. I don't want to deal with the atrocious read/write speeds of MicroSD. 16 GB internal memory hasn't been impressive since sometime around 2007. This looks promising but it's definitely not for me. I hope someone uses it and likes it, but I think it still has a ways to go before it's more than a novelty.

fit2rule 11y ago
I was a little confused about this but I think that this 16G is partly-used to boot the /root partition (i.e. the OS) and then the rest is swap space. This makes it all a little more usable in my opinion, since there is only 2Gigs RAM onboard ..
ekianjo 11y ago
Oh is there a Microsoft tablet available for 300 USD? I thought so. And there's nothing convergent about the Surface. Without a keyboard what can you really do with it?
- wlesieutre 11y ago
  > Oh is there a Microsoft tablet available for 300 USD? I thought so. If they wanted to say "The first convergent tablet for 300 USD," then maybe they should have said that. > And there's nothing convergent about the Surface. Without a keyboard what can you really do with it? Netflix? Internet? Read emails? Write with its pretty fantastic handwriting recognition? What can the Aquaris M10 do without a keyboard that the Surface Pro can't? Is it somehow "more convergent"?
- quicklyfrozen 11y ago
  The surface isn't the only Windows tablet... You definitely could find a Venue Pro under $300 in the past couple years.
wlesieutre 11y ago
The first Surface Pro was released February 2013, so just over 3 years. That's a pretty strange claim for the Ubuntu folks to try and make. Call it the "first open source convergent tablet" or "fist cheap convergent tablet" if it needs a first-something claim, but the "let's stick our heads in the sand and pretend nothing MS does exists" schtick doesn't make anybody look good.

GUNHED_158 11y ago

I'm happy to see an Ubuntu tablet but about "A tablet when you want it, a PC when you need it.", who wants a PC with 2 GB of RAM?

DanBC 11y ago
Plenty of people only need 2 GB of ram. See all the notebooks which have tiny SSDs (64 GB) and small amounts of ram (less than 4 GB). That's fine for email, youtube, streaming movies, listening to music, doing a bit of light word processing or spreadsheeting. It's great for social media and most website use. And these machines are very cheap.
optforfon 11y ago
The same people that buy chromebooks

puppetmaster3 11y ago

Wrong title, missing: in UK.

Symbiote 11y ago
Did you try? It looks to be available worldwide. The company is Spanish.
SparkyMcUnicorn 11y ago
Everywhere: https://store.bq.com/gl/delivery-information/ https://store.bq.com/gl/delivery-information/
- r3bl 11y ago
  In a lot of countries, but not everywhere. My country (Bosnia & Herzegovina) is not listed anywhere.

edent 11y ago

Just ordered one. I had a chat to the BQ team in London recently. They're selling CyanogenMod Android phones as well. The CEO was quite clear that flashing a new OS wasn't going to void the warranty. I didn't get to play with their Ubuntu tablets, but their Android ones are well built, responsive, and have very clear screens. This isn't going to replace your totally tricked-out MacBook - but as a portable web-browser / word processor / coding machine, I have high hopes for it.

mtw 11y ago
So you can install and run nginx, redis, Atom.io, postgres etc. on this?
- edent 11y ago
  Yes. It's a full Linux machine. Well, that's what I've been told - we'll see once they ship.
  - mtw 11y ago
    Nice. Tempted. I wish they'd offer a nice keyboard that goes with it and clips (magnets?) to the tablet.
  - balamaci 11y ago
    I wonder how hard it's to program running a remote desktop connection to a desktop computer at home. I run Intellij Idea for java dev, so no way I can run on the tablet considering the battery drain. It would be nice to program in the park by just bringing the tablet and a keyboard. On the other hand the latency alone might distract me enough to just give up.
    - darpa_escapee 11y ago
      I run JetBrains IDEs in a persistent Xpra session on a Exynos board. It is pretty usable on subpar connections, much more so than VNC. It has options to use NX behind the scenes as well.

beshrkayali 11y ago

Seriously? 2 gigs of ram! I wonder how much Unity will be hogging when running in PC mode.

ekianjo 11y ago
Unity is not a memory hog anymore.
SXX 11y ago
Unity 8 unlike previous version isn't based on Compiz, but Qt.

FussyZeus 11y ago

All looks really interesting but only 16 GB internal memory? I mean if I could move my user directory in it's entirety to the MicroSD I could see that working as 16 would be way more than enough for system, but that seems hackey. I feel like they could easily get that to 64 GB and add a few bucks to the price tag, I would buy one of these in a hot second if they did.

green7ea 11y ago

I want to be really excited by this because this seems very cool but the mediatek processor and the 2 GB of RAM makes this a lot less interesting. Mediatek usually provides a closed off, low price, low performance chip which kind of clashes with what I want from an Ubuntu device.

bcook 11y ago
What was your intended use of an Ubuntu tablet? Server-farm? Gaming? I am pretty excited, but it is Linux on a tablet, which is kinda the worst of the worst from a performance perspective. Hopefully this marks the beginning of an increasing trend of more open & capable Operating Systems on our mobile devices.
- lqdc13 11y ago
  I'm concerned the browser will crash after you open 3 tabs. Ubuntu Desktop is really really memory hungry. It is currently using 8gb RAM on my Desktop which has been steadily increasing since last restart. The only thing you can possibly do on this thing is use a not very power hungry text editor. No VMs, no machine learning, no data processing and no games. If they had maybe 8gb RAM, 128 gb storage with a faster CPU, it might have been interesting.
  - gnufx 11y ago
    My Ubuntu desktop at work has 2GB and has been up for ~300 days (uptrack-patched) for development work. The phone version only has 1GB and doesn't crash when the browser has three tabs open.
goodplay 11y ago
Different strokes for different folks I guess. I've been interested in evaluating Mediatek processors for desktop usage for a while now. I think this tablet offers the best opportunity (and lowest friction) to do this due to who they're target this at: developers and open software folk (unlocked, open software). Hopefully, this'll turn out a positive experience and more OEMs hop on board.

bachmeier 11y ago

Looks like it's ARM. I suppose that's okay for many, but if you need programs like R, you're out of luck. I'd immediately buy one if it had an Intel or AMD processor.

ekianjo 11y ago
What are you talking about? I am using R on Slackware 14.1 on an ARM device. It works perfectly once you compile it.
- bachmeier 11y ago
  You can use base R but (unless something has recently changed) not all packages are going to work. I also program in D - including interacting with R - and that won't currently work.
  - ekianjo 11y ago
    I have compiled numerous R packages as well (dplyr, ggplot2, FactoMineR) and they all work fine on ARM. I agree that you may face issues when it comes to packages relying on JAVA, but otherwise never seen any other problem so far on ARM.
    - ashitlerferad 11y ago
      Java 8 builds on all the 3 Debian ARM platforms so it probably works on Ubuntu too. https://buildd.debian.org/status/package.php?p=openjdk-8&suite=sid https://buildd.debian.org/status/package.php?p=openjdk-8&sui...
  - ashitlerferad 11y ago
    I don't know which D compiler you are using, but Debian builds gdc from GCC 5 for the 3 ARM platforms so it will probably work on Ubuntu Phone. https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=gdc-5 https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=gdc-5

w0m 11y ago

interesting. Think Webstorm/Intellij would run decently on this? I've been looking for a new tablet; and have been dreading getting an Ipad...

netcan 11y ago

"A tablet when you want it, a PC when you need it" I'm not sure if I'm being naive, but it seems to me that for a decade, the laptop market has had a ridiculous hole. There is a market for something which is not windows, at a sub $500-$600 price that is good. Tablet UI, desktop, whatever. Something that can run skype, whatsapp, tinder and the other network-effect apps that can replace their 3 year old home laptop and be an improvement. How is it possible that all the mobile stuff from the last decade has not opened up real and substantial competition to Windows in that bracket. Anyway, this looks easily worth €259 if think you may want one.

mtw 11y ago
Why would you want tinder on a laptop? I'd pay more for a device that allows you to code, write a doc, do basic photo processing, etc. In my case, I wouldn't bring my 15" macbook pro when travelling or going a business meeting, but this could go anywhere
- netcan 11y ago
  I didn't really mean tinder. I just meant it as a shorthand for "software you run because other people run it."
digi_owl 11y ago
Asus tried with the EEEPC. MS And Intel stepped in it to protect their ultraprotable markup.
- netcan 11y ago
  They did. They did well. Lets have 9 more of those.
takno 11y ago
Isn't this exactly what all those Chromebooks are? I mean they haven't exactly set the world on fire, but they exist.
- 11y ago

shaneqful 11y ago

Time to spend the Jolla Tablet refund money I suppose :)

analog31 11y ago

Ask HN Can I install something like this on my Windows 10 tablet, and could it run jupyter/Python?

ashitlerferad 11y ago
If your tablet is ARM and running Windows RT then you probably need a Windows exploit to be able to run your own code. http://www.wpinternals.net/ http://www.wpinternals.net/ If your tablet is a PC (Intel/AMD/x86 etc) then turning off UEFI Secure Boot and booting from USB should let you run your own code. Once you can run your own code you should be able to install Python/jupyter.

supremeanger 11y ago

>no dedicated full sized USB port Why is the surface the only tablet to have a dedicated full sized USB port? It seems like one of the most important things to have in any tablet.

progman 11y ago

It's exciting that Ubuntu offers phones and tablets. But what's the gain to have a PC frontend while not having a real PC? Ubuntu should seriously consider to offer an additional Tablet with 4 GB RAM and real Linux, at least in a docker like vm. Only such a device would be really interesting for Linux developers and sys admins. 2 GB are good for basic things (surfing, emails, office) but compilation, simulation, testing etc. would be problematic. If such things are not possible then a notebook remains the better choice.

rocky1138 11y ago

Why would I buy this over a laptop?

handzhiev 11y ago
Weight is fairly important factor for me. This beats my travel laptop.