Ubuntu for tablets - is it going to withstand iOS and Android?
Multitasking, "magic edges", a variety of sharing options and a long list of apps - all these and more is promised by Ubuntu. The most popular Linux system is to charge onto the tablet market in style.
The countdown on the Ubuntu website came to an end and some details have been revealed concerning this free platform working on tablets. As Ubuntu has become a very useful system for web, Blackbery and Android development, the time has come for Canonical to introduce it onto the rapidly evolving reality of mobile devices. What plans does the company have precisely for competing with Android and iOS?
According to the information available on the website, Ubuntu-run tablets will be real multitaskers that would allow their users to have all their applications when they need them. Much praised "magic edges" let them use all four edges to navigate by swiping and tapping. By moving a finger on the left edge an application menu - based on Unity interface, well known to PC Ubuntu users - can be presented and it can be easily checked which of them are active at the moment.
Multitasking is also supposed to ensure that notifications, Internet settings, messages and many more can be checked in a snap. Thanks to the fact that messenger menu does not cover a whole screen - it only displays a menu in the right - users are capable of working on a project while writing with their friends.
Main menu can be personalized in any way to show our favourite applications, contacts, music, etc. Neat and user-friendly screen is meant to help even the beginners work on their devices in an efficient way. The options for sharing and synching data are also greatly improved, since it is extremely easy to share all the photographs in a variety of social services such as Facebook, Twitter, Ubuntu One, Gmail and Pinterest.
The developers claim that Ubuntu is not limted to using only HTML5 apps but also native apps -that fully embrace the capabilities of the graphic CPU - can be installed. Creating new programs in Ubuntu style is also supposed to be not that difficult. This system is to stand up to the requirements of even most demanding users by providing them with a ripe choice of working apps, such as professional photo editors, movie editors as well as document managers. Yet another useful feature available on Ubuntu-run tablets is voice control in the HUD, which is claimed to be "as if you had an extra set of hands".
As it is predicted by Canonical that by 2014, Ubuntu is to ship on almost 10% of the world's new branded PCs, Ubuntu-run tablets may become a versatile tool for the advanced users and a great way to make friends with Linux for those who haven't yet used it. As a big fan of this free OS, I am fairly interested in the issue and I hope it works out well. What's your opinion? Do you think that it's going to succeed?