Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Edition: a tablet that runs like a desktop

At first, the Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Edition — often called the Ubuntu tablet — resembles most modern tablets, with a hard plastic case that folds into a stand, limited multi-tasking from an overview screen, and some ability to act like a workstation or laptop. However, even a tentative exploration reveals that the Ubuntu Edition is much more, due mostly to its operating system and the Unity interface, which comes of age at last on this tablet.

To start with, the tablet runs Ubuntu 15.04, and includes support for free formats such as .ogg and .odt, with a full list of software licenses available from the System Settings. Install the Terminal app, and you can see for yourself all the features — and one or two more — of Ubuntu on the desktop, such as the usual entries in /etc/apt/sources.list or the mounting of an SD micro card as a subdirectory of /media. Even more importantly, the Ubuntu tablet has no need to be rooted for a user to gain full access to it. Instead, once you select Developer mode from the System Settings, you are logged in as root — or, as the online instructions explain, you are in a setting from which "anyone can access, change or delete anything on this device by connecting it to another device."

At the same time, the Ubuntu tablet's security features are far more extensive than a typical tablet's. The Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, for instance, includes privacy features, but does nothing to call attention to them, and they are disabled by default, which probably means that it often runs with almost no security whatsoever. By contrast, the first-boot wizard for the Ubuntu tablet urges users to add basic security such as passwords, presenting the options in order of effectiveness. Features that increase access and could potentially allow damage to the system, such as the Terminal app or Developer mode, each require the user's password as well — although they are also somewhat protected by their obscurity, either by not being initially installed, or by being placed several layers down in the interface.

Similarly, while the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 includes an email application that, once configured, automatically downloads messages, the Aquaris M10 includes only a Gmail app, which requires a login with each use. Users who want another mail reader must download it from the Ubuntu Store.

The result is a tablet organized like a Linux-based laptop or workstation. For anyone who has tried to secure a typical Android tablet, scouring the interface for the necessary tools and risking rooting to gain some control over the machine, the Ubuntu tablet provides the immediate comfort of a familiar environment based on well-understood logic.

Unity in its natural habitat

Unity has been available on the desktop since 2010. On a twenty-four inch widescreen monitor, Unity can seem primitive and limited, but on a tablet's 10.1 inch touchscreen, this sometimes-derided graphical interface comes into its own. Developing on the ordinary tablet's use of a dragging finger to scroll up and down a window, Unity expands dragging — or swiping as it calls the motion — into a means of navigation for everything.

Swiping from the left edge of the screen displays the launcher of favorites, from the right the display of running applications (from which a swipe towards the bottom edge closes an app), and from the bottom additional details of the current application. Similarly, swiping from the top refreshes the current application, while swiping down from the indicator icons on the far right opens the configuration tools.

This form of navigation takes some adjustment — so much so that ideally the box should include a single sheet illustrating the types of swipes for quick reference. The brief tutorial in the first-boot wizard or the online help is not nearly enough to allow users to memorize the kinds of swipes, all the more so because finding the first-boot wizard again is difficult.

However, for me, swipes justify the entire idea of the touchscreen for the first time, providing a simple and elegant tool. Swiping simply feels less disorienting than jumping from screen to screen. Moreover, it can also be quicker; for example, instead of having a "back" button, you can right-swipe to jump directly to any open application. Because you are usually swiping into the screen instead of changing from screen to screen the way you do in most tablet interfaces, you can easily retrace your path. Although swipes are very much a feature of touchscreens, they create an interface that, while suited to the form factor, finally gives a the small screens of tablets the power of a desktop environment such as MATE or GNOME.

Desktop mode

From its first boot, the Aquaris M10 is organized so that it feels like a desktop computer. However, its tools are a mixture of typical tablet apps and standard Linux ones. You can run tools like GEdit or LibreOffice at any time, but aside from using your finger as an imprecise drawing tool in GIMP, to be productive with them, you need to switch on Desktop mode in the System Settings. In Desktop mode, the main screens of apps morph into full-screen windows and dialog windows, and Unity acts approximately as it does on a desktop.

You can enter Desktop mode in three ways. The easiest is to connect the tablet to a monitor or TV using the USB port. However, you can also start Bluetooth to run a mouse or keyboard, or connect the tablet to a USB hub.

Unfortunately, none of these choices are completely satisfactory. Granted, Bluetooth can be flaky, but I have yet to manage to enable both a mouse and keyboard at the same time. At times, too, Desktop mode slows to a crawl. The basic functionality is there, but the instructions are sparse. To make full use of Desktop mode, users have discover for themselves details such as the fact that default user is "phablet", or that screen shots taken by pressing both ends of the volume button on the top right of the tablet are stored in /home/phablet/Pictures/Screenshots. Such inconveniences make Desktop mode less than seamless.

Still, even with these inconveniences, Desktop mode enhances the Ubuntu tablet by potentially extending its range of apps. While the Apple Store or Google Play have many thousands of choices, the Ubuntu Store has less than a hundred. Since Linux apps can presumably be modified for the tablet relatively easily, Desktop mode can perhaps make the porting of applications easier until the Ubuntu Store is more thoroughly populated.

Packaging problems

When showing the Aquaris M10 around, I have found two main reactions. The Linux users generally react with some variation on "a tablet that acts like a desktop computer? Cool!" By contrast, less experienced users tend to look at the greater security and the use of Unity, and ask with genuine puzzlement, "Why bother?"

Better marketing and packaging might overcome this second reaction, but I suspect that the most immediate source of this indifferent second response is the packaging. In both the HD and Full HD models of the Ubuntu tablet (the Full HD model has slightly better specs and is the basis for this review), most specifications are average at best (see sidebar).

In particular, the Aquaris M10 ships with less than 10GB of on-board storage, and applying the latest upgrade reduces that to less than 8.5GB. Yet the specifications state that the tablet can use nothing greater than a 64GB microSD cards, although I suspect that it might support a 128GB card, which would bring the tablet up to the specifications of similarly priced tablets. As for the battery, in my experience, a full charge lasts no more than seven hours.

Equally disappointing is the contents of the package. The tablet ships with a protective screen cover that is almost impossible to apply without trapping air bubbles between it and the screen. The printed documentation amounts to four pages consisting mostly of obligatory notices and warnings, and a diagram of the hardware, without any mention of the online manual or how to access it.

Even worse, in my case, the box included a micro-USB cable that didn't fit its slot, and a recharging cord that had a European plug. Apparently, BQ, the manufacturer, does sell a converter, but, given my North American address, it might have mentioned this detail.

This lack of attention to detail is disappointing, because, as one of the few Linux-based tablets — especially if Android is counted separately — the Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Edition has a lot riding on it. Although its firmware is proprietary, it is still one of the more open tablets on the market today, and its failure for any reason would undoubtedly discourage the development of other open hardware. The only hope is that BQ is willing to commit in the long term to the Ubuntu Edition and upgrades the packaging eventually.

Meanwhile, despite the packaging, for those with the experience to appreciate its unique features, the Ubuntu tablet is an attractive niche product. Personally, once I learned my way around, it became first tablet I have not found a test of patience to use for any length of time. Because of its security, familiarity, and interface, it is currently my mobile computer of choice.

Index entries for this article
GuestArticles	Byfield, Bruce

---

to post comments