14 DAY TRIAL // As some of you will certainly remember, we've talked a while ago (back in late 2010, to be precise) about an interesting new tablet being built in China and running one of the best-known open source operating systems out there, Ubuntu Linux, and now, we'll go back to this topic, since we've managed to come across some interesting new tech details and photos. So, as GizInChina reveals (since, after all, they're also apparently somewhat involved in the tablet's overall development), the device is built on the platform of yet another famous Chinese tablet, the Winpad, originally designed to run Windows 7.
It's not really a surprise that this particular model was chosen for the so-called “Ubuntu Tab”, given the fact that the aforementioned open-source operating system is also optimized to run on x86 platforms.
And, in fact, the hardware configuration feels quite familiar, since the tablet is built around an 1.66 Ghz Intel Atom CPU, accompanied by 1 or 2 GB DDR3 RAM memory and a choice of 16 or 32GB SSD (solid state) drives for storage.
The device also comes equipped with a 10-inch capacitive screen, an 1.3 mega-pixel web camera, 2 x USB 2.0 ports, 1 x HDMI out, 3.5mm head phone jack, built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, as well as a 3G options.
Naturally, given the configuration (and especially the CPU it runs on), it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that this thing is quite bulky, but it's apparently manageable, according to the aforementioned source, who also points out that boot times were more than satisfactory, although the implementation of Ubuntu still required some further refinements.
Sadly, no details have been provided just yet in terms of pricing and availability, but GizInChina points out that we should expect this thing to start at around 400 US dollars for the 16GB, Wi-Fi only model, prices going only up from there.