14 DAY TRIAL // Pine64 has recently announced that it would begin taking pre-orders for the highly-anticipated PineTab Linux tablet later this month after the device has previously been pushed back several times.
The PineTab is designed to be a super-affordable Linux tablet that would ship with Ubuntu Touch from UBports, but the parent company says you should be able to run any Linux operating system at some point in the future.
“Software-wise the PineTab is convergent with both PinePhone and Pinebook software releases. It will therefore, in time, run most mobile operating systems developed for our platform as well as popular desktop OS options. I am also certain that the number of choices will explode after the first batch gets into early adopters’ hands, and that we will see more desktop-oriented releases with touch input capabilities very soon,” Pine64 says.
The new Linux tablet, which will cost just $99.99, can also work with a $19.99 magnetic backlit keyboard that simply attaches to the device.
Limited pre-order program
However, the company is also working on a series of expansion options, including an M.2 SATA SSD, M.2 LTE and GPS, a LoRa module, and RTL-SDR.
As for the specs, the PineTab is a decent tablet. It ships with a 10-inch 1280x720 pixels IPS LCD screen, while power comes from an Allwinner A64 quad-core processor paired with 2GB RAM. The GPU is a Mali-400 MP2 unit, while for storage, you get 64GB eMMC. There is one USB 2.0 Type-A port as well as a microSD slot. The device ships with a 6,000 mAh battery that should easily get you through the day.
While the pre-order program will kick off later this month, it will only include limited quantities.
“This is a limited-quantity pilot-production run. In other words, these PineTabs are similar in nature to Braveheart PinePhones – they are aimed at early adopters who understand the implications of purchasing an early production-run device,” Pine64 says.
