Canonical not only plans to get a foothold in the smartphone market, the company just revealed its plan to launch Ubuntu for tablets as well. The first preview builds of this new operating system are expected to be published today for Google's Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablets. Full details at Bit Tech.
Like Ubuntu for Phones, Ubuntu for Tablets is part of Canonical's grand vision of turning mobile devices into fully-fledged computers. Based on the same Linux kernel as its desktop and server Ubuntu operating system, the mobile-centric editions include a tweaked version of the company's already touch-centric Unity user interface. While it retains the iconic dock to the left-hand side of the screen, the tablet version of Unity also includes a feature dubbed Side Stage which allows two apps to run side-by-side - a web browser and an email client, for example - by positioning a larger tablet-centric application next to a smaller application designed for smartphone displays.
As with the desktop version of Ubuntu, Ubuntu for Tablets supports multiple user accounts and can use encryption to keep each user's files and settings separate from the other users - something Google's Android has only just introduced in Android 4.2 'Jelly Bean,' and at that only for tablets thanks to a patent on using the system with smartphone devices.
