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Finally, we get our hands on an Ubuntu tablet; the BQ Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Edition. The tablet comes in two flavors (more on that shortly), and if you pre-ordered it (like I did) then you also receive a cover and screen protector. The M10 is, more importantly, the first Ubuntu device (in fact, any device) which can do the magical convergence trick that’s so often talked about with Ubuntu Touch. Convergence is, simply put, one device that can have multiple uses. For example; alone the tablet is just that (a tablet), but with the addition of a bluetooth keyboard and mouse, the OS will adjust accordingly (giving you a desktop look) and you now, in effect, have a laptop. Output the tablet to a screen and you have the makings of a desktop machine. Specs As stated earlier, there are two versions; an HD version, and a Full HD (FHD) version. The HD comes in white, the FHD in black. Both have 10.1” screens, are 246 x 171 x 8.2mm in size, weigh 470g, use a 16:10 aspect ratio, have 16GB of storage with 2GB of RAM, micro-SD slots (on the top edge) with micro-HDMI and micro-USB OTG slots on the left side, and, with them, a headphone jack. The right edge has the power and volume buttons. Both have bluetooth 4, accelerometer, ecompass, brightness sensor, GPS, WiFi (dual-band) and come with Ubuntu 15.04 OTA-9. Upgradable to OTA-10.1 on first boot.

Obviously, they differ in resolution: the HD has 1280×800 while the FHD has 1920×1200. The HD has a MediaTek QuadCore MT8163B CPU at 1.3GHz while the FHD has an MT8163A at 1.5GHz. Both have Mali-T720 MP2 GPUs with the HD’s being 520MHz and the FHD at 600MHz. They also differ with the HD rear camera being 5MP, FHD being 8MP. Front camera on the HD is only 2MP while the FHD is 5MP. Neither come with a micro-HDMI cable, or OTG cable/hub. So if you want to try out USB devices, or hook it up to a screen, you’ll need to buy some (cheap) extras. Updates I mentioned that the tablet comes with 15.04. While 16.04 has now been released on the desktop, it’s not available as yet for mobile devices. I’m told that it will come later in the year, but it’s a big job, so don’t expect every desktop Ubuntu update to appear on your mobile device. But, don’t worry, 15.04 (and future Touch versions) for mobile devices is still being looked after and you’ll receive Over The Air (OTA) updates every month or two. As I write, 10.1 is the latest update. Updating is done by simply going to the System Settings > Updates, and you’ll see software and OS updates in here. For more on using the OS itself, see my review of the Meizu MX4 phone. It’s the exact same software.

Side Stage A new feature found only on the tablet is side-stage. This is where you can have two apps on the screen side by side. The one on the right is overlapping the one on the main screen. This is done by opening the app you want at the right side of the screen then, with three fingers, dragging the app to the right of the screen. As soon as you move your three fingers across the screen you see a drop zone for the side-stage app. Obviously, how well an app looks in side-stage is up to the developer. So don’t worry if things look a bit odd at first. It’s a handy feature to have your email (in Dekko), or the File Manager, always there at the side of the screen. Convergence Adding a keyboard and mouse is when the magic starts to happen. The Ubuntu Touch OS switches into what it calls ‘windowed mode’ where your scopes/apps become windowed and everything looks more like the familiar Ubuntu. You now effectively have a laptop.

Pushing the mouse to the left edge of the screen will show the Unity side strip with the Ubuntu (ie: home) button and the apps you have open, or have pinned to the side. Pushing to the right brings in the switcher to let you choose other open apps (or to close apps). And, in short, you use the apps like you would if it were a desktop/laptop. I should also mention that plugging in an OTG cable/hub with a USB mouse/keyboard will trigger the desktop mode too. I also tried a wireless keyboard/mouse with USB dongle and it worked fine too. Heck, I even tried a gimmicky bluetooth laser projection keyboard and it worked! Speaking of desktops… plugging in a micro-HDMI to HDMI cable between the tablet and a TV/monitor will pop the tablet into its third mode. This is the same display as the laptop/windowed mode, but now you’re using a bigger screen. The reason it’s a third mode is that the tablet screen now goes blank (your display is on the TV/monitor) and the tablet screen now becomes a touchpad. You can, if you want, keep the mouse/keyboard attached and have all the bells and whistles you could ever want.

In one of my photos, and I apologise about the quality of them but it’s very difficult to photo a TV/tablet, you’ll (hopefully!) see a USB stick plugged into an OTG hub which is plugged into the tablet (which also has the keyboard/mouse dongle). While you can use USB sticks, be aware that you do need to install the File Manager from the Ubuntu Store (for free) and unlock the File Manager (from its menu) to gain read/write access to the stick. This is also a good time to say that not all USB hardware will work. Some draw too much power from the tablet and just won’t work. I tried my Wacom tablet, and, while it lit up, it wasn’t recognised. Also bear in mind that if a USB device does work, it may drain the battery very quickly. Legacy Apps But the tricks don’t end there. There’s more! Pre-installed on the tablet are a couple of (what’s known as) legacy apps. The apps are fully working versions of GIMP, LibreOffice, Firefox, Gedit and Gchat desktop apps! That’s right. You can use fully functioning GIMP, LibreOffice, etc. on the tablet.

NOTE: as of writing, and OTA-10.1, there is a bug whereby the legacy apps can’t use the on-screen keyboard and need a hardware keyboard. This is a known bug and is being worked on. One quirk of legacy apps is that they’re, for want of a better term, sandboxed. So, for example, they can’t see USB sticks. This means you need to save your LibreOffice document to the tablet then copy/paste it to the USB stick in the File Manager. It’s a bit of a nuisance, but nothing major. I haven’t tested plugins in GIMP, but I did try addons with Firefox and the addons installed, and worked exactly as expected. While on the subject of Firefox, things like YouTube and Vimeo in Firefox are very stuttery, but fine (even at full screen) using available apps from the store. Netflix is, unfortunately, a no go. Sudo Apt I know what you’re thinking: great! So I can sudo apt my favourite software on the tablet? Uh. No. The tablet uses the ARM processor. In short: it won’t run bog standard desktop apps without them being possibly rewritten, recompiled and/or repackaged. If you should happen to have an app that’s ARM compatible then I’m told that OTA-11 will bring a way to install it using a nice GUI app on the tablet.

Conclusion Pros • Lovely looking tablet. • Side-stage handy for keeping eye on email/etc. • Convergence is great. One tablet, multiple uses. • Works well with OTG hubs, USB (kb/mouse), Bluetooth devices, etc. Cons • No sync between devices. The old Ubuntu One cloud storage would have been handy now. • No file/document manager by default. You need to install them from the store. • As of writing, the legacy apps are a bit slow. • Can’t install any old app. • Charging can take a couple of hours. Even from the mains. • Small text in desktop apps. The M10, and convergence, are great ideas, but non-geeks might be better waiting for OTA-11+. Having no file, or document, manager by default seems a bit odd as they’re something most people would need. Thankfully they’re only a few pokes away in the Ubuntu Store. I do hope they can get more speed into the legacy apps as they’re a bit slow. Having said that, I did load up one of my larger, multi-layer, GIMP files, and it was completely usable and I could still apply complex filters quite quickly, considering it’s a tablet. Not being able to install just any desktop app will definitely be a deal breaker for most people, so I hope there’s some easy, or easy-ish, way that this can be rectified. All in all though, I’m still very happy with the tablet. I’m looking forward to future updates as, like the phones, it can only get better.