In early January, Canonical announced plans to launch a new UI for its Linux-based Ubuntu OS that was being made especially for smartphones. Now the company has once again started a countdown clock on its Ubuntu website for some kind of reveal on Tuesday.
The clock has a message which says simply, "Tick, tock, tablet time." Unless Canonical is talking about selling some kind of writing tablet, it seems clear that Tuesday"s announcement will offer details on how Ubuntu"s UI will be made to serve tablet-based PCs.
It"s almost certain that this tablet version will be a modified UI based on the already announced smartphone interface. Canonical said at the time that their UI would have " ... thumb gestures from all four edges of the screen" that in turn would "enable users to find content and switch between apps faster than other phones." We would be surprised if this feature was not brought over to the tablet version.
As far as the smartphone port of Ubuntu, Canonical has plans to release the source code and images for developers on Thursday, February 21st. Owners of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4 smartphone from Google and LG will be able to download and use the source code ahead of a final launch later in 2013.
Source: Ubuntu.com | Image via Canonical