Canonical rubbishes Android tablets

UBUNTU LINUX DISTRIBUTOR Canonical believes the Motorola Atrix is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to smartphones that are able to transform themselves into more traditional computing devices.

The dual-core Atrix was launched in May and came equipped with the optional extra of a ‘Lapdock' which, when used to dock the phone, could turn it into a regular netbook.

Canonical's head of OEM services, Chris Kenyon, told The INQUIRER that it is currently working with several manufacturers to put Ubuntu on such hybrid phones, arguing that Android is simply no good at dealing with larger screened computing devices.

"Converged devices are fundamentally feasible. The Atrix is the start of a whole class of devices. All smartphones in a year will have the ability to morph into different modes," he said.

As if to validate Kenyon's words, Asus used its Computex pre-show press conference on Monday to launch the Padfone, it's attempt to wedge a smartphone into a tablet.

The idea is for users to dock the phone into the tablet hardware when they want to use a bigger screen for tasks such as videoconferencing.

Whether this kind of hybrid smartphone offering really catches on remains to be seen but it can't hurt Canonical to get involved with the manufacturers at the start. Kenyon admitted that the firm has been waiting for years for the hardware makers to catch up in offering such devices. µ