An installable image of Ubuntu for the Galaxy Nexus handset, along with its source code, will be released ‘late February’, Canonical’s Alan Pope has said.

At last weeks press event unveiling the device, Mark Shuttleworth had said that an image would be available ‘in the coming weeks’ – so why the delay?

Canonical’s Richard Collins has said that it’s to allow them time to “maximize all the attention we want to gain [with it]“.

Read: make sure it works better when all eyes are on it.

A specific date in unknown but it’s probable that the release will coincide with Canonical’s appearance at the Mobile World Congress 2013, being held between 25 – 28th of February.

The downloadable image will be for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus – the main device currently used by Canonical for demoing the OS.

Still In Development

For all its glitz and glamour, the Ubuntu Phone image due in February is unlikely to be feature complete – and it’s important that anyone contemplating installing it is aware of this beforehand.

During our hands-on with the device we were impressed by its fluidity, touch-gestures, and designed. But there were gaps in its functionality.

For example, we found out that some key parts of the Ubuntu Phone experience, such as the ‘voice controlled HUD’ and an ‘app store’, don’t even exist yet; and many of those that do, such as the webkit-based web browser, are far from complete.

But, reality check aside, the core features of the phone – messaging, calling, camera, etc – were all working during our play with it – and working very, very well, we might add.