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Sure, MeeGo is set to launch a pre-alpha version of its Linux-based software for smartphones next week, but we won’t actually see devices running that version of MeeGo until October or later. But you know what might be ready to go a little sooner than that? MeeGo for tablets.

The tablet version of MeeGo has the same basic Linux core as the netbook edition that’s been available for the past month or so. But it has a shiny new interface designed for touch input. The folks at Engadget spotted a demo video which gives you a pretty good idea of just how the tablet version of MeeGo will work, and it looks pretty nifty.

Some tablets, like the iPad take a basic smartphone UI and scale it up to a larger screen. Others, including Windows 7 tablets take a desktop operating system and slap on some touch-friendly navigation gestures. But MeeGo’s tablet UI was designed from scratch as a different way to interact with your data, using a system of icons, hubs, multitouch gestures, and notifications. In fact, it almost looks more like Windows Phone 7 than anything else I’ve seen.

You can check out the demo video after the break.