OLPC XO Tablet Takes Shape: Future Of Education, On A Slate
One Laptop Per Child is a wonderful organization. Despite their failed
attempts to provide thousands of laptops to students around the globe
for under $100 (the machines ended up being slightly more expensive than
they had hoped), that has not prevented the company from shipping mini
notebooks to classrooms all around the world, helping children learn in a
way that they otherwise would not if it hadn't been for OLPC's
determination. The green XO laptop is now a symbol of hope and
excitement, and we're thrilled to see the next generation of OLPC taking
shape.
As the tablet revolution marches on, OLPC is looking into creating a tablet for the future generations of students in developing nations (and in first-world nations, too). The entity has recently teamed with Marvell in order to develop a new XO Tablet, which will be based around Marvell's "Moby" slate reference design. This slate will also feature a multi-lingual soft keyboard with touch feedback, enabling it to serve millions more children who speak virtually any language anywhere in the world. It's design is simple, which is perfect for a learning tool, but the inside is astoundingly powerful.
The device will be designed to work with mesh networks and will feature an application to directly access more than 2 million free books available across the Internet. It will have a very long (exact specs on the battery have not been made public) battery life, as well as support for Flash 10, two-way teleconferencing, video chatting, and even 1080p video playback. Marvell's ARMADA 610 (1GHz) processor will be the heartbeat of the tablet, and there will also be an 802.11n Wi-Fi module and support for Android, Ubuntu (Linux) and Windows Mobile operating systems. We suspect that each school will be able to decide which OS best fits their needs.
No specific pricing details have been talked about, but we get the idea that a sub-$100 point is being aimed at. Even if it winds up being somewhat more expensive, this still seems like a great teaching tool and it would certainly benefit students around the globe. Good luck OLPC, the kids are pulling for you!
As the tablet revolution marches on, OLPC is looking into creating a tablet for the future generations of students in developing nations (and in first-world nations, too). The entity has recently teamed with Marvell in order to develop a new XO Tablet, which will be based around Marvell's "Moby" slate reference design. This slate will also feature a multi-lingual soft keyboard with touch feedback, enabling it to serve millions more children who speak virtually any language anywhere in the world. It's design is simple, which is perfect for a learning tool, but the inside is astoundingly powerful.
The device will be designed to work with mesh networks and will feature an application to directly access more than 2 million free books available across the Internet. It will have a very long (exact specs on the battery have not been made public) battery life, as well as support for Flash 10, two-way teleconferencing, video chatting, and even 1080p video playback. Marvell's ARMADA 610 (1GHz) processor will be the heartbeat of the tablet, and there will also be an 802.11n Wi-Fi module and support for Android, Ubuntu (Linux) and Windows Mobile operating systems. We suspect that each school will be able to decide which OS best fits their needs.
No specific pricing details have been talked about, but we get the idea that a sub-$100 point is being aimed at. Even if it winds up being somewhat more expensive, this still seems like a great teaching tool and it would certainly benefit students around the globe. Good luck OLPC, the kids are pulling for you!
