OLPC Announces New Tablet For Children With Multiple Charging Options

After launching low cost laptops for poor children, One Laptop per Child (OLPC), a non-profit organization that focuses on providing children across the world with rugged, low-cost, low-power, computing devices has announced a new Tablet (again for children of course) called XO 3.0 in the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The Tablet run on either the Android operating system or the company's own Sugar OS (customized Linux version) and is an innovative device since it provides the user with multiple charging options.

Apart from charging the Tablet from the conventional AC adapter, the device can also be charged by other kinds of power sources. For example, the Tablet can be charged by solar panels (the cover of the device also functions as a solar panel with a battery) or users can charge it with the help of a hand crank (attach the crank to the power jack and rotate the handle continuously to charge the device).

The Tablet will be available in two displays, one of them an 8 inch LCD (1024 x 768pixel resolution) LCD while the other will be an 8 inch PixelQi display (for reading in sun light). There is a choice between the operating system of the Tablet also, an Android OS and the company's own Sugar OS (customized Linux version). It is powered by a 1GHz Marvell ARMADA PXA618 SOC processor and will also include an Avastar Wi-Fi SoC. It has 512MB of RAM and the internal memory of the device is 4GB. The Tablet also has a USB and a micro USB port.

According to The Verge, the company is aiming at launching the device for around $100 which is a little over Rs 5,000, hence making the Tablet an affordable device for many. But since India already has its very own Aakash Tablet that is available for less than half that price, wouldn't it be better to simply provide children with that. Yes it won't have the multiple charging options and the Sugar OS, but the price at which it is being offered will in itself make people opt for it (even if the T.A is children).