2012-02-26

OLPC's XO 3 a $100 Solar-Powered Tablet

The Next List: Yves Behar wants design to change the world - Feb. 24, 2012

A $100 solar-powered tablet is coming soon

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- You may not have heard of Yves Behar, but chances are you've seen his designs.

He's the visionary behind the popular Jawbone Jambox sound system, Herman Miller's Sayl chairs, Swarovski chandeliers, and even New York City's free condoms.

The Swiss designer, now based in San Francisco, has plenty of commercial hits. That gives him the financial freedom to pursue his belief that design can change the world. It's a passion he put to work on his most famous project, One Laptop Per Child, better known as "the $100 laptop."

Now he's nearing completion of the sequel: A $100 tablet. It's rugged, solar-powered, and designed for children in the world's poorest countries.




Gizmo - OLPC XO 3.0 Tablet - YouTube

The first tablet from One Laptop Per Child gets unveiled! It is a pretty nice device and should cost $100. It features a very low power consuming Marvell ARM processor, up to 1GHz speed, 500MB of RAM, USB ports, 4GB of storage. It can also run Android, Sugar OS, even Linux.



OLPC's XO 3 tablet uses 1GHz ARM SoC to run Sugar Linux or Android - News - Linux for Devices


One Laptop per Child (OLPC) demonstrated a "fully functional" version of its long-delayed XO 3.0 tablet, equipped with a 1GHz Marvell Armada PXA618 processor running Sugar Linux or Android 3.x. Like OLPC's XO 2 laptop, the eight-inch tablet is aimed at educational systems in developing nations, and it will feature an optional sunlight-readable Pixel Qi touchscreen plus the ability to draw power from an optional solar panel or crank charger.
[...]
The XO 3.0 tablet will feature the 1GHz Marvell Armada PXA618 SoC, a member of Marvell's PXA610 line of ARMv7 processors, and will also include an Avastar Wi-Fi SoC, say Marvell and OLPC. The XO 3 ships with a standard LCD touchscreen or an optional Pixel Qi low-power, sunlight-readable display, say the partners. Other features are said to include a "unique" charging circuitry that can be charged directly by solar panels, hand cranks, and other alternative power sources. Alternative power has been a longtime goal of OLPC that wasn't implemented in earlier XO designs.

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