Despite the criticisms of being quixotic about its plans, the One Laptop Per Child project (the group behind the XO, also known as "the hundred-dollar laptop" before being priced at US$172 upon release) is gunning for something big in 2012 with its XO-3 tablet. Geared for children in developing countries, this 8.5-by-11-inch tablet computer is said to be priced at only $75.
The XO-3, which is half the thickness of an iPhone, will feature a touchscreen display with a folding ring on one corner for easier handling and a camera at the back. It will also have no physical keyboard or buttons. To keep the price at a down-low, this tablet will feature induction charging, pretty much like how Palm Pre is charged by placing it on the Touchstone, and will use an 8GHz processor and Pixel Qi display. The OLPC also aims the XO-3 to be highly durable, all-plastic, and waterproof.
How would these technologies become accessible before the Earth tilts by its side? The OLPC simply allows any other PC maker to take over the project, their way of pressuring the industry to provide cheaper and more education-focused PCs.
And while we wait for the XO-3 to become a reality, OLPC is set to release newer models beginning January 2010, starting with the $200 XO-1.5 that uses a VIA CPU instead of the AMD version in the pioneer model, which would double the speed, as well as provide four times the DRAM and Flash memory. The group will also release the XO-1.75, which will feature rubber bumpers on its casing and an 8.9-inch touchscreen display. The XO-1.75 will have a Marvell ARM processor that enables twice the speed at a quarter of power usage. Sorry, though, no XO-2.0.
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