OLPC sees bandwagon, hops on with XO tablet based on Marvell Moby design

Eh, those kiddos don't need no physical keyboards and power cranks, right? Right! In a presumed effort to both keep with the times and take advantage of what's being served to them on a silver platter, the philanthropic souls over at One Laptop Per Child have teamed with Marvell in order to develop the next OLPC -- which, predictably, will be a tablet. The forthcoming range of XO tablets will be based on Marvell's newly loosed 'Moby' reference design (which we recently toyed with), and given that purported $99 price tag, you can see why the tie-up makes sense. The slate will require but one watt of power to operate (compared to ~five watts on the existing XO laptop), and it'll include a multilingual soft keyboard with touch feedback in order to serve various regions of the globe. As for specs, we're told that the device will boast an ARMADA 610 application processor, "gigahertz processor speed," 1080p encode / decode capabilities, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth, FM radio support, a GPS module and the ability to play back 3D graphics and Adobe Flash videos (zing!). There's also an integrated camera for live video conferencing, not to mention Moby's ability to support Android, Windows Mobile and / or Ubuntu. All we're told about battery life is that it's designed "expressly" to last a good, long while, and scarily enough, there's no confirmation anywhere that these will actually cost less than a Benjamin whenever they ship. Fingers crossed, though.

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One Laptop per Child and Marvell Join Forces to Redefine Tablet Computing for Students Around the World

Marvell and OLPC Empower Education Industry to Revolutionize the Classroom Experience through Advanced, Affordably-Priced Tablets

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. and SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- One Laptop per Child (OLPC), a global organization whose mission is to help provide every child in the world access to a modern education, and Marvell, a worldwide leader in integrated silicon solutions, have agreed to jointly develop a family of next-generation OLPC XO tablet computers based on the Marvell® Moby reference design. This new partnership will provide designs and technologies to enable a range of new educational tablets, delivered by OLPC and other education industry leaders, aimed at schools in both the U.S. and developing markets. Marvell is also announcing today it has launched Mobylize, a campaign aimed at improving technology adoption in America's classrooms.

The new family of XO tablets will incorporate elements and new capabilities based on feedback from the nearly 2 million children and families around the world who use the current XO laptop. The XO tablet, for example, will require approximately one watt of power to operate (compared to about 5 watts necessary for the current XO laptop). The XO tablet 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.

The device is also decidedly "constructionist" in nature. By design, it combines hardware and software to deliver a platform that will enable educators, students and families around the world to create their own content, and learn to read, write, and create their own education programs and share all of these experiences via a mesh network model. The device will also feature an application to directly access more than 2 million free books available across the Internet.

"While devices like eReaders and current tablets are terrific literary, media and entertainment platforms, they don't meet the needs of an educational model based on making things, versus just consuming them. Today's learning environments require robust platforms for computation, content creation and experimentation – and all that at a very low cost," said Dr. Nicholas Negroponte, Founder and Chairman of One Laptop per Child. "Through our partnership with Marvell, OLPC will continue our focus on designing computers that enable children in the developing world to learn through collaboration, as well as providing connectivity to the world's body of knowledge."

"Marvell has made a long-term commitment to improving education and inspiring a revolution in the application of technology in the classroom. The Moby tablet platform – and our partnership with OLPC – represents our joint passion and commitment to give students the power to learn, create, connect and collaborate in entirely new ways," said Weili Dai, Marvell's Co-founder and Vice President and General Manager of the Consumer and Computing Business Unit. "Marvell's cutting edge technology – including live content, high quality video (1080p full-HD encode and decode), high performance 3D graphics, Flash 10 Internet and two-way teleconferencing – will fundamentally improve the way students learn by giving them more efficient, relevant – even fun tools to use. Education is the most pressing social and economic issue facing America. I believe the Marvell Moby tablet can ignite a life-long passion for learning in all students everywhere. I am immensely proud of the capability of our Moby tablet and I am extremely honored to partner with the inventor of the netbook market for education, Dr. Nicholas Negroponte. I applaud his leadership, vision, passion and together we will make the world a better place."

About the One Laptop per Child Foundation

The One Laptop per Child Foundation (OLPC at http://www.laptop.org) is a nonprofit organization created by Nicholas Negroponte and others from the MIT Media Lab to design, manufacture and distribute laptop computers that are inexpensive enough to provide every child in the world access to knowledge and modern forms of education.

About Marvell Moby Tablet Platform and Mobylize.org

Powered by a high-performance, highly scalable, and low-power Marvell ARMADA™ 610 application processor, the Moby tablet features gigahertz processor speed, 1080p full-HD encode and decode, intelligent power management, power-efficient Marvell 11n Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/FM/GPS connectivity, high performance 3D graphics and support for multiple software standards including full Adobe Flash, Android™, Windows Mobile and Ubuntu. The Moby platform also features a built–in camera for live video conferencing, multiple simultaneous viewing screens and Marvell's 11n Mobile Hotspot which allows Wi-Fi access that supports up to eight concurrent users connected to the Internet via a cellular broadband connection. The ultra low power mobile tablet is expressly for long-battery life. For more information, visit www.mobylize.org.

About Marvell

Marvell (NASDAQ: MRVL) is a world leader in the development of storage, communications, and consumer silicon solutions. Marvell's diverse product portfolio includes switching, transceiver, communications controller, wireless, and storage solutions that power the entire communications infrastructure including enterprise, metro, home, and storage networking. As used in this release, the term "Marvell" refers to Marvell Technology Group Ltd. and its subsidiaries. For more information, visit http://www.marvell.com.

[GadgetTamer Posted May 27th 2010 9:52AM]

Cause EVERY child needs 1080p encode/decode.... most people don't even know what 1080p, 802.11n, or for some, even what flash is...

[htd Posted May 27th 2010 9:55AM]

I dont know why they want their own OS, that costs more, right?

[rutter9 Posted May 27th 2010 9:57AM]

@htd

I'd like to know who are all of these people buying tablets?

[htd Posted May 27th 2010 9:58AM]

@rutter9 I am actually waiting for one that can play video on PC through wifi, with webcam and supports skype video conference and comes with GPS and better battery life.

[commenter7 Posted May 27th 2010 10:01AM]

@rutter9

Hint: people who would buy a certain tablet that has already been released

[mikedep333 Posted May 27th 2010 9:52AM]

Keep in mind, this isn't the first $100 tablet, but it sounds like a much better one.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.39169

[tobsmonster2 Posted May 27th 2010 1:45PM]

@mikedep333
Yeathe specs on this one look great, so great it will probably lose its sub 100$ price tag. Anything less than 150$ is still a win though.

[Kangal Posted May 27th 2010 11:41PM]

@mikedep333

Could this be the iPad killer???

Lol but seriously, Engadget please type "Bazinga!" instead of "zing!", a better alternative and a great reference to the geek-adored Big Bang Theory.

[Oflife Posted May 27th 2010 9:54AM]

So we can have one of these awesome beasts for approx 1/5th of the price of an iPad 16G WiFi only - with a spec lightyears ahead? Or is there a catch? (Other than availability date.) IE, are they government subsidised for poor countries?

[HoldenMccrotch Posted May 27th 2010 9:55AM]

@Oflife
it seems like its made for educational facilities in underpriviliged areas (or so, thats what i understood from the other article :()
shame, id snap one of these up so badly, even at £200!!!

[mKTank Posted May 27th 2010 3:33PM]

@Oflife Lightyears are a measure of distance, you imbecile.

[ArhcAngel Posted May 27th 2010 9:54AM]

Hooray! Now all the kids can starve while watching flash videos of opulent engorgement gluttony in the US.

[vqro Posted May 27th 2010 12:29PM]

@ArhcAngel Hey, but at least they'll have flash, ports, awesome video, etc...

[mikedep333 Posted May 27th 2010 9:56AM]

LOL, huge mistake in the forbes article:
"But the new device...won't quite measure up to the ambitious promises OLPC had made for its future computer.... its Marvell processor will likely be one gigahertz, not eight."
I would sure love an eight gigahertz tablet!

[Bhima Posted May 27th 2010 10:00AM]

@mikedep333
That writer made my day.

[mikedep333 Posted May 27th 2010 11:30AM]

@Bhima Well, Marvell is working on quad-core gigahertz+ chips. Maybe their statement could apply to eight-core 1-gigahertz chips, but I doubt it.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/06/marvell-debuts-quad-core-armada-arm-processor-for-kicking-your-m/

[Ed T Posted May 27th 2010 10:21AM]

Up next is the 99 cent smartphone, because every family living in a dirt floor shack deserves a chance to Tweet and visit the UNICEF facebook page.

[Tes Posted May 27th 2010 10:28AM]

What is this OLPC thing about? I thought it was a charitable endeavour. surely a large chunk of it's income is going towards needless R&D?

Developing nations first and foremost need the infrastructure to access the data that is online. Streaming video at the highest bit rate at the highest resolution is the least of problems that needs to be tackled. They certainly don't need the lack of keyboard. How do we get information to those that need it most, how do keep the costs down and how do we power it...trying to jump on the tablet PC bandwagon is a waste of time.

[Formul Posted May 27th 2010 10:40AM]

LOL @ popover ripoff :-) that huge searchbar will be a must as well (??)

[kopmis Posted May 27th 2010 12:21PM]

This all seems like a big pipe dream... They need to stop thinking of such high-flying concepts and continue developing there laptop, making it even cheaper and more robust. They already have an OS ready for that, are they gonna throw away all that work? The tablet market hasn't even taken of yet.