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Will the OLPC XO 3.0 start a trend of inexpensive, waterproof, low power tablets? I hope so, just as long as I don't have to deal with the consequences.
Nearly 18 months ago, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) laid out plans to introduce a $100, education-focused tablet. While the design and features of that original mockup have changed, at CES 2012, OLPC and Marvell finally introduced a working model, the X0 3.0.
We briefly covered the announcement during CES week, but in getting some hands-on with the device and speaking with the developers of this unique tablet, it got me thinking. With its low power, low cost approach to tablets, is there anything useful the XO 3.0 can teach consumer tablet manufacturers?
Honestly, to avoid burying the lede too much here, I'll say that I'm not sure it can. What sets the XO 3.0 apart from consumer tablets is that consumers won't actually have access to it.
OLPC's ultimate goal is to one day provide every child in the world with a connected computer, tablet or otherwise. Most of these children are from developing nations, like Uruguay, where buying a personal tablet isn't the highest priority for most families. OLPC (a non-profit organization) markets directly to ministries of education in these nations, which then distribute the tablets like textbooks.
So how different is a tablet you'll never find lining the shelves at Best Buy versus one that gets marketed directly to people with expendable incomes? Turns out, not very.
The XO 3.0 is still a conventional tablet with an 8-inch capacitive touch screen and Wi-Fi support (to save on costs, there's no 802.11n support though). The tablet felt fairly light in our hands, but is a lot thicker than the original mock-up. Not as thick as the Toshiba Thrive 10, but nowhere near as thin as some of the sub-9mm tablets available today. It includes both full and micro USB ports, as well as input and output audio jacks. There's 512MB of RAM, but only 4GB of storage space.
Editor's note: In asking the question, "do any of the XO 3.0's features make sense in a consumer tablet?", I'll be speculating how those features would work in a consumer tablet for someone in a developed nation with disposable income (the current chief market for consumer tablets). Please keep this context in mind when reading the rest of the blog. Thanks.
The costs of low power
Making a low power, low cost tablet like the XO 3.0 probably isn't the easiest thing in the world to do, but OLPC and Marvell achieved this in a number of ways. First, while most tablet vendors use IPS panels in tablet screens, OLPC decided to go with a TN panel instead.
Using a less expensive TN panel kills two birds. TN panels cost less in power consumption as well as manufacturing dollars than their IPS counterparts; however, IPS screen have wider viewing angles, providing greater image quality.
In addition to cutting both power and financial costs on the screen, OLPC set its sights on what is usually the second most power hungry tablet component (after the screen), the CPU. The problem with low power CPUs is that they're usually gimped in performance to some extent.
So choosing a CPU that can perform quickly, but also one that consumes relatively little power is a tough challenge. Kids can't exactly learn if they're waiting around all day for processes to finish. Well, I guess they could learn patience, but that's getting off the subject.
The point is, you need a balance. OLPC feels it found that balance in the 1GHz Marvell Armada PXA618 CPU.
Marvell says the PXA618 "consumes extremely low power, while maintaining high processing performance at attractive price points.". Sounds about right, on paper at least. In our time using the device, we found performance to be somewhat sluggish; however, we were dealing with an unfinished, unoptimized front-end interface, so it's difficult to determine at this point if the PXA618 was the right choice.
And yes, while it was announced that the Tegra 3-based 370T Memo would launch at $250, and it would be great to see that chip in every tablet, $250 still a far cry from $100.
OLPC also has the advantage of not having to make a profit. They can sell these things to countries in volume, virtually at cost, with no need for a price markup.
We've already seen some ultra low-priced tablets, but the prevailing consensus on these is that they usually aren't something you'd want to spend money on, no matter how low the price. And with good reason. They're bad. The XO doesn't feel like a bad tablet and honestly, in this case, I'm not even sure exactly how I would judge that, given its very narrow market focus.
Obviously, we'd all love to have high quality, cheaper tablets, but as you can see, that comes at a cost to performance, features, and design. There are two ways developers can offer cheaper tablets. One, cut costs by cutting features and performance. Sure, you don't get something as fast or offers as much in terms of features, but at least you aren't destroying your credit rating to purchase it.
On the other hand, there's the option to say to hell with margins and sell at cost or at a loss, in the hopes that you'd sell so many as to make it up on software sales.
Personally, I like option number two best. I want my $100 tablet with quad core performance with the battery that lasts 20 hours. Unreasonable? Yes. Will I ever get a version of that? Probably not and while we will see cheaper tablets that cut some features, we likely wont' see $100 tablets you'd actually want any time soon.
