At long last, my XO-1 (OLPC) has finally arrived today. (A big thanks to my friendly acquaintances in the U.S.!)
My first impression of the device was very good; it looks fun and sturdy. The display delivers a very crisp image, and the screen can also be rotated.
I haven’t done a lot of testing yet — let alone read the manual (which is only available online) — but it can safely be said that the Sugar interface takes quite some getting used to for regular PC users like myself.
The keyboard keys are small (of course) and feel a bit wonky, as there is no proper pressure point; the contact points have little more than a rubber coating, but I assume that’s intentional to make it more resistant. It might take some time, but I’m confident I’ll get used to typing with this.
Based on this very preliminary review, I think I’ll have a lot of fun with this device – despite some of those negative points.
I wanted the XO primarily as a fun gadget, but its small size will certainly prove useful in many ways — e.g. serving as an ultra-portable device used when carrying a regular laptop might be too cumbersome (e.g. in the car… ). Also, it has been suggested that the XO might “be a great ‘distraction free’ writing machine” — sounds plausible!
How I’m actually gonna end up using it, though, that is yet to be seen (I’ll report any findings here). Either way, I will almost certainly do a lot of TiddlyWiki stuff on it, using it both as a notebook and as testing platform.
From my perspective, the XO hardware has several advantages over its main “competitor”[1], the Asus Eee. The main criterion here is the larger screen and higher resolution[2] — not to mention the exclusiveness of this device (which, personally, I don’t much care for though)… A drawback is the lower processing power (e.g. 433 MHz vs. 900 MHz CPU) and smaller storage memory (1024 MB vs. 4/8 GB).
For more information, there’s an interesting in-depth dissection of the XO-1′s hardware on bunnie’s blog.
Ultra-portable laptops seem to have become a fad (again?), with a number of companies jumping on the bandwagon — so we will certainly see more developments in this field.
A few words on the OLPC project in general:
I’m not entirely convinced that a laptop is what children in poor countries (or regions/districts) need the most.
However, a laptop does allow for easier distribution of reading material — think downloading an e-book vs. ordering a truckload of paperbacks. So this might indeed provide a significant boost in spreading education.
However, I’m still skeptical as to whether the money that went into this project could not have been used in a better way. We might be wiser five or ten years from now. At the very least, the kid getting that second laptop funded by my order will have some fun with it, and that should be worth something…
- Of course the OLPC project is non-profit, and the XO-1 not a regular retail product… [↩]
- In monochrome mode — which should be sufficient for most tasks — the XO’s 7.5” screen has a resolution of 1200×900 (800×600 in “backlit” mode). The Eee’s 7” screen has a tiny resolution of 800×480 pixels (a larger version is in development though). [↩]
