Just hours ago we reported that the One Laptop Per Child project was going to unveil their $US100 tablet at CES. And now we have some of the first official photos of the highly affordable, yet extremely durable device.
As with the original OLPC, plastic is the preferred choice of materials here, keeping the target price down. But the 8-inch display appears to be protected with a soft silicone cover. The OLPC project is of course targeted at kids, so while the XO 3.0 is nowhere near as thin as the iPad 2, its chunky form factor does give it the appearance of being Tonka tough.
I’m particularly curious about the inside of the silicone cover as pictured in this shot. When power isn’t available the XO 3.0 can be charged by a hand-crank, but that blue patterned material on the inside of the cover looks suspiciously like a solar cell. I want to believe that being able to charge it with a few hours of sunlight is an option, but that $US100 price tag gives me my doubts. [TechCrunch]
