One Laptop Per Child founder, Nicholas Negroponte, introduced the design of their next generation low cost XOXO or XO-2 laptop at a day-long media event in MIT Media Lab. The design looks amazing, but it will take until 2010 for them to bring this design to life. They are positive about being able to sell this machine for under $75.
XO-2 laptop has a book like design with dual-touchscreen, and to keep the cost low, they will be using the screens which we find in portable DVD players. When vertically held, the design looks like a book with left and right pages. It’ll doubles up as a hinged laptop or tablet computer when used horizontally. Here’s an excerpt from the official press release:
"The XO-2 laptop will be about half the size of the first generation device and will approximate the size of a book. The new design will make the XO laptop lighter and easier for children to carry with them to and from school or wherever they go. The XO-2 will continue to be in a green and white case and sport the XO logo in a multitude of colors that allow children to personalize the laptop as their own possession."
People have complained about the lack of tactile feedback on touchscreen based keyboards in products like iPhone. On the brighter side, touchscreen keyboards can be very easily customized for different applications or languages. All in all, XO-2 looks cooler than any standard laptop. Let’s wait and see if they’ll be able to deliver XO-2 for under $75.
[Via: Gizmodo]
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