OLPC Smartphone

THE CONTENT BELOW IS JUST AN EXPERIMENT (TEST MOCK-UP), NOT A NEWS ABOUT PILOT MODEL FOR A TECHNICALLY MATURED PRODUCT

We are now making a prototype of OLPC Smartphone prototype based on Openmoko and Chumby frame as well as various linux smartphones such as E28. Our ultimate purpose is NOT to make a brand new machine, but ONLY to reduce the physical size of OLPC to hand-held machines.

An OLPC Smartphone is for college students of South Korea, almost 100% of them now having both (laptop or desktop) computers and mobile phones. So, our goal is to provide an OLPC derivative which can substitute those computers as well as mobile phones. Though the larger OLPC for secondary school students can also be applied to college students, we think a mobile-phone type OLPC will be much more easily adapted by those students, because of their peculiar interests on mobile phones.

The hardware and software architecture is all the same to those of OLPC, except;

• perhaps MX31 or MX31L rather than x86 processors. As you know, changing CPU of OLPC makes all peripheral circuits to be changed also. Our interests are how to move the SUGAR architecture to a new hardware frames such as Openmoko, which even without marvell mesh wi-fi chips.
• additional input/output device, consisting of one display and one keyboard.
  • we hope a college student may select any size among 12.1", 13.3", 14.1" and 15.4" panels.

There are some problems in attaching marvell wifi chips on boards such as that of Openmoko. If those problems are solved, sample test machines will be distributed no later than 15th, May, 2007 (about 100 units).

However, we don't expect those test machines be well harmonized with SUGAR. There must be too many difficulties left before pouring SUGAR on those smartphone-type OLPC models.

ONCE AGAIN, IT'S JUST A TEST. NOT A REAL MODEL FOR MASS PRODUCTION.