Everything you need to know about the solar-powered tablet, I-Slate

Overview

I-Slate is a $50 tablet for school students in developing countries. The gadget was produced by the Institute for Sustainable and Applied Infodynamics (ISAID), a joint undertaking of the Rice University, Houston and Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. What is fresh with I-Slate other than its educational credential is that it is made with built-in solar cells. The tablet will run on the energy harvested from sun, meaning that even students from distant villages can use it. In India and many other developing countries, there is no better power supply network in rural areas.

solar-powered tablet I-Slate

Initially, I-Slate is running on conventional battery, however. Commercial production of I-Slate with the solar panels is to take place in 2012. I-Slate is looking like as having a 7-inch resistive screen with a stylus. Its extremely low-power chip and the entire device were designed by Krishna Palem, the director of ISAID. I-Slate remains a technological wonder mainly because it is with solar panels for power from sun.

Pricing and availability

I-Slate is really featured for its $50 price tag. The tablet is specially built for the student community in rural areas of developing countries with special focus on India. An Indian nonprofit organization called Villages for Development and Learning Foundation is associated with ISAID. Therefore, in the first phase, I-Slate will be available for school students in rural areas of India.

What’s great

To abridge digital divide: It is a time educational activities are becoming more and more technologically oriented. In many parts of the world, premier educational institutes have made laptops or tablets necessary for their students. But due to the so-called “digital divide,” modern technological products are not accessible for students in rural areas of the developing countries. I-Slate and similar devices are specially meant to bring down the impact of the annoying issue.

Solar powered: In many rural areas of the third world countries, electricity is still a dream. I-Slate is indeed designed to overcome the barrier of electricity unavailability. The built-in solar cells on the device produce the power for the tablet. Students can use the device without any worries of power loss.

Low price: Of course, a tablet that is indented for educational purposes in rural areas should be priced low. ISAID has priced I-Slate just $50. In India, the price of the device will be around INR2000.

Preinstalled school contents: I-Slate comes with preinstalled school contents for the students with special attention on mathematics. The proponents of the device have prepared lessons in mathematics, social sciences and other topics in association with the experts in the respective fields.

What’s not so great

I-Slate is just an educational tablet. It cannot be used for several usual purposes of a typical tablet PC. You can’t use it to listen to music, watch videos and play games. Everything in the tablet will be associated with the students, and the lessons, tests, quizzes and other study programs for students.

Things to watch out for:

I-Slate is a product of innovative thoughts. Most likely, the potential users of the tablet will be illiterate of the basics of technology. Instructors will have to teach every student on how to use the tablet. Language will also be another major barrier. As of now, nothing is known about the language supportability of the tablet. Students in rural areas will not be comfortable with English. It should be great if the device supports local languages.

Verdict:

In future, education will be mostly driven by the technology and technological products. So attempts to abridge digital divide in rural areas in third world countries are grateful. Products like I-Slate will largely help students remain connected with the technological advancements in the rest of the world. The low-price, preinstalled school contents and solar power will help I-Slate gain impetus in the market when it is available by next year.

Word around the web:

According to Linux Devices.com,

I-Slate is said to be similar in size to the chalkboard slates that most Indian primary and secondary students use today. The tablet software can detect whether a mathematical equation and answer entered via stylus is correct, and offers hints and tips if the answer is incorrect.