India Rolls Out Cheap, Handheld Computer This Month

[Jason Dunn]

<a href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=581&ncid=738&e=3&u=/nm/20020705/tc_nm/tech_india_simputer_dc_1">http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=581&ncid=738&e=3&u=/nm/20020705/tc_nm/tech_india_simputer_dc_1</a><br /><br />PDA computing brought to the masses - sounds like a good idea. In many ways, this makes sense - full PCs are too expensive for the majority of the population to purchase, but this article says the Simputer will cost about the same as a cheap colour TV set. Affordable & portable - good combination.<br /><br />"India is ready this month to roll out its $200 "Simputer," a handheld computer aimed at wooing the poor across the digital divide. "The waiting period is almost over. We are near the take-off stage," Vinay Deshpande, chairman of Encore Software Ltd, one of two firms with licenses to make the device, told Reuters late on Thursday. The Simputer -- short for simple, inexpensive and multilingual computer -- was launched in April 2001 by the non-profit Simputer Trust, formed by officials at Encore and professors from Bangalore's prestigious Indian Institute of Science to license designs of the device... <br /><br />...Resembling trendy handhelds such as those built by Palm Inc, the Simputer has easy-to-use applications including voicemail, text-to-speech capabilities and Internet access. Powered by an Intel StrongARM processor, the Simputer runs off two 'AA'-size pencil batteries and comes equipped with 32 megabytes (MB) or 64 MB of random-access memory." Source: Willa

[Busdriver]

FWIW here's a follow-up article on this thing. http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000454AE-7675-1D7E-90FB809EC5880000&catID=2

[Steven Cedrone]

...Resembling trendy handhelds such as those built by Palm Inc, the Simputer has easy-to-use applications including voicemail, text-to-speech capabilities and Internet access. Powered by an Intel StrongARM processor, the Simputer runs off two 'AA'-size pencil batteries and comes equipped with 32 megabytes (MB) or 64 MB of random-access memory."

I wonder how much batteries cost in India, and if the poor can afford to buy boxes of them?

Just curious, how long can you run a StrongARM type device on a pair of AA batteries?

Steve

Updated: I just saw the answer in the second post (That will teach me to skim articles!)

"Although the Simputer can run on three AAA batteries, it can operate for only a few hours before draining them. And in the developing world, even batteries are expensive and hard to come by. "

I wonder if a few hours is realistic though?

[ECOslin]

Tech Speak: The Simputer Spec
Hardware
- CPU 32-bit Strong Arm SA-1100 RISC CPU running at 200MHz
- 32 MB of DRAM
- 24 MB Flash for Permanent Storage (DOC)
- Display I/F 320x240 Monochrome LCD Display Panel
Interfaces
- Touch-panel Overlay on LCD Display used with a plastic stylus (Pen)
- Speaker and MIC Jacks Smartcard Connector
- RJ-11 Telephone Jack
- USB Connector
Dimensions
- Approximately 8cm x 13 cm x 2 cm
- Power Supply 3 AAA-sized NiMh batteries
System Software
- Operating System: GNU/Linux
- Soft-Modem Algorithms V.34/V.17 Data/Fax Modem Technology
- Perl/Tk scripting environment
Application Software
- imli: an IML browser
- Tapatap: Input method
- Internet access (Browser, Email, etc.)
- Dhvani: Text-to-Speech Software
- MP3 Player

http://www.simputer.org/simputer/imgs/home-gx.gif
http://www.simputer.org/simputer/imgs/history/why-gx.gif
http://www.simputer.org/simputer/