02/02/08 :: [XO] Got the XOs [permalink]
The XOs came yesterday afternoon (no they did not forget). This morning I realized that one of them ended up in my son's back pack "by accident" as he explained to me.
I must admit it is all I imagined they would be and probably a bit more.
The great
This is really a computer designed for kids. The form factor is great from 1st grade to six grade or so. It definitely beats Amazon's Kindle IMHO. The XO's browser is wired to the International Children's Digital Library. The OS's paradigm is "activity" based. There is a journal that keeps track of the kids activity so that he or she can return to what they were doing.
The computer comes with tons of applications, some of them can be downloaded.
Computers can be meshed together and the kids can start chatting.
There a couple of great sound applications (an oscilloscope that reminded me of NeXT and a sound mashup)
There is a great application (scratch) that introduces kids to the concept of programming.
The good
I was a bit concerned by the screen, but it looks good enough to work and read ebooks (you can navigate books when the screen is folded on the keyboard).
Google Docs works but Zoho doesn't. FlashReader works ! Some of the kids web site using flash did not work completely (which was not a disappointment :-)
The power consumption is great, battery life is extensive.
The case looks robust enough to handle a kid's abuse.
The bad
I must admit it is a tiny bit slow. You really have to know what you want to do (like in a class) because it take time to switch activity.
The touchpad is a bit cheap.
Bottom line, kids love it (and dad too).