OLPC’s Upcoming XO Touch Laptop/Tablet Hybrid to Feature Neonode Multitouch Tech

When the next iteration of One Laptop Per Child’s notebook arrives, it will be called the XO Touch and will feature multitouch technology from Neonode. In a blog post, OLPC stated that Neonode’s technology enables speedy multitouch performance that’s energy conscious--a must for these machines that will be in the hands of kids in developing nations--and features gesture-activated wakeup, low-latency stylus input, and intelligent touch sensors.

The XO Touch, the successor to the XO-1.75 laptop, and is a laptop/tablet hybrid device not unlike the ill-fated tablets that Microsoft produced years ago. It features a has a 7.5-inch “sunlight-readable” dual mode TFT LCD display that swivels around and snaps into place when users want to use the device as a tablet or e-reader. The display should be in full color with a resolution of 300 dpi with power consumption of just 2W.

XO Touch
XO-Touch (Image credit: SlashGear)

There are few other details available about the XO Touch, but it’s likely that the guts of the thing are similar to those of the XO-1.75, which features a Marvell Sheeva ARM processor (800MHz), 1GB of DDR3 SDRAM memory (800MHz), and 4-8GB of flash storage (expandable with an internal microSD card).

The cost of the XO Touch is anyone’s guess, but OLPC works hard to keep it as low as possible; it’s likely that it will come in somewhere between $75-$150, judging from past pricing.

OLPC is also working on the XO-3, a true tablet that’s slated for production this year.