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India's Mobilis Laptop... what are the specs?

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NathanAllan

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I have read a few articles about India's new computer, but haven't found any specs for it. From what I read it has less than a gigahert worth of processor speed and no hard drive. The only specs I can find are that it uses a 7.4 inch screen and that it has a six hour battery life. Maybe it's too new. But those parts are obsolete by now, aren't they?

This is why I wanted to post here and not in the off-topic threads.

Anybody geographically closer to India in this forum that can get any more info??
 
The reason why it is low-tech (or we see it as such) is probably due to the price, most people should be able to afford one. But I agree that without any hard disk, it is crippled.

Btw, when I saw the header of the blog entry, I thought the computer was built around SGI R10000, often known as R10K. Considering how expensive those computers used to be and still are second hand, it sound like an odd choice for a low-cost computer to India. :)
 
I remember reading something in a German group somewhere that it'll use flash cards for storage, they supposedly wanted to keep moving parts to a minimum, so that the donkey-ride to town doesn't crash your PC.

Just because it doesn't have a big hard drive wouldn't make it useless. It depends on the app load, and the complexity of saved files. You can fit a lot of text into flash memory. We're all kinda spoiled these days with mutimedia files and what not.
Remember, even though in the west millions of people have huge harddrives these days, how many actually back them up ? Size, as it's said, doesn't matter, but reliability does.

patscc
 
I for one would love to have one of these Mobilis machines. The brochure says it has a lot of connectivity options so it would be connectable to other machines. I always worry when there is no floppy drive on-board. The brochure leaves out the kind/amount of ram, processor and speed and what kind of Linux it has. Does it have a serial port? I dunno, it doesn't say.

I'd still like to get one as long as it's in English language (or even Spanish, heh).

So does Bill G. have anything to worry about? :)
 
I think Bill G is plenty worried. Isn't Microsoft trying to introduce a special 'low-cost' version of Windows into China, where apperantly piracy is rampant ?

As long it has a USB port, the BIOS would probably let you boot off of a USB floppy, or stick. I wish they'd sell the buggers over here, as well. I could to with a cheap one-piece computer.
Just think, in ~5 years, we might be buying 10.99 computers in blister pack at 7-11, that will probably be more than enough for the average user. It breaks, buy a new one. Look at the disposable cameras.

patscc
 
There are lots of Indian owned stores her ein El Paso, and I am trying to see if those guys can get them here.

/begin rant Did anyone read any threads on other forums? People are criticizing the thing cause of cost, saying "I can build a computer for cheaper than that." Okay, well, so can I. But I'm not gonna set up a website and help phone lines and have a whole network of stuff dedicated to my homebrew computer. If a computer I build breaks, I'll go fix it. If I'm able, or replace it, whatever. If I made 10,000 of them I would NOT. If they all broke or had a bug or something then I would be up crap creek without a paddle. The Mobilis computers will have that network support and everything. /end rant

When they do come out I can't wait to see what kind of developer sites pop up. I remember the Cybiko, it was neat. This reminds me of that.
 
I have no problem with solid-state mass storage (aka flashRAM), as long as it's cheap. If I can buy a 256Mb CF card for my PDA for around $25 buck$, what's wrong with that? (I've even seen 5Gb PCMCIA ATA flash cards sell for less than $150.00). Of course, 256Mb will store a lot of Windows CE stuff, most of it's pretty small, since wince machines usually don't have a whole buncha memory.

--T
 
And going to basic files, how much text-like info can you fit onto a 256M - CF ?
Best of all, you can toss CF against the wall in a fit of rage, HD's, alas, dent the wall and tend to break.

patscc
 
Ah well, as long as there is an inexpensive solid-state (flash) memory, I guess it is alright, but from the first comments I read I could not decipher that. But there was a point made that in India you can buy a branded desktop with monitor for about the same money as this 7" laptop, and the question was raised how many need to be able to bring or toss around their computer, and which is the most likely customer: middle-class, student, farmer?

BTW, 10000 rupies is about 230 USD?
 
That's about right according to the articles I read (about the cost).

I'm a bit confused; who had rupees first, India or Nintendo's Legend of Zelda?? :D
 
India laptop

India laptop

I knew I had it somewhere. The link, unfortunately, goes to a german page,

http://www.netzeitung.de/internet/338584.html

and states it should go for around 180 euros, runs a 400-mhz Intel CPU, and ships with 128 Mb RAM

The 'specs' for it can be found here:

http://www.ncoretech.com/mobilis/index.html

Click on the 'more info' link to download a pdf spec-sheet.

Briefly, 7" LCD, touchscreen, 2 * USB 2.0, CF II , optional GPS, ethernet/modem, text-to-speech, and runs in local language. I think the plan is to make these available to the largely illerate indian population to assist them with readind forms, official documents, and so on.

patscc
 
I am from INdia

I am from INdia

Hi
I am from India.
Let me tell u that this mobilis is serving no purpose in india.
The same company once produced a 9000 rs computer known as simputer which is know priced as 25000 rs as nobody is buying it.
The poor of india have no use of the mobilis. They can do better with a phone.
Also $250 is too much for an average poor indian.
Let me tell u that for being above the poverty line Indians need to have a minimum of 350 rs per month. That is less than 10$.
Raghu
 
Raghu,
I sympathize. It seems to me like it was yet again a mistake of marketing srategy. I bet that if it had been marketed in the US and EUR that the demand would have been greater, and prices wouldhave gone down due to surplus and repaired units. I know that goes against most popular thought, but most times I can scavenge several broken units of any one type of item, be it new or old, for a fraction of the price and get a good working unit out of it all. I believe that more advertising would have been a good thing, cause I know that most people haven't heard of this thing. Being a student, I sure could have used it.

Also, a computer *is* and investment regardless of who is the buyer. It's a big one, too. I had to save my money to buy a new computer once, and I felt it but didn't really regret getting it. Cause after I got it, I decided I wanted to do more and get more experience on computers. To me, it was all about the decisiion and I made it happen. I was not in a situation where I had a lot of funds to spare, either. I just made it happen. Dunno, for some reason whatever I really really want seems to just happen regardless of the circumstances. An opportunity sontaneously presents itself. But that's another thread.

Nathan
 
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