One Laptop Per Child may have killed off the self-made XO 3 Tablet it showed off at last year's CES, but that doesn't mean the education-focused foundation has given up on the form factor completely. Instead, the organization is shifting the hardware focus to manufacturing partners to concentrate on developing the kid-friendly software powering said OEM devices. Along those lines, OLPC announced its new Android-based XO Learning System at CES 2013, complete with a U.S.-based hardware partner.
The XO Learning System is based around a dozen so-called "Dreams," such as "I want to be a musician" or "I want to be a scientist." Each dream offers a different learning program based on interactive apps, books, games and videos, with all content being approved for age-appropriateness by the Common Sense Media non-profit organization.
The XO Learning System was tailored for children aged 3 to 12 and features separate user logins for up to three kids, parental controls and support for both English and Spanish. All tablets that license OLPC's learning software will be sold under the XO Tablet brand, with New Jersey-based Sakar International being the first hardware partner on board. The company will be the exclusive retail supplier of XO Tablets in the U.S., offering a 7-inch Android tablet. There's no word on whether or not it will include a solar panel or an electricity-generating hand crank like OLPC's now-defunct XO 3 Tablet.
Switching gears, OLPC also announced its fourth-gen laptop, dubbed the XO 4.0 Touch. In addition to Neonode touchscreen capabilities and the familiar green and white OLPC styling, the notebook packs a 1GHz Marvell Armada PXA2128 processor. Just like the OLPC laptops that came before it, the XO 4.0 Touch will ship with the Sugar educational software bundle. Check out the video of our hands on with the XO 4.0 Touch.
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