Javia blog

The One laptop per child (OLPC) project aims to develop a $100 laptop, with the goal of enabling children education. The project is interesting not only because of the very ambitious price target, but also because it explores new directions in the hardware design of mobile devices:
- very power efficient: It has a 1.1 Watt CPU. The LCD screen has a new design allowing to use 1/7 of the typical power consumption of present LCD displays. Combined with smart power management (for example, the CPU may be suspended while the LCD is kept ON - allowing to use very little power when reading a book) this may allow the device to run for dozens of hours on a battery charge. This would be quite an advance from the laptop I use today, where the battery time is in the 3 to 5 hours range.
- transreflective LCD display. This allows good LCD visibility in sunlight, again something I’d want on my laptop.

I think it would be a good idea to offer a JavaME implementation (MIDP/CLDC) on the OLPC laptop. This will allow to use the large amount of existing MIDP applications (many of them games, but not only) on the laptop. Also JavaME is a simple (and easy to learn) programming environment that may be used to introduce the children to programming. Another point is that the existing MIDP applications are developed for devices with limited processor power and smaller displays, so they are fit for running on the OLPC.

It is good that Sun is already working on open-sourcing JavaME (this should be completed before the end of 2006, let’s hope), as this may allow easier porting of JavaME to OLPC.

As a consumer, I’d like to be able to buy one OLPC laptop for myself (and maybe one more for my wife), either in a physical store or over the internet, even though I’m not a child in a developing country anymore. I guess I shouldn’t need help from the governement of the country I’m in right now in order to be able to get a laptop (because it seems that the distribution channel envisioned by MIT right now is large commands from the Ministry of Education). Maybe one problem with offering such cheap devices on the market is that it will upset the vendors of mobile phones and laptops, which may oppose the project in order to protect their profits.

I’m about to buy a new phone.
I wanted a phone that can take acceptable pictures, so that I’ll be able to finally get rid of the digital camera (because I never have the camera with me when I need it). Acceptable pictures, I guess, means 2M or 3M resolution, with good image quality. Good image quality rules out the focus-free cameras (you need auto-focus to get acceptable quality). Also a flash for the camera would be handy of course.
I also wanted the phone to be able to play audio (music and audio-books). Radio would be good too.
In order to be able to store the pictures and audio tracks, storage space of at least 1GB is required. This can be built-in, but the most usual solution is for the phone to support removable memory cards. In the case of memory cards, I’m for the standard solution (mini-SD or micro-SD) and I’m against the proprietary formats that I can’t find in the stores (Sony memory stick).
I wanted to be able to run software applications on the phone, and to browse the internet, so a big screen with big resolution is good.
Concerning the connectivity, I want Bluetooth (because I want to experiment with it) and miniUSB (in order to be able to use a standard USB cable). Also I consider good battery life of paramount importance, because continously worring about re-charging the phone, and having to carry the charger with me everywhere is unconfortable.

These were my criteria:

- big screen, 240×320 resolution, 24bit or 18bit color.
- camera, at least 2Mpixel, with autofocus and flash.
- support 1G micro-SD or mini-SD removable flash card.
- bluetooth and mini-USB.
- good battery life.
- price: under 300 euro.

Implied: music player, JavaME MIDP-2.0/CLDC-1.1.

And guess what: I could find no such phone!

Candidates:
Nokia 6233, 6131, 5300:
The Nokia phones in this price range (under 300e) all have poor cameras; either 1.3Mpixel or 2Mpixel, no autofocus, no flash. I would rather have a phone with no camera at all rather then one with a useless camera. Arguably no-camera may reduce the price a bit, reduce the size/weight of the phone, and reduce the UI complexity, so it’s better to have no-camera rather then have a poor camera. Were I a manufacturer, I would offer two categories of devices: phones with good quality cameras, which can take the role of a stand-alone digital camera, and phones without camera.
Another minus is that the Nokia phones have rather poor battery-life.

Sony-Ericsson W800i, K810i, K800i:
the SE phones have good cameras, with auto-focus and flash. Also they have good music-players. But they’re too expensive (close to 400e), and they only offer the proprietary (Sony) and hard to find memory-stick as a memory card.

I also didn’t find any Samsung or Motorola model fulfilling the criteria.
I avoided Siemens (because they recently declared bankrupcy), and Sagem, Alcatel because they’re small brands and I don’t think they make good phones.

In conclusion, the fact that the device-convergence didn’t happen yet shouldn’t come as a surprise, as there are no convergent devices (at acceptable prices) yet. The mobile phone has the potential to take over huge parts of the digital-camera and music-player markets; this didn’t happen yet not because of consumer resistance, or some other socio-psiho-fashion factors, but simply because the phone manufacturers (hardware + software) aren’t doing their job well enough. The focus is too much on ‘gullible consumers’ who buy on impulse, guided exclusively by the look of the device, easily duped into thinking they can really take pictures with a 0.3Mpix VGA camera, etc. I would prefer less spending on advertising, and more investment into making better phones at accessible prices. And more care on the usability and software side, as too often good hardware is crippled by poor software.

Honorable mention: I really liked the little Samsung C130 at 45euro, even if it’s none of the power phone I described above.

• PayPal finally comes to Poland! Now polish residents can receive payments through PayPal. Look at the PayPal’s list of supported countries, and you’ll see Poland is on the short list of 14 countries.
• Hans Reiser was arrested, as a suspect on his wife’s disappearance. I am very sorry for this. Hans Reiser is a sort of a hero for me. I hope he’ll soon be freed, and allowed to continue his gigantic work on the ReiserFS.
• Simens’ mobile phone division, acquired one year ago by BenQ and named BenQ-Siemens, has declared bankruptcy. Too bad, as Siemens was making some rather good and not expensive mobile phones, and was offering some quality MIDP emulators for these phones.
• On the 1st of January, 2007, Romania (and Bulgaria) will became members of the European Union. Congratulations to these two countries! I may also be among the first who will benefit from Romania’s accession to the EU. And yes, I’ll be (at last) an EU citizen, sounds good.

And a correction: it appears that it wasn’t my application Menstral which was bundled with the Chinese mobile phone mentioned in the previous post, but some other menstrual calendar application. The confusion was caused by this article at Captology Notebook, which seems to make this affirmation with no ground.