Marvell wants to revolutionize learning with "Moby"
The semiconductor company Marvell http://www.marvell.com has introduced "Moby", a tablet concept that promises high multimedia performance at a price of only $ 99. With the device, the company is targeting the education sector in particular. Tablets and e-books should therefore replace outdated, expensive and heavy school books.
{jumi [plugins/content/jumi/newsgrafik.php]}"I believe Marvell's Moby tablet can spark a lifelong enthusiasm for learning," says Marvell co-founder Weili Dai. Marvell's goal is to provide high school and college students with more efficient, relevant learning tools that are fun and take into account personal learning styles.
Tablet with full HD performance
Moby uses Marvell's Armada 600 processor, which, like Apple's iPad chip or Qualcomm's Snapdragon, is an ARM-based CPU. The Marvell tablet thus promises enough power for 1080p FullHD and 3D content and yet a long battery life. According to the company, Android and Windows Mobile can be used as the operating system. In contrast to Apple, Marvell also uses Flash support.
In addition to WLAN and Bluetooth, the Moby also offers a radio receiver and GPS for access to a wide range of information sources. Textbooks are a key topic for the company. Because, in Marvell's opinion, a tablet full of electronic learning materials is the solution to many problems associated with classic, bound textbooks.
More up-to-date, lighter and cheaper than books
A great advantage of electronic textbooks is that they are much easier to update. Marvell refers to a study by the New York Library Association http://www.nyla.org, according to which books in public school libraries in New York are on average over 20 years old. The USSR, for example, could still be found in such an old atlas.
Moby can also hold all of a year's learning materials, but weighs only half the average textbook, according to Marvel. Schoolchildren and students would therefore have to carry significantly less weight in their school bags. Since doctors repeatedly warn that satchels that are too heavy can at least lead to health problems, this is potentially a very big advantage.
Furthermore, download versions could be offered much cheaper than printed books. It remains to be seen whether the textbook publishers will play their part in the latter. It is already known from Amazon's Kindle that e-book prices for entertainment literature are sometimes even kept above those of paperback versions. (ck)
Source: paste