An Indian company has developed a mobile personal computer that weighs 500g, uses a flexible keyboard that can be rolled up and costs just 10 000 rupees ($230), reports said on Wednesday.
The Mobilis, a lightweight and portable desktop computer, has all the essential features of a PC such as word processing, e-mail, web browser, spreadsheets and personal information manager, The Hindu newspaper reported.
It will play music and movies, have a text-to-speech conversion facility and built-in support for Indian languages such as Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu.
Its power source is a rechargable battery with a life of more than six hours. It also has a built-in ethernet and analogue modem.
The basic model, called Softcomp, comes with a 15-inch monitor, the report said.
Mobilis is made by Encore Software, a company based in India’s information technology hub, Bangalore. It is to hit markets in three months said Encore CEO Vinay Deshpande.
The mobile PC has no hard disk, but a built-in memory and a facility to plug in memory cards. Deshpande ruled out high-speed computing and said the Mobilis will not have games.
”Most capabilities in a standard PC remain unused during day-to-day tasks. The typical PC is designed for planned obsolescence, suitable only for the West’s throwaway culture,” Deshpande was quoted as saying in The Telegraph newspaper.
”Mobilis has no moving parts, no extra software costs for basic functions, and there will be no obsolescence.”
The system uses inexpensive and upgradable open source software.
The main aim was to develop an affordable system for households, small shops, lawyers, chartered accountants, and field staff in sectors such as pharmaceuticals and insurance.
Institutions in South Africa and India want to use it in education. A United States-based housing solutions provider was interested in the Mobilis for a building security system, The Hindu reported.
Mobilis was made by Encore under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research’s ”new millennium Indian technology leadership initiative”, aimed at creating high-impact innovations in India.
”This is India’s leap into the future of PC technology,” said Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal. – Sapa-DPA