Cheap Laptops: It's Bangladesh's Turn

11.10.2011
India isn't the only nation building low-cost computers. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday introduced the Doel, an inexpensive, Android-based laptop priced as low as 10,000 taka (US $130), the BBC .

Telephone Shilpa Sangstha (TSS), Bangladesh's state-owned telecom company, will produce four models of the Doel, which will initially go to government officials. The long-term goal, however, is to distribute the low-cost laptops to tens of millions of students in the South Asian nation.

The computer is named after the , or magpie robin, which is Bangladesh's national bird.

According to , the Doel's specs are pretty much what you'd expect from a $130 laptop. The "primary model" features an 800MHz VIA 8650 processor, 512MB RAM, 16GB flash memory, Wi-Fi, and a 10.1-inch (1024x600) LCD screen, webcam, SD card reader, and two USB ports.

By comparison, India's , which may cost as little as US $35, has a 7-inch (800-by-480) display, 256MB RAM, 2GB flash storage, and a 366MHz Connexant processor. It runs Android 2.2.

The Doel is a key component of Digital Bangladesh, an ambitious plan to bring most of the nation online within a decade.