Hi, I am a newbie to this forum. I have had a couple of android tablets, a Nexus 7, an Asus Fonepad that was my primary phone for a while, but now I rock a LG G2 phone and my iPad has been attached to me and I can't give it up, sorry 
Anyway I am from Melbourne, Australia, but I am here because I am living in Manila, Philippines and trying to create a startup non-profit that will re-purpose old Android tablets, everything from a crappy chinese tablet that you bought on sale and stuck in a drawer, to a Nexus 7 you might consider sending here instead of ebay or craiglist. There are many schoolkids here who can barely afford shoes and have terrible English skills and only do half a day of school every day. I hope to get some guidance and tips from this forum.
Already 95 out of 100 filipinos who apply for call centre jobs are un-hireable due to poor communication and education skills, so imagine what it will be like in the digital economy ten years from now.....so I am trying to get a pilot program / proof of concept up and running to give the primary school kids the STEM education skills they need to get interested in learning.
The tablets would be secured when not in use, and used in a facility at school or in a nearby shared space. I should also be able to free internet through some kind of deal with one of the telecommunication companies.
Part of the project will be giving access to educational websites such as Khan Academy, and a variety of free and paid apps in Google marketplace, as part of a "course curriculum" that allows the children to go at their own pace.
Some research into this subject:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/are-tablets-way-out-child-illiteracy-180952826/?no-ist
‘Kids on the Tab’: Kenya National Library Service’s tablet computers project for slum school children
http://library.ifla.org/862/
The OLPC guys made a tablet called the XO tablet where you bought one and another kid somewhere gets one as well, but I think my concept works better because of the flood of tablets under $100, I am sure many people here have old phones in drawers, and the same thing is happening with tablets as well.
Eventually I will get some devs and designers over here to contribute some time to get a website up and running, then I will find someone who can repair Android tablets (there are plenty of cellphone repair guys, just got to find one with a big heart). Lastly, we will set up a network of filipino ex-pats or just people in general, in communities like California, UK, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia who can act as distribution channels where anyone with a tablet can drop it off, and people who are travelling to Manila can bring them in their luggage and drop them off to us near Greenbelt (a central mall in the CBD, Makati area).
One of my close friends is a 2nd grade primary school teacher, so that will be my pilot group. If I can't source enough tablets through social media, I will have to buy a few myself.
If anyone has some old tablets they don't want anymore, please message me and we can work out a way to get them over to Manila. But that is not really the gist of this post. I am not asking for tablets, but instead for other assistance like helping me find apps to lock down the tablets, parental controls or web browsers with whitelists (only allowing wikipedia, etc), as well as finding a good range of educational games for the kids to use.
If you are interested, it would really help me out if you can spend a little time making this happen. I would need organisers to collecte tablets overseas before someone can fly them here, or help with administration and social media. I have heard there are some sort of Kickstarter websites for non-profits to investigate. If I can get a few hundred tablets into the hands of children by next year, I would be really happy to have accomplished something.
Incidentally, prices for all electronics here are more expensive, but if I have to purchase some tablets myself, I am trying to find the best options, which essentially boil down to decent screen resolution and IPS or non-IPS.
I refuse to buy anything with an 800x480 resolution just to save a few dollars, because they just suck, I have seen a lot of them today and they are terrible to use, and are really the poorest quality devices around. Of course if we got them for free it would be another matter. The ones with better screens usually have 1GB of RAM and better dual core or quad core CPUs regardless. Front facing speakers would be fantastic, but that is a fantasy at this price range. Anyway, here is a few I am looking at buying:
Hyundai E79-A Dual Core Phablet for 2400 pesos (US$54)
Nextbook tablet wi-fi 4GB for 2000 pesos (US$45)
Adam
Anyway I am from Melbourne, Australia, but I am here because I am living in Manila, Philippines and trying to create a startup non-profit that will re-purpose old Android tablets, everything from a crappy chinese tablet that you bought on sale and stuck in a drawer, to a Nexus 7 you might consider sending here instead of ebay or craiglist. There are many schoolkids here who can barely afford shoes and have terrible English skills and only do half a day of school every day. I hope to get some guidance and tips from this forum.
Already 95 out of 100 filipinos who apply for call centre jobs are un-hireable due to poor communication and education skills, so imagine what it will be like in the digital economy ten years from now.....so I am trying to get a pilot program / proof of concept up and running to give the primary school kids the STEM education skills they need to get interested in learning.
The tablets would be secured when not in use, and used in a facility at school or in a nearby shared space. I should also be able to free internet through some kind of deal with one of the telecommunication companies.
Part of the project will be giving access to educational websites such as Khan Academy, and a variety of free and paid apps in Google marketplace, as part of a "course curriculum" that allows the children to go at their own pace.
Some research into this subject:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/are-tablets-way-out-child-illiteracy-180952826/?no-ist
‘Kids on the Tab’: Kenya National Library Service’s tablet computers project for slum school children
http://library.ifla.org/862/
The OLPC guys made a tablet called the XO tablet where you bought one and another kid somewhere gets one as well, but I think my concept works better because of the flood of tablets under $100, I am sure many people here have old phones in drawers, and the same thing is happening with tablets as well.
Eventually I will get some devs and designers over here to contribute some time to get a website up and running, then I will find someone who can repair Android tablets (there are plenty of cellphone repair guys, just got to find one with a big heart). Lastly, we will set up a network of filipino ex-pats or just people in general, in communities like California, UK, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia who can act as distribution channels where anyone with a tablet can drop it off, and people who are travelling to Manila can bring them in their luggage and drop them off to us near Greenbelt (a central mall in the CBD, Makati area).
One of my close friends is a 2nd grade primary school teacher, so that will be my pilot group. If I can't source enough tablets through social media, I will have to buy a few myself.
If anyone has some old tablets they don't want anymore, please message me and we can work out a way to get them over to Manila. But that is not really the gist of this post. I am not asking for tablets, but instead for other assistance like helping me find apps to lock down the tablets, parental controls or web browsers with whitelists (only allowing wikipedia, etc), as well as finding a good range of educational games for the kids to use.
If you are interested, it would really help me out if you can spend a little time making this happen. I would need organisers to collecte tablets overseas before someone can fly them here, or help with administration and social media. I have heard there are some sort of Kickstarter websites for non-profits to investigate. If I can get a few hundred tablets into the hands of children by next year, I would be really happy to have accomplished something.
Incidentally, prices for all electronics here are more expensive, but if I have to purchase some tablets myself, I am trying to find the best options, which essentially boil down to decent screen resolution and IPS or non-IPS.
I refuse to buy anything with an 800x480 resolution just to save a few dollars, because they just suck, I have seen a lot of them today and they are terrible to use, and are really the poorest quality devices around. Of course if we got them for free it would be another matter. The ones with better screens usually have 1GB of RAM and better dual core or quad core CPUs regardless. Front facing speakers would be fantastic, but that is a fantasy at this price range. Anyway, here is a few I am looking at buying:
Hyundai E79-A Dual Core Phablet for 2400 pesos (US$54)
- Android 4.2.2
- 7"capacitive Touch screen 16:9/Resolution:1024 X600
- Dual core 1.5GHz
- 512MB DDR
- Bluetooth, GPS, HDMI, G-Sensor
- Support Internal 3G WCDMA and GSM
Nextbook tablet wi-fi 4GB for 2000 pesos (US$45)
- Android 4.2 Jellybean
- Rockchip RK3026 Dual Core ARM Cortex A9 /1.0GHz
- Panel: 7 inch TFT, 1024x600 (WSVGA) wide-screen)
- Touch Screen: Capacitative touch screen
- 4GB Nand Flash RAMDRIII 512MB
- 2MP Secondary 0.3MP
- 3G Dual SIM / Dual Standby
- 7-inch (1024x600) IPS capacitive display, 170ppi
- 1.2GHz Dual-Core Processor
- Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)
- 1GB of RAM
- 8GB of internal storage microSD card slot up to 32GB
- Bluetooth / WiFi 802.11 b/g/n / WiFi Hotspot GSM (GPRS/EDGE)
- Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2
- AMT 7029 Quad Core 1.5Ghz
- Display: 1024 X 768 Super IPS LCD
- Memory: 8GB ROM / 1GB RAM
- Operating System: Android 4.4.2 Kitkat
- Processing CPU: Intel AtomTM Processor Z2560
- Memory: (RAM): 1GB of onboard LPDDR2
- Screen Display: 7.0" display with IPS (In-Plane Switching) technology, 1280 x 800 resolution, high-brightness LED-backlit
Adam
