Here’s the EcoSchool tablet… You’ll think of Mazwi, biNu, Worldreader (pictures)

L.S.M Kabweza

31 January 2014

We’ve just arrived at the EcoSchool event in Harare, and fortunately got a chance to check out the EcoSchool tablet before the event. Ok, so the first thing that came to mind when we laid our eyes on the EcoSchool’s tablet is this: Mazwi.

Not that they cloned it. No, you can’t clone an unlaunched product. But aside from the school aspect, most else (concept and some of the partners) does bring Mazwi to mind first. Maybe they partnered Mazwi too, who knows? We’ll clearly find out in a bit though. Update: not partners.

So anyway, here’s EcoSchool as we have seen it so far. Keep in mind the launch itself hasn’t been done yet, so we’ll probably update as we go.

It’s a 7-inch Android tablet. it runs Android Ice Cream Sandwich
EcoSchool is an Android app.
The EcoSchool app is actually a biNu app. And inside biNu a Worldreader app. The mashup of these so far is essentially the same concept as Mazwi, or as they were previously known, OpenBook.
There’s no sign yet how users of the tablet will access content, we’ve heard a 50 cents fee thrown around here.
There’s also no indication of EcoCash anyway, but a safe bet to say payments will be done via Econet’s mobile money service, EcoCash.

And here are some pictures:

The apps grid menu of the EcoSchool App. It’s Android 4.0.4, Ice Cream Sandwich

When you click on the EcoSchool app, this is what you get, acknowledgement that its a biNu app

The EcoSchool app opens as this: An EcoSchool login icon, a WorldReader app, the main app powering EcoSchool content, a dictionary app, and a Yahoo Weather app

This is the grid menu in the WorldReader app which sits inside biNu. It’s a list of book categories: Education, Health, Fiction, Religion, Romance etc…

No, 4.0 is not Gingerbread. We can confirm though that inside it is 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

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11 comments

stevejj5

31 January 2014 10:35

will the app work on ipads
1. Ziso
  
  31 January 2014 12:06
  
  iPad runs iOS and this is an adroid app so unless they have made an app for iOS, this will not work on iPad
iTariro

31 January 2014 11:14

the box says “Android 4.0 Gingerbread”, 4.0 is not Gingerbread…
1. Zim Inov8
  
  31 January 2014 11:24
  
  hehe, ooopsie.
2. Munyaradzi Chaunza
  
  2 February 2014 15:11
  
  And it passed quality control? Seriously? EcoChinyi hehehe
3. Lennon
  
  16 June 2014 13:33
  
  Obviously they partnered with our Eastern counterparts
Tech

31 January 2014 11:27

Running within Binu, that means the app will work only online as I have noticed Binu apps extract data or work when you are online. The 50c will be good for Binu guys whom I assume are partnering with econet. In the long run i think this keeps the door open for local developers to come up with education apps that work offline on android. The tablet is a basic android which i believe can do an other apps.
ii ij

31 January 2014 11:48

Romance?
Lovemore Nyatsine

31 January 2014 16:59

Your reporting is exceptional…was just reading your coverage of the Emerging Ideas as well. Keep going!
nana

6 October 2014 08:57

can international students use this tablet even when they aint in zim
nana

6 October 2014 09:01

can it also be used for whatsapp, facebook, etc

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