Teachermate: $50 PC? Hardly

UPDATE: After discussing the Teachermate with its creator and doing a hands on demonstration, I have posted a follow up to this post. Please be sure to read that as well.

I’ve often been told that if it sounds too good to be true… it is. A classic example is the new Teachermate PC that has recently been posted about on the Crave blog and Engadget.

I know in the blogging world, it often seems like a race to get information out first, but how about just a LITTLE bit of research beyond the press release? The more I looked into this Teachermate, the more irritated I got.

So what is it?

It’s obviously not the most powerful handheld, but it should be plenty for the kids in kindergarten through second grade for whom it is intended, with a 2.5-inch color LCD, built-in microphone and speaker, 200MHz ARM processor, 512MB of memory, and a 4-hour battery. “Software for the handhelds includes a complete K-2 reading and math program that aligns with the Chicago Public Schools’ reading and math initiatives,” according to its press release.

Sounds all well and good. Until you learn that the only software it comes with is a classroom management program. That’s it. You can organize your students into classes and keep track of how long they spend reading and doing math practice. Based on the information that I can find on their website, that’s about it. I’m not even certain what students themselves would do with a basic, out of the box Teachermate.

Want more software? There’s a Reading program and a Math program. They cost $20. Apiece. WHAM, your Teachermate just about doubled in cost right there. Don’t like those programs? Well, that’s too bad. Because those are the only programs that will run on it. So you’re pretty much locked in.

There IS a very nifty carrying case for them. They call it the Sync and Store case, and it will hold 30 Teachermates at one time. Yes, it will also charge them, and it will even sync all thirty at once which is VERY slick. Of course, it isn’t free. In fact, it costs $300 (plus shipping and handling).

So if you’ve been doing the math, you have the $50 Teachermate PC, $40 for the Reading and Math software and $10 for a 1/30th share of the Sync and Store case. Grand total for your $50 PC? More like $100. And that does NOT include a browser. Or even WiFi for that matter. Heck, you can’t even install your own software on to it!

To be honest, calling this a PC is really pushing it. It’s more like an advanced LeapFrog system or a colorful generic Nintendo DS (minus the touch screen, WiFi, and choice of software). I don’t care how good the Reading and Math programs are, charing $100 per student for such a limited application is ridiculous.

Oh, and for the record, their website has got to be one of the worst I have ever seen. Click on a link and then wait, wait, wait for it to show up. And once it does, you have to keep right clicking to zoom in in order to just read what’s there! Why use Flash to build a website that has nothing but static pages? Yeesh. Common sense here people.

Other than all that, I love the device and can’t wait to buy one.

UPDATE: After discussing the Teachermate with its creator and doing a hands on demonstration, I have posted a follow up to this post. Please be sure to read that as well.

6 Comments

EquMath: Math Lessons » Blog Archive » Teachermate: $50 PC? Hardly
3/13/2008

[...] Denise: [...]

Brian Mull
3/13/2008

Ha, just visited the Web site myself. What do you think processes faster the $50 ($100) PC or the Web site? This one doesn’t inspire me to want to try the product.

Casey Hales
3/14/2008

So, Steve, how do you really feel about their product?

Ryan Collins
3/15/2008

From your description, I think a DS would be a little more useful. At least it has a browser available and wifi. (And don’t let people tell you the browser is crap. As long as you stick with mobile sites, the browser works fine. I’ve spent many a night catching up with google.com/reader/m on it.)

Teachermate PC - Part Two - Teach42
3/20/2008

[...] remember when I ‘reviewed’ the Teachermate PC a few posts ago? Basically I slammed it for three reasons: 1) It’s not a PC if it can only run proprietary [...]