The Bangkok Post is reporting that the government of Thailand has begun distributing Android tablets to students as part of the One Tablet Per Child (OTPC) project. The first 55,000 tablets were delivered this week; in total, the government plans to hand out 800,000 tablets free of charge to students this year. If teachers and parents agree, the students will be allowed to take the devices home as part of the programme.

According to news site Telecompaper, the tablet in question is a 7" Scopad SP0712 which is being sold to the Thai government by Chinese company Shenzhen Scope Scientific Development for $81 (£51). The device weighs 350g and has a 1.2Ghz ARM Cortex A8 processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. The tablet, as it is being delivered in Thailand, reportedly runs Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" and includes Wi-Fi and Bluetooth functionality, as well as two cameras and a USB 2.0 port.

(fab)