It will be faster with longer battery life and better screen, says Sibal
An upgraded version of Aakash tablet computer would be launched in April without any increase in the price, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Described as the world's cheapest tablet, the revised version would be faster with a longer battery life of three hours and better screen. Datawind would supply one lakh high-speed tablets, Mr. Sibal said in response to a supplementary during question hour.
“These higher specifications, which include 700 MHz Cortex A8 processor, 3200mAH battery with three-hour usage time and a capacitative touch screen, have been necessitated to overcome the initial difficulties observed in the devices,” he said.
The tablet cost just over Rs. 2,000.
The first phase of one lakh tablets was targeted at students of higher technical education institutions so as to further ascertain technical feedback on its operation and usability, the Minister said.
To demands from members for extending the distribution of tablets to school students, he said it would be made available when the proposed National Mission of Education through ICT for Schools got necessary funds.
Once the production capacities were built up, the norms for distribution with the aim of prioritising the empowerment of students, especially from the disadvantaged and marginalised sections of society, through this low cost access-cum-computing device would be prepared.
According to Mr. Sibal, Datawind does not have the capacity to manufacture the required number of tablets, and hence a Principal Investigator based at IIT-Bombay, in collaboration with C-DAC, ITI Rajasthan and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, was trying to enhance the manufacturing capacity so that all students had a tablet in their hand in the next 5 to 6 years.
Once production capacities are built up, distribution norms will be prepared
First phase of tablets for students of higher technical education institutions
Keywords: Aakash tablet, low-cost tablet, Datawind, UbiSlate
I think the biggest disadvantage of this device would be that, since it
cannot connect to the android market, ideally the students cannot
benefit from this device if there are new and cutting edge innovative
apps for the student community.
But the Datawind site talks about a Getjar app which will gives access
to thousands of apps. All these could be checked when the device is
available.
Yes.. Its indeed a cheap tablet. But where is it to realise? The UbuSlate Company DataWind says they will be soon released .. But When..? I booked it in Nov 2011, Yet No reply and no response.. Atleast will this version be available as soon as possible..?
Talk about this is now going on for over a year. A year a ago it was
cutting-edge technology. Today the Aakash is interesting. Delivery in 5
to 6 years however will be too late. At that time new technologies will
outdate the Aakash and no student will benefit anymore.
My advice: Do it fast or don't do it at all.
Indian Government Makes everything a joke.
We have listened such jokes as sub-10000 PC and Indian Operating Systems. Or even the fastest super computers of the world. Its true the we should have patriotism but surely not the way Shri Kapil Sibal wants us to have.
By the time we start delivering the aakash tablets everyone else will also have real sub 2000 tablets which are easily available. So why this halla gulla
about aakash.
BHEL is OK but CDAC MUMBAI doesnot have any expertise in production
of electronic items. If software developmental is a case then there
are much more expertise available in market as CDAC too doesnot have
tablet software developmental expertise.
the govt seems to be on the right path for bettering our education system.it is very necessary to make available such low cost web access devices for providing internet connectivity to millions of our students ....this is an important way in which we can turn our huge population base into an asset.
due do some problem they cannot release this tablet.
they already planned to release on last december 2011.
anyway i will gonna to buy this, sure...
Very welcome step. The govt is going the right way. Datawind, the company which has developed the device has been named as UK's most innovative mobile company at the World Mobile Congress held in Spain.
Datawind is offering Ubislate7+, an advanced product for Rs 2999. bookings can be made at their official website www.ubislate.com
Very big time has been passed for actually getting the Aakash. The current price for the same specification by Data Wind is Rs. 3000 and it is known as "Ubislate 7+". One question arises here is after giving the first tablet(of which production is closed after its slow speed and defects in user interface) for testing and feedback why these faults were not raised and well addressed? Government is wasting his time as well as money on such faulty tablets.
Now, for the revised version, it should start the pre-booking web site immediately. I, as an computer engineering student, eagerly waiting for the "World's cheapest tablet PC" which is developed in my own country.
@ Vikram Thakur, these tablets are being made at the cheaper cost for the benefit of students and not for general public. I am in the assumption that you are not a student and possibly a working professional who would most probably be capable of spending some extra money to buy tablets like the one Reliance produces which are considerably cheaper when compared with those by Samsung or Apple.
we have the technology but why we late to release in market?
Why go all the way to china - we have thousands of companies in india which will que up to take this task of production !!!
We are Not USA,
* we have absolutely no shortage of labor (We have high unemployment)
* Yes to start anything new takes time, but once in swing, will be a breeze
* We need such kind of production facilities, today china has no competitor but should target to be a Chief Competitor in Manufacturing and Production.
* Start with one many opportunities will expand.
Hi,, fully agree to the comment passed by Ashok. At the same time
anything exposed to China means, India has lost the product in the
jungle of China. There will be same product with different version will
eat away the Aakash brand. Cheers..
not sure why production capacity should be a bottleneck.chinese companies would que up if you put a tender. They can literally turnaround in few months what we claim to take 5-6 years. The loss of jobs,foreign exchange by giving it to china would be well compensated by 5-6 year lead we have in gaining this knowledge tool.
how 2 purchase
akash indeed is such a beneficial tablet for millions of students like me.but how to get it or book it is still a confusion for me. Actually i want to buy it as soon as possible, so please explain me how can this be possible.
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