Information about the "Aakash" tablet launched by the Indian Government

[Aadhar2011]

I have heard that the Indian government is launching the world cheapest tablet called as “"Aakash" and I wanted to know the exact price of it as I have found different price on different site and I also want to know its feature and specification in details and what do you think about this tablet will it be satisfying?. Is there anyone who has a good knowledge about it by now? Any suggestion regarding this will be appreciated.

[Samaria]

The Indian government has already launched "Aakash" on 5th September 2011 and this device is being produced in India which is designed by the DataWind in conjunction with an Indian company .According to the contract the Indian government will be buying up to 10 million of these devices from the DataWind by March 2012 .The Indian government will be buying $50 per device which includes the local taxes and warranties will be costing up to $38,so the government seems like providing this tablet to the students for free initially. It is also possible that the price will increase as the production increases.

[Anjan1990]

The Telecoms and Education Minister Kapil Sibal has said to the Times of India that as the rich where having access to the digital world where as the poor and ordinary were not able to have access to the digital world .The "Aakash" tablet will end this digital divide soon. The country’s ministry of human resources has stated that it will be first distributed to the 100,000 students in the month of November. Let’s see if the Aakash will really spread the Internet and computer access in India.

[Mahalingam]

The full specification of the “Aakash” tablet is as followed:

• Processor: Conexant with graphics accelerator and HD Video processor.
• RAM: 256MB
• Storage: 2GB expandable to 32GB
• Ports: One USB
• Display: 7-inch with 800x400 resolutions, resistive touch screen
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi, GPRS modem
• Battery: Rated by vendor at up to 180 minutes
• Operating system: Android 2.2

[Aalap]

Yes you are rite even I am not able to track the exact price of this tablet by now as they are varying as per every report and the websites. I have heard that the Indian Government will be buying this tablet for 2,250 rupees in the starting I mean for the first 100,000 tablets and then will sell them to the students for a price of 1,100 rupees according to the Bloomberg and according to a Wall Street Journalist it will be sold to the students for 1,750 rupees. The prices are even higher at the retail outlets as the price of 1,100 rupees is decided just for the students and for the others the price nay vary.

[Gaganvihari]

The reaction for this tablet has been found to be mixed. The middle class people are saying that it need some more refinement where as the people in the lower class are finding it to be a very good option. Many have said that as compared to the laptops and the iPads it is really a great deal to have the Aakash tablet at such a low cost thought they won’t be having the entire good feature as compared to a laptop or the iPad’s .I personally think that this tablet can be the best to deliver distance learning in rural areas to all the students who are willing to learn. I think that it will be having a mass demand in the coming days. I just wish that the Indian government comes with e new version of it with some extra features no matter if they increase the price of it to some extent.

[Bala Murugan S]

A detail specification of the “Aakash” tablet:

• Manufacturer: Datawind
• Price : Rs 2,276
• Dimensions: 190.5×118.5×15.7mm
• Screen: 7″ resistive screen
• Weighs: 350gms
• Operating System: Android 2.2
• Processor: 366MHz
• Wi-fi enabled only
• Connectivity: 2 full USB ports
• Memory: 256MB RAM
• Storage: 2GB Flash memory + 2GB Micro SD card (expandable to 32GB)

[Bhadran]

It is also provides the following features:

• Supported Document formats: DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, XLS, XLSX, ODT, ODP
• PDF viewer, Text editor
• Multimedia and Image Display
• Image viewer supported formats: PNG, JPG, BMP and GIF
• Supported audio formats: MP3, AAC, AC3, WAV, WMA
• Supported video formats: MPEG2, MPEG4, AVI, FLV
• Communication and Internet
• Web browser – Standards Compliance: xHTML 1.1 compliant, JavaScript 1.8 compliant
• Separate application for online YouTube video
• Safety and other standards compliance
• CE certification / RoHS certification

[Memphis M]

I really have a doubt if it will really help to spread low cost computing. I mean the other low cost solutions have not found to be a commercial success for e.g. the SImputer, Mobilis etc. I have been hearing that the announcement where they say that they will be targeting rural poor but I have not yet found them really doing so. l have been in Lucknow though it is not exactly a rural area but we have been facing a lot of power cit every now and then so to have a 3 hours battery won’t be a good choice until it has a battery life like the other mobile phones.