2012-08-04

India's Aakash Tablet the ‘World’s Cheapest Computer’ Upgraded

Aakash (tablet) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Aakash is a series of Android-based tablet computers produced by British company DataWind.[2] It is manufactured by the India-based company Quad, at a new production centre in Hyderabad,[3] with a planned trial run of 100,000 units.[4] The tablet was officially launched as the Aakash in New Delhi on 5 October 2011. The Indian Ministry of Human Resource Development announced an upgraded second-generation model called Aakash 2 in April 2012.[5]

The Aakash is a low-cost tablet computer with a 7-inch touch screen, ARM 11 processor and 256 MB RAM[6] running under the Android 2.2 operating system. It has two universal serial bus (USB) ports[4] and delivers high definition (HD) quality video.[6] For applications, the Aakash will have access to Getjar, an independent market, rather than the Android Market.[4][7]

Test-driving the 'World's Cheapest Computer' - NYTimes.com


The Aakash-2 will be available to Indian students through 20,000 colleges and 416 universities in the country, at a subsidized price of 1,132 rupees, or about $21. The commercial version of the product will cost between 3,499 rupees and 4,299 rupees

[...]

The front is entirely made up of the shiny, seven-inch-long capacitive touch screen, an improvement over the original Aakash, which had a resistive touch screen. (A capacitive screen is more responsive and allows for the use of more than one finger to navigate). Navigation on the Aakash-2’s screen was simple and fast, needing only a light touch.

[...]

The prototype India Ink looked at also allowed users to add a SIM card. This means that the tablet can double up as a phone, but this function is not available on all the upgraded versions. The Aakash-2 will come in two versions: one with a SIM card and one without, with the latter having a second USB port.

[...]

The two versions are being introduced simultaneously to see which better suits students, said a senior official from the Ministry of Human Resources Development who is working on the project.
Sample tablets will soon be sent to students for testing and feedback, a process the ministry officials said should be concluded in the next few months.

BBC News - India upgrades 'world's cheapest tablet' Aakash


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