2. Page 2
Aakash Tablet – World’s Cheapest Tab
After a huge success of the world’s cheapest car manufactured by India,
the country is all set to step into the tech-world with the same strategy of
offering good quality product at the best possible price. After a wait of
about one year since a prototype was shown to the reporters, the Indian
officials have finally launched the world’s cheapest tablet i.e. Aakash
Tablet (also known as Akash Tab or $35 Tablet) is available at a price of
just $60 (Rs 3000) in retail stores and probably much cheaper for
students. The commercial version of Aakash Tablet is Ubislate which will
be available from November with a few more features than the
Government’s version.
The makers of Akash Tab are IIT Rajasthan in partnership with DataWind,
a leading manufacturer of wireless web access products and services
which is based in Montreal and is owned by Suneet Singh Tuli who is a
Canadian of Indian descent.
3. Page 3
Features and Specifications of Aakash Tablet
Display- Aakash Tablet has a 7 inch resistive touch screen with 800 x
480 pixel resolution.
Operating System- Akash Tab runs Android 2.2 (Froyo).
Processor- It has got a single core 366 MHz processor plus a HD video
co-processor, 256 MB RAM and 2GB internal flash memory.
Supported Multimedia Formats- Aakash Tablet supports Image formats
like .png, .jpg, .gif, .bmp. Supported Video Formats include MPEG2,
MPEG4, AVI and FLV. The Tablet also supports audio formats such as
MP3, AAC, AC3, WAV and WMA.
External Connectors- Aakash Tablet supports Mini and Full USB, has
got two SD card slots (memory expandable up-to 32GB), a SIM card slot,
Video Out, a 3.5 mm headphone jack support and HDMI port.
4. Page 4
Features and Specifications of Aakash Tablet
Internet Connectivity- Aakash is a Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g enabled Tablet
with a Web Browser having Standards Compliance, xHTML 1.1 compliant,
JavaScript 1.8 compliant and safety compliance. It also offers separate
software for online YouTube videos.
App Store- Akash Tab supports more than 150000 apps to keep you
entertained throughout the day.
Battery- The 50 gram Tablet has a 2100mAh battery with a standby time
of 3-4 hours.
Supported Document Formats- The supported document formats
include DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, XLS, XLSX, ODT and ODP. The Tablet
has also got PDF Viewer and Text Editor.
5. Page 5
The iPad Killer
To compare the Aakash tablet is to compare the acting talents of Meryl
Streep to those of Katrina Kaif. Or compare anything about KRK with
SRK.
If you are too poor to afford a viable, value-for-money option like Rs.
13,000 Samsung Tab (with Reliance), you don't deserve a tablet. Why?
Watch a movie on it, and the Aakash is less portable multimedia device
and more of a paperweight in only 1.5 hours. And that's not counting the
expected depreciation on the device's battery life months later.
Made in India? Not Completely
The tablet is made from 800 components by Canadian company
Datawind. Only 16% of the tablet comprises of Indian components. At
35%, South Korea features prominently in the list of component sources
and 25% of the parts were sourced from China. The rest come from USA
and other parts of the world.
6. Page 6
Conclusion…
Aakash in Hindi Language means ‘Sky’ and probably the device is ready
to reach the same height. The main target of this tablet is students who
always admired Tablets but had to murder their feelings due to lack of
money. Aakash has all the basic features which are frequently used by
everyone and can be easily bought by the students just by saving their
pocket money for a few days. Though it is disappointing that the Tablet
does not have a camera and will not have access to Android Market, we
cannot expect so much at such a price. Overall the Tablet is a very good
deal for everyone.
