Anticipated low cost Android tablet - Aakash tablet's at Rs 2,500

DataWind, the Canadian company that is manufacturing Aakash, will start distribution of the much anticipated low cost Android tablet from next month for which online booking had started on December 15.




A spokesperson of Datawind said to The Mobile Indian, "People who have booked the Aakash tablet online will get its delivery in January.” The spokesperson, however, didn't cite any reason for the delay. Earlier the company had said that the Rs 2,500 Aakash tablet will be delivered within seven days of online booking.

Flip Flops

On earlier occasions also, Datawind have failed to honour their commitment as the tablet was supposed to be made available in retail stores by the end of November. Now it is expected to hit the stores only in February.

DataWind initially said that the Aakash tablet will be available to students only through colleges and schools. However, later it started online booking of Aakash for everyone including students. Besides,DataWind have given only 10,000 Aakash tablets to the government for distribution in schools and colleges of the initial 1 lakh proposed.

The Mobile Indian got more than 200 emails and 300 calls from users who complained that after booking the tablet online they didn't get any call or confirmatory email.

Even after The Mobile Indian's repeated request for clarification on the hardship faced by the consumers, Datwind didn't share any information instead it said: "An official statement will soon be released and we will keep you posted.”

We hope this time Akash Tablet is delivered to consumers on time.

About Aakash and UbiSlate

There are two versions of the tablet. The original Aakash tablet comes with much lower specifications and is priced at Rs 2,500. Its cousin — named as UbiSlate, is comparatively powerful and is priced at Rs 2,999.

UbiSlate will be powered by Android 2.3 and will have a resistive touchscreen, Cortex A8-700 MHz processor and graphics accelerator HD video processor, 256 MB of RAM and 2 GB of internal memory. Other specifications are - one standard USB port, 3.5 mm audio jack, a 7 inch display with 800 x 480 pixel resolution, resistive touchscreen, GPRS and WiFi support.

On the other hand, the 7 inch screen bearing Aakash tablet has Android 2.2 operating system, Arm11 — 366 Mhz processor, 2100 battery, WiFi and will have support for 3G modem. The price difference between the Aakash and UbiSlate is because the commercially available product will include a cellular modem, allowing it to deliver web access anywhere there is a cellular connectivity, and also to function as a mobile phone. Notably, Internet access on both the tablets across mobile networks will be priced at Rs 99 for 2GB.