AAKASH TABLET or DATAWIND UBISLATE: Price: Rs.2,999: Specs: 7-inch resistive display; 366 MHz processor, in addition to Graphics Accelerator and HD Video Co-processor; 256 MB RAM; 2 GB Flash Memory with 2 GB Micro SD card, expandable to 32 GB; Android 2.1 operating system; Wi-Fi, GPRS; 2 USB ports; 2100 mAh battery.
The Aakash tablet has been receiving overwhelming response from the public and sold out completely in less than a week after its launch by Datawind. Aakash, have soared to 14 lakh units just two weeks after it was put up for sale online for Rs 2,500 a piece. You can now expect your own Aakash only in March 2012, if you book it today on their website. Hurry up!!
To cater to the 'unexpected' demand, UK-based vendor Datawind, the maker of the $35 tablet, has decided to establish three new factories - in Cochin, Noida and Hyderabad - in the first half of 2012 to assemble the tablet. Datawind currently has only one factory in Hyderabad, with its vendor Quad, which makes the LCD panel for the tablet.
Earlier the Minister for Human Resource and Development, Mr. Kapil Sibal, said at the launch of Aakash, "The rich have access to the digital world, the poor and ordinary have been excluded. Aakash will end that digital divide." There is definitely no other touch pad tablet or computing device anywhere nears the price of Aakash tablet or Ubislate7+. It is a new generation device which comes with attractive features. Datawind's patented data-compression technology makes web access via GPRS much quicker than normal. Its multimedia capabilities are good. Ubislate earns a place for itself on this page. It may only be a poor relative in the whole family engendered by the iPad, but even with its simplest of powers, it makes the members of the smartphones clan look up and takes notice.
Aakash has received about 1 lakh orders a day since online launch last month. In comparison, Apple sold about 10 lakh iPads in 28 days and 30 lakh in 80 days of its launch in April 2010. Currently, the cheapest model of iPad at Rs 29,500 is about 12 times costlier than Aakash.
