July 2, 2013
New Aakash tablet is all set to come with 7-inch display, Ubuntu, Android JB OS and Rs 3K price tag. Though this is another exciting news, but there are reasons to be apprehensive given the past promises and reality.
Though so far it has been a disappointing experiment, there are hopes that things are set to change in the near future. For the last several years, notwithstanding the talk of a Rs 2000 tablet in the Indian market and its ready availability to millions and millions of students across the country for even a cheaper amount, this has remained more a promise than a reality.
The former Human Resource Minister Kapil Sibbal had proclaimed that India was set to enter a new electronic age with the launch of Aakash tablet. We all believed him, as much of the world. But it really didn’t materialise.
But now latest reports suggest that the new version of the tablet is set to be available in the market in the next few weeks with all the top specifications. Someone has claimed that it will be almost like search giant Google’s top selling 7-inch tablet Nexus 7.
Reports appearing in the media suggest that the next generation Aakash tablet will come with far better display quality than the present version. Someone mentioned it as current version. But to be true no version of the tablet is available in the market and was never available in stores in the market. Rumors suggest that the next generation tab will support internet connectivity via WiFi and 2G, 3G, or 4G internet dongle and also support external keyboard and mouse.
As far as pricing of the tablet is concerned, the tab when launched in the market will cost around Rs 3000 and Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) has said that the tender for Aakash 4 will carry minimum specifications that the computer tablet has to meet. The specifications released for the next generation Aakash tablet include 4GB internal storage, external storage of 32 GB, a 7-inch display screen, dual-bootable operating system (Ubuntu distro and Android Jelly Bean). Reports suggest that its battery life will be a lot better than the existing version and will give at least least three hours for online 720p video playback and minimum five hours on web browsing. To be true, for just Rs 3000 it looks very enticing, but there is no clarity as to who will manufacture or assemble this tablet. Datawind has not been mentioned in the ministry communication.
The computer tablet will support internet connectivity via WiFi and 2G, 3G, or 4G internet dongle and also support external keyboard and mouse.
