Aakash tablet

Ravi P. Agrahari (Science & Technology)

Tablet pc’s

• A tablet personal computer or tablet PC is a tablet-sized computer that also has the key features of a full-size personal computer.

Aakash tablet

• Aakash is the new name of India's aspiration to produce an Indian computing device. Announced by the MHRD on July 22, 2010 as "Sakshaat", it was launched in New Delhi on Oct 5, 2011.

• Mr. kapil sibil (HRD minister) launched aakash tablet in India on 5th oct, 2011. It is the world’s cheapest tablet ever made and launched.

Configurations (Hardware)

• 7-inch 800x480 resistive touch screen

• Rugged casing with a rubberized feel

• Wi-Fi enabled (802.11 a/b/g Wi-Fi)

• Mini and full USB• miniSD card slot• Subscriber Identity

Module (SIM card) slot (UbiSlate 7 only)

• Video out• Headphone jack• 256MB of RAM

• 2 GB of storage memory. 32 GB Expandable Micro sd.

• 2 Watts of power consumption with solar charging option

• 366 MHz + HD video co-processor

• HDMI port.• Audio out: 3.5mm jack /

Audio in: 3.5mm jack• Display and Resolution: 7”

display with 800x480 pixel resolution

Contd... (Software)

• Android froyo 2.2 operating system

• Document Rendering• Supported Document formats:

DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, XLS, XLSX, ODT, ODP

• Educational software developed at Indian Institute of Technology

• Web browsing, video conferencing and word processing software

• PDF viewer, Text editor• Multimedia and Image Display• Image viewer supported

formats: PNG, JPG, BMP and GIF• Supported audio formats: MP3,

AAC, AC3, WAV, WMA• Supported video formats:

MPEG2, MPEG4, AVI, FLV• Communication and Internet• Web browser – Standards

Compliance: xHTML 1.1 compliant, JavaScript 1.8 compliant

• Separate application for online YouTube video

• Safety and other standards compliance

• CE certification / RoHS certification

• 150000+ applications

Pros and cons of Aakash

The cheapest tablet developed by India, Aakash is now available

in the market. So here is what the specifications of Aakash tablet says, 366 Mhz atom processor, 256MB RAM.With such a processor and RAM, Aakash tablet can only run lighter softwares and apps.

It’ll face some difficulties in running videos if running alongside some bigger programs like MS Office or PDF Reader. Multitasking might be troublesome but its okay for students who usually work on lighter softwares.

Students from computer field shouldn’t opt for the tablet as I suspect it wouldn’t run programming languages like Java and .net that efficiently. There might be problems in running IDE’S like Netbeans and Eclipse too.

˃ 2Gb internal memory, expandable to 32Gb, 1 USB Port

This is enough for students and village people who use computer for mild uses. More memory would have been better but 32 Gb expandable is fine too.

˃ 7 display, 350gm weight′Aakash tablet appears cute with small display and 800 x 480 screen resolution. It’s completely touchscreen based, you can work on the tablet using a stylus.Weight is somewhere around 350gm which is almost 1/3 rd of your laptop.

˃ WIFI, GPRS, 3G and SIMStudent version of Aakash tablet has an inbuilt WIFI but there is no support for GPRS or SIM facility. The second version, meant for market sale would include all these three features which means the tablet could be used as a phone as well as a tablet.

˃ Android 2.2 OS (Froyo) Operating system fuelling Akash tablet is Google’s Andoid 2.2, also

providing is more than 15k apps including many useful text-editors, games and others.But users don’t have support to Android marketplace, so new apps cannot be downloaded.

˃ Wide range of software supportThe other good feature of Aakash tablet is that it supports wide range of softwares and file formats. Some of them includes,Document formats like DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, XLS, XLSX, ODT, ODPPDF viewer and Text editorMultimedia and Image DisplaySupport image formats: PNG, JPG, BMP and GIFAudio formats: MP3, AAC, AC3, WAV, WMASupported video formats: MPEG2, MPEG4, AVI, FLV

˃ Price between 35$-60$If you’re a student then you can pocket one Aakash tablet in just Rs 1500-1700. Price of tablet for common people is located somehwere in between Rs 3000-3200.

˃ No camera/webcam but supports via USBBasically, Aakash tablet doesn’t have an inbulit webcam but you can plug one in the USB port. As of now, it supports VGA webcams, some 1.3 megapixel webcam might work fine.

˃ Better Accessories

In addition to these features, the tablet provides accessories like Car charger, external antenna, keyboard case. You have to pay additional amount to get carry-case for the tablet.You can also get unlimited Mobile Internet at only Rs.98/month.

7 reasons to pick Aakash 2 [Aakash Vs Aakash -2]

India recently showcased the world’s cheapest tablet PC aakash also knows as ubislate 7 . The cheapest price is the killer feature of aakash tab , but critics are not happy with its hardware specifications and performance and they even questioned the usability of aakash .

Now government of India has decided to launch the upgraded version of aakash , the Aakash 2 also called as Ubislate 7+ which will have better specifications than current aakash .

We compared the specifications of Aakash and upcoming UbiSlate 7+ (aakash 2) on key parameters and found UbiSlate 7 quite better than Aakash tablet PC .

1. Processor

Aakash runs on 366 Mhz which is very poor processor speed in today’s world . UbiSlate 7 (aakash 2) on the other hand runs on 700Mhz processor . So with UbiSlate 7+ you will have a double power processor .

2. RAMAakash has 256 Mb of RAM while Aakash 2 has 256 Mb RAM with 2 GB internal memory .

3. Operating System Aakash runs on andoird 2.2 while UbiSlate runs on android 2.3 . With UbiSlate 7+you will have the upgraded android OS

4. BatteryAakash is powered by 2100 mAh battery while UbiSlate is powered by 3200 mAh , which mean you will have more battery backup with UbiSlate 7 (aakash 2 )

5. Network

Aakash offers WiFi while Aakash 2 (UbiSlate 7) offers WiFi , GPRS with SIM and phone functionality . That means you can use UbiSlate 7+ as phone also .

6. Camera Aakash 2 has both back and front facing camera , while aakash doesn’t offers this .

7. Priceaakash tablet is available at the price of Rs 2500 while aakash 2 will be available at the price of Rs 2999 , which is quite justified on the basis of newly added features.

I think buying aakash 2 will be a good choice than buying aakash , though you have to pay extra 500 Rs , but you will get lots of better features .

Thanks