The low-cost, Indian-made Aakash tablet may come to schoolchildren in Philadelphia, the Financial Express reported. This is being made possible by Philadelphia-based Wilco Electronics, which is interested in the project. The seven-inch tablet, which runs on Android 2.2, carries a price tag as low as $35 for students in its native India.
India took quick action to address quality gripes with the original Aakash tablet by releasing an upgraded version. The new Android 2.2 model is still made by Datawind but is roughly twice as fast, carrying a 700MHz ARM Cortex-A8 chip. Its much-maligned resistive, seven-inch touchscreen has been replaced with a much more responsive capacitive screen.
Plans by India's government to roll out the $35 Aakash tablet were thrown into turmoil Wednesday after the country's Human Resource Development Ministry cast doubts on whether the Android device would survive the second wave of adoption. Despite hopes of providing a rough equivalent to the iPad for education, contracted supplier DataWind was no longer guaranteed to move on to a second phase of production after a research institution raised major complaints about the Aakash's quality. Early users complained about low battery life, sluggish performance, and an unworkable resistive touchscreen.
India's $35 Aakash Android tablet may be free to some students, if HRD Minister Kapil Sibal is right. Not all students will get the device without paying anything, however, as the respective educational institution would be responsible to subsidize the $35 that the government doesn't. The tablet actually costs $70, but India's government covers the $35.
Dehli-based company Classteacher Learning Systems has launched the Android 2.2 touting Classpad, a range of lower-cost tablet set to take on DataWind's Aakash, a $35 7-inch Android 2.2 tablet. While it will be priced above the Aakash, the new tablets are up to 1GHz faster at 1.3GHz than the cheaper tablet and will have options for 4GB and 8GB of storage. The Classpad tablets will also come in a range of sizes including 7-, 8- and 10-inch variations.
After delays, the Indian government on Wednesday showed off the final version of its very low-cost Android 2.2 tablet. Now called the Aakash ("sky"), the $35, seven-inch tablet is created by PocketSurfer inventor DataWind and will be made within India. It keeps costs down by using an older 366MHz Connexant chip, 2GB of internal storage, and 256MB of RAM.
