India's $45 tablet still selling like crazy

[Jack]

The University of Mumbai has received 25,000 requests for India's first low-cost Android tablet, dubbed Aakash, with more requests expected for the device which has already seen over 1 million orders from commercial buyers since its debut. The tablet reportedly will cost students a subsidized rate priced at 1,138 rupees (US$23).

An official from the university added that modifications would be made to the device to incorporate the needs of the universities and central government. "The initial product had a lot of complaints from users. They are being modified now to suit everybody's requirements," he said.

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AAkash Tablet Video Review

 

[WinAndLinuxTutorials]

Why such a low price?! It looks interesting...

Am I dreaming?

 

[Jack]

Why such a low price?!

In my country we have an expression ... You get as much as you paid...
Basically this AAkash Tablet has some very low specs , among other problems like very short life battery or lack of a video camera.And I assume that the quality of the materials used is not very high...
Even so I've got a feeling that the Indian government subsidized some of the production costs for this tablet.


Specs:

Processor -366 MHz
OS – Android 2.2(Froyo)
RAM -256 MB RAM
ROM –2GB Micro SD card expandable up to 32GB
IO ports-Supports usual USB drives(pen drives)
Screen size – 7” resistive
Connectivity- Wi-Fi, GPRS(using built in SIM card module)
Battery – 2100mAh
Additional Features- Built in Graphics processor and video accelerator chips, Supports different video formats, office document formats, picture formats etc. It also supports 3G connectivity using USB dongle.


Review :

Pros of Aakash tablet

From the specifications you can understand that most of the features that you are expecting from a tablet are available in this tablet also. The main plus point in this tablet is its low price, as you can never find a tablet with similar features anywhere at this cost. For common purposes like watching small videos, browsing in internet, viewing pictures, preparing office documents etc, this tablet is enough. It is missing built in 3G SIM support. It will not be much problem in country like India as still majority of smartphone users are using GPRS plans only. As they are available at very cheap prices compared to 3G data plans. Also 3G facility is yet to come in rural areas. There the only data access method is through GPRS or Edge only Actually Government released this tablet at such a price intending students. But due to the interest of other people, it is going to be released in commercial version also. After the starting of advanced booking, within a fortnight, 0.5 million bookings have done. Surely it indicates the popularity that this tablet has achieved. A company named Datawind is the authorized seller of this tablet.

Cons of Aakash tablet

Such a reduction in price can come only at the sacrifice of some features. This tablet lacks any camera. Also the processor of 366MHz is very less powerful as even mobile phones have 600MHz this time. But the presence of additional video and graphics processing chip makes video playback easier. Also as the battery is not of large capacity, maximum battery backup is only 4 hours. Also power of Android is in the large number of apps available in android market. but in this device there is no Android market in student version. Only a getjar app is provided for this purpose. But it is the case with student edition. Commercial edition will be released with Android market. Test users fo this tablet have released their initial feedback. According to them the tablet hangs intermittently (may be due to the low powered CPU). Also there is overheating problem on continuous usage for half an hour. Also the resistive touch screen is not that responsive (You will know the difference, if you ever used resistive touch screen devices and capacitive touch screen devices.). Another one that you can notice in Aakash tablet is the cheap build quality of the tablet outer material. As this tablet is intended mainly in decreasing the price and making available to common users, you can neglect it.

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[malbky]

No you aint dreamng bro. Its real. The Indian Goverments Best ever initiative. By the wy uk company data wind making these tablets. In India for under 10,000rs i can good branded andriod phones of Samsung, spice etc. This was to spread e- education to the poor Indians. Any way every one can buy. And now at the same price we are getting a upgraded version the government has announced.

 

[Valentin N]

I won*t buy one since I am not fan of tablet but it's surely worth the money. Nice thread jack +2 for you

 

[Gnosis]

If it came from China or Mexico, no, I would not buy it. I will make an exception for a cheap Indian device though. I actually would be willing to give it a shot.

 

[Vextor]

I'm not sure about it. It's a cool idea, but the issue is how it's been built. If I believe what I hear, this sounds like a disposable tablet.
And disposable usually always in the long term costs more. I hope it's good and it could be used, but it has to be good first.

 

[malbky]

It is not disposable. But the only complaints from the pilot program testers was about its poor battery life.

 

[pcjunklist]

In my country we have an expression ... You get as much as you paid...

Applies to everything except my $100 HP Touchpad