And now Aakash III?

It is yet to see if the much hyped Government's low cost tablet 'Aakash' is a success. During the initial launch, the tablet was the cheapest one. But it was criticized a lot for its inferior performance. The resistive touch screen and low power processor made it too difficult to convince the customers. At one stage, it looked like the Aakash tablet project was going to be shelved permanently. 

In May 2012, a new version of the Aakash tablet, Aakash 2 was announced. The Aakash 2 was supposed to have better specifications and has the same price of the original Aakash. It was equiped with more prowerful 1 GHz processor and 512 MB RAM and flash memory doubled from 2MB to 4 MB, a capacitive touch screen and runs on Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS. On the other side Aakash 2 can access only Wi-Fi networks. It does support tethering capability that lets it act as a local Wi-Fi hot spot. But not being able to access cellular networks like 3G, such as in rural areas where mobile phone penetration is miles ahead of internet penetration, will place the onus on local governments to lay internet-cables, bring down broadband prices, etc. Aakash 2’s battery life is a meagre four hours, which is well short of a full college day, and prevents serious student use. Videoconferencing, with a front-facing low-resolution camera, will only drain the battery faster. Compensatory ancillary infrastructure can only render the experience more cumbersome. The tablet was also marred with controversies that its a Chineese product sourced by datawind. The device was launched in November 2012. But overall, the tablet with the said specification was something like outdated even before launch

Towards the end of 2012, lot of branded manufactures have come out with low cost tablets arroung Rs 5000/- and with attractive specifications. Google and Azus are in the process of launching $99 tablets which is supposed to be available early next year. 

Now the developers are at the drawing board developing a third version of low cost tablet 'Aakash'. It is likely to equip it with a SIM slot and more exciting apps, all within the existing price band. Aakash 3 will have a faster processor supporting both Linux and Android operating systems and come with advanced memory "Our ultimate aim is to imbibe the usage of tablets in the education system and create an ecosystem for this," said Deepak B Phatak, committee member and professor in IIT-Bombay's Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

About 50 lakh 'Aakash 3' tablets are expected to be rolled out in the next phase, the global tender for which may be floated in February next year.