$35 Android Tablet, Aakash, Launches in India Tablets Expected to Become “New Battleground” in This Emerging Market

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$35 Android Tablet, Aakash, Launches in India Tablets Expected to Become “New Battleground” in This Emerging Market

Open Source Matters Rikiki Kite $35 Android Tablet, Aakash, Launches in India Tablets expected to become “new battleground” in this emerging market. Will $10 tablet be next? By Rikki Kite on Wed, 10/05/11 - 12:02pm. India claims to have launched the world's cheapest tablet computer, priced at $35 for students and $60 for retail. The Aakash computer runs Android 2.2 (Froyo), has a 7-inch touch screen, 256MB of RAM, 32GB expandable memory slot, two USB ports, and weighs in at only 350 grams, according to the Times of India [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/hardware/Worlds-cheapest-tablet- launched/articleshow/10243846.cms]. A pilot run with 100,000 units provided to students will test the practicality of the tablet's two- to three-hour battery life. The first tablet computer was launched in India almost a year ago, and CyberMedia Research expects tablets to become the “new battleground” in India. The Canada-based company behind the Aakash tablet, DataWind, is also behind the Pocketsurfer3 hand-held web-browsing device, which the company claims can download web pages faster than any other hand-held device on any network with full graphics and Java support. DataWind says the commercial version of the Aakash, which will be released next month, will offer additional features, including mobile connection. The company tested the new tablet for India's climate conditions, with video running for two hours in 118 degree (Fahrenheit) temperatures, according to Reuters [http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/05/us-india- tablet-idUSTRE7940YV20111005]. “Initial reactions to the Aakash were mixed, with the mainly middle-class technology department students at the event saying it needed refinement but was a good option for the poor,” the Times of India says. Aakash units will be produced in India, and DataWind already has plans for a $10 tablet. "We need to have more local components. And with the production expansion that we plan, we believe that Indian component manufacturers would soon see the opportunity, thus reducing our prices," DataWind chief executive told India Today. Aakash units are built with parts from South Korea, China, the U.S., India, and other countries. 1 From www.networkworld.com/community/node/78843 9 October 2011 Meanwhile, Google expects Internet users to triple by 2014. High-speed wireless infrastructure, lower-prices on smartphones, and inexpensive tablets may help Google's forecast of 300-million Internet users, up from the current 100 million, become a reality. According to the Wall Street Journal report [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904060604576572552645756840.html], India is already the third-largest Internet market by users, behind China and the United States; however, only 8 percent of Indians have Internet access, compared to almost 40 percent in China. 2 From www.networkworld.com/community/node/78843 9 October 2011 .

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Rooting the Aakash Tablet
Rooting Akaash : A short guide Ver 0.1 Sunil Thomas Thonikuzhiyil VIP Lab IIT Bombay August 18, 2013 0.1 Introduction It seems lot of guys have got the free (?) Aakash tablet recently. Here is a short guide on rooting this crap and enabling iitb wireless access on the device. If you follow this guide you will be able to install/update new software from Google play store. This procedure can possibly brick your tablet and also, I have no clue about the position of Aakash project regarding rooting. Use your discretion and you are on your own :) . 0.2 What is rooting? All the android devices are built around a tiny Linux distribution over which the Android gui runs. The underlying Linux is hidden from users and is accessible only through Android APIs. ( Of course you can install terminal application from Google play store,but you wont get root access).Most of the common an- droid applications run at a low privilege level and do not need root. The rooting procedure tries to overcome this limitation by forcibly overwriting certain ﬁles on your android tab/phone and allows you to access the device with full privi- leges. 0.3 What you need? 1) A decent Linux installation with root privilege. I did this on a Debian 7 machine. So the procedure can be replicated on any decent Linux distribution. However, your mileage may vary. 2) Rooting software. There are a variety of software for rooting android on internet. I used one named Bin4ry from xda-developers. Google it and locate it.
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GNU/Linux on Aakash
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Aakash Tablet
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1.4 Million Orders for World's Cheapest Tablet in India 3 January 2012
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Aakash IV Technical Specifications
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