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Tablet Computer ‘Aakash’ ‘Aakash’ ComputerTablet for the Masses R.D. RIKHARI Feature Article Feature With its amazingly low cost ‘Aakash’ promises to bridge the digital divide in the country Minister of HRD, Shri Kapil Sibal and MoS for HRD, Smt D. Purandeswari launching Aakash in while at the same time giving a New Delhi big push to education. material in a convenient environment. It dropped from the contract. Once again ITH the low cost tablet has capabilities of browsing, Internet the tenders were floated. This time the computer unveiled recently, surfing, playing music, videos and games, winners were DataWind (based in UK & W India has successfully taken a connecting to an e-book, etc. Canada). While DataWind, Canada and big stride in the direction of bridging the With a little value addition it can also DataWind, India contributed towards its ‘digital divide’ – a newly emerged social function as a mobile phone or a development, DataWind, UK started its threat taking shape in the wake of the camera. With a 7" touch screen, 4GB manufacture at their Indian unit in rapidly growing IT industry. flash memory (2GB inbuilt+ 2GB micro Hyderabad. On 5 October 2011, Shri Kapil Sibal, SD), Wi-Fi facility and a preloaded The most encouraging part of the Minister for Human Resource operating system Android 2.2, it is of no story is that it all started with an idea from a Development, Government of India lesser category than those prevailing in B.Tech. graduate of IIT (Rajasthan). Later launched the much-awaited low cost the market. he helped in the development process tablet computer ‘Aakash’. This tablet, also. This is an encouraging instance for primarily aimed at benefiting the under- Story of Development the budding entrepreneurs and innovators graduate and graduate level students, will ‘Aakash’ is the realization of a dream in the country. be manufactured in India. visualised by the HRD Ministry more than According to Shri N.K. Sinha, Though by virtue of its low cost it may five years back. It went through various Additional Secretary, Ministry of HRD, it was empower the whole lot of the stages of development under the an ambitious project taken up with an economically weaker sections of the command of the National Mission on objective of enhancing the enrolment of society, the priority objective of the Education through Information and students at a rapid pace. “People laughed government is to deliver education at the Communication Technology (NME-ICT). at us in the beginning. It all started in 2007, doorstep of the students coming from The first success in the process of we took the help of a B.Tech student and specially this section of the society. After development became visible in 2009, what came out was a motherboard that giving a subsidy of 50% the price of when its original prototype named Sakshat completely demystifies a laptop,” Sinha ‘Aakash’ for eligible students may be (Sanskrit word meaning ‘Embodiment’) said. around Rs 1400 in the beginning, finally was unveiled. Dr Prem Kalra, Director, IIT (Rajasthan) coming down to the level of Rs 800 to Rs Originally it was conceived as a laptop admitted during a conversation with 1000 when the production goes beyond to be delivered at a price of Rs 500. Then Tehelka.com that there were some 10 lakh pieces. Libraries, Colleges and in 2010 a new prototype in the form of a 7" glitches in the tablet, but since it was a trial Universities will also be beneficiaries of the tablet computer was presented. Later launch, feedback from various states of subsidised price. some more features were added and the India would be taken into account to Very soon a commercial variant of cost was updated. further harmonise and to upgrade its ‘Aakash’ named ‘Ubislate’ will be available After the desired design and hardware and applications. Even at its in the market at a price of around Rs 3000. specifications for the tablet were finalized, prototype launch in 2010, people took it The cheapest tablet computer of the NME-ICT entrusted the task of procuring as a populist exercise. same size at present carries a price tag and testing the device to IIT-Jodhpur. The importance of ‘Aakash’ does not around Rs 10,000 in the market. The tablet Initially, HCL Infosystems were chosen for lie only in the fact that it is the only has been specially loaded with software the job. But, because of some procedural amazingly low cost tablet computer of the that enables students to pursue their course technicalities the company had to be world. It in fact lies in the very high SCIENCE REPORTER, DECEMBER 2011 56 Specifications of Aakash Tablet Hardware: Processor: 366 Mhz. Conexant with Graphics accelerator and HD Video processor Memory (RAM): 256MB Storage (Internal): 2GB Flash Storage (External): 2GB to 32GB Supported Peripherals (USB2.0 ports): 2 Standard USB ports Audio out: 3.5mm jack / Audio in: 3.5mm jack Display and Resolution: 73 display with 800×480 pixel resolution Input Devices: Resistive touch screen Connectivity and Networking: GPRS and Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 a/b/g Power and Battery: Up to 180 minutes on battery (2100mAh). AC adapter: 200-240 volts ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Software and Formats: OS: Android 2.2 Supported Document formats: doc, docx, ppt, pptx, xls, xlsx, odt, odp PDF viewer, Text editor Image viewer supported formats: png, jpg, bmp and gif Supported audio formats: mp3, aac, ac3, wav, wma Supported video formats: mpeg2, mpeg4, avi, flv Educational software developed at Indian Institute of Technology Video conferencing software Many other applications can be taken from Sakshat website. ○○○○○○○○○ Design ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Communication and Internet: Dimensions: 190.5 mm Web browser – Standards Compliance: xHTML 1.1 compliant, JavaScript 1.8 (7.50 in) (h), 118.5 mm compliant/ DataWind Accelerated Browser (4.67 in) (w), 15.7 mm Separate application for online YouTube video/ Nimbuzz software (0.62 in) (d) Safety and other standards compliance - CE certification/RoHS certification Weight: 350 g (12 oz) objectives drawn by NME-ICT. It aims to link Of course, ‘Aakash’s processor is a bit garnering the profits, rather than 25,000 colleges and 400 universities in an slower – only 366 MHz while for others the depending only on hardware components e-learning programme. Possessing speed ranges from 600 MHz to one GHz. for the margins. To have the right size of ‘Aakash’, a student will be empowered to But when tested for videos, ‘Aakash’ quality and cost effectiveness he says, access 70,000 e-books and 2100 e- worked well. This is because it has two more currently the procurement of components journals across the chain of colleges and components to support it – (i) HD video have been 35% from South Korea, 25% universities in the country. co-processor and (ii) graphics from China, 16% from US, 16% from India Almost 30% colleges and accelerator. and the rest from around the world. universities have already been RAM and flash memory are almost at With the tablet going in for mass connected by Wi-Fi network. Aakash par with others. The subsidized version may production in India, Indian manufacturers tablet has been designed to provide not have an in-built camera, but can be would be encouraged to supply the students access to online streaming added externally through any of its normal components more economically. The HRD course material and can be size USB ports. Its touch screen needs to Ministry is contemplating bringing down the conveniently used to conduct web- be pressed a bit harder, since it is resistive price further for deserving students to based research. The Secretary, School type. But Sibal says, when it goes into large- around Rs 500/- as stipulated earlier. Education, Government of India has scale production it may have a capacitive Based on the feedback of the pilot informed that e-content is being type touch screen which is more sensitive. run, the Ministry hopes to better the device. created for ‘Aakash’ and the IITs have Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO, DataWind says, Users can give their feedback at already created course material in GPRS (General Packet Radio System) and www.sakshat.ac.in. almost all engineering disciplines. Online SIM-card slots will be provided in the next Its commercial version ‘Ubislate7’ may material for 90 subjects at the shipment of tablets, for no extra cost. The soon hit the market at a price of Rs 3000. undergraduate level is already company has tied up with the telecom The company is also making available a available. service provider Aircel, which will provide set of accessory options: (i) car charger; the SIM. So, it would also enable mobile (ii) external antenna and (iii) external Where does it Stand? telephony and Internet access through 3G keyboard case to enable faster typing. Most of the tablets available in the market network. at present have a 7" screen, except the I- But would the low cost of the product Mr R.D. Rikhari retired as Editor of Invention PAD, which has a 10" screen. In terms of keep it sustainable? Juli attributed it to their Intelligence published by the National Research & cost, even the commercial version of own strategy of procuring and Development Corporation (NRDC), India. Address: ‘Aakash’ is priced at one-tenth that of I- manufacturing the components; and also 14E, Pocket-I, Mayur Vihar, Phase-I, Delhi-110091; PAD. looking at the value-added services for Email: [email protected] 57 SCIENCE REPORTER, DECEMBER 2011.
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