Makers of Aakash tablet, i.e. DataWind have now opened up the tablet for retail buying. The retail price of Aakash tablet is Rs. 2,500 and UbiSlate7, the upgraded version of Akash costs Rs. 2,999.

Makers of Aakash tablet, i.e. DataWind have now opened up the tablet for retail buying. The retail price of Aakash tablet is Rs. 2,500 and UbiSlate7, the upgraded version of Akash costs Rs. 2,999.

Aakash vs. UbiSlate

In terms of features, UbiSlate is an advanced version – the device runs on Android 2.3 (Akash is on 2.2) and offers features like WiFi & GPRS (SIM & Phone functionality).

Right now, only CoD (Cash on Delivery) is available for online purchase (of Aakash tablet), though UbiSlate 7 is not yet launched.

Aakash Tablet Specs

Hardware:

• Processor: 366 Mhz. Connexant with Graphics accelerator and HD Video processor
• Memory (RAM): 256MB RAM / Storage (Internal): 2GB Flash
• Storage (External): 2GB to 32GB Supported
• Peripherals (USB2.0 ports, number): 1 Standard USB port
• Audio out: 3.5mm jack / Audio in: 3.5mm jack
• Display and Resolution: 7? display with 800×480 pixel resolution
• Input Devices: Resistive touch screen
• Connectivity and Networking: GPRS and WiFi IEEE 802.11 a/b/g
• Power and Battery: Up to 180 minutes on battery. AC adapter 200-240 volt range.

Software:

• OS: Android 2.2
• Supported Document formats: DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, XLS, XLSX, ODT, ODP
• PDF viewer, Text editor
• Multimedia and Image Display
• Image viewer supported formats: PNG, JPG, BMP and GIF
• Supported audio formats: MP3, AAC, AC3, WAV, WMA
• Supported video formats: MPEG2, MPEG4, AVI, FLV

In terms of review of Aakash tablet, remember that it only works over WiFi connectivity. Here is what we covered:

• The screen is rather unresponsive. Sometimes I had to push the screen really hard to get a response.
• It also heats up really fast. Which means in the heat and dust of India, it could face problems.
• The tablet failed to install anything from the Android App Market.

In short, the tablet does perform what you would expect a Rs. 2,500 tablet to perform, but the key question is whether is this the most optimized definition of tablet (it surely is better than Infibeam Phi, which is still being sold at 5X price, loaded with Android 1.5!)?
Would you be interested in buying the Aakash tablet? Or pump in more money and go for a better version (Reliance tab)?