14 DAY TRIAL // When the news from India came that an amazingly low-priced tablet was going to be made and marketed, people may have been stunned into disbelief, and for good reason, but promise became reality after all.
The last time we heard about the wonder-tablet advertised by the Indian government was when HRD Minister Kapil Sibal came forth to say that yes, it wasn't a dream.
Needless to say, few, if any, actually had very big expectations from the device. After all, what could it do when the iPad and its rivals cost $499 (479 Euro)?
The fact remains, however, that, at the end of the day, this is still a full-fledged tablet, not some single-purpose device with the same nickname.
Coming to finally seal the deal on its existence, the first live photos of the gadget have made their way to the Internet.
Graciously, the exact specifications have been provided as well, revealing a Ubislate 7 from Datawind.
The thing people may notice even before the hardware and software, however, is that the lauded price of $35 is gone.
As with all things too good to be true, the small tag was not to be, but this doesn't actually have much shot at reducing consumer interest.
After all, the new price tag of Rs 2,999 ($65 / 48 Euro) is still so low compared to all other tablets, even Amazon's Kindle Fire, that the advantage is very much there.
A 366MHz Connexant CPU lies at the heart of the Aakash, as it is called, backed by 256 MB of RAM and 2 GB of built-in storage.
A microSD card slot allows for extra gigabytes to be added, while the rest of the feature set includes 802.11 a/b/g WiFi, a 7-inch LCD (800 x 480 pixels) and resistive touch support, plus the Froyo OS and the Getjar market.
The battery life, alas, is a rather un-monumental three hours, or less during HD video playback, but that is just it: even at such a price, it still supports HD playback, though reviews will have the final say on whether everything runs smoothly or not.