CaptainJackSparrow
BANNED
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2010
- Messages
- 3,404
- Reaction score
- -27
- Country
- Location
India To Launch its $35 Tablet on October 5th
Speaking at an awards ceremony for Technology in Education, Kapil Sibal, the communications and information technology minister, announced that the long-anticipated $35 dollar tablet computer would launch sometime in October.
The Times of India cites ministry officials as specifying an October 5th launch date. Im still a little skeptical because of earlier media reports back in June about an impending launch for the tablet, so at this point Ill really believe it when I see it. But Mr. Sibal this time assured that in October the doubting Toms finally realize that this was not just a dream.
He also mentioned that the tablet has been given a name, but he declined to reveal it. Previous reports dubbed it the Sakshat, though there is no indication that it retains that moniker. You can check out a couple of videos here and here that give a closer look at the Android prototype.
Regardless of when it becomes available, its important to remember the vision that it represents for education in India. To learn more about that, check out the video below to hear Minister Sibal express his thoughts on what such a device could mean for the country.
India To Launch its $35 Tablet on October 5th [REPORT] | Tech in Asia
---------------------------------------------------
Early take on India's $35 tablet: 'Fairly impressive'
Remember that $35 tablet out of India we told you about last month? If you want to see the much-talked-about prototype in moving color, a gadget show on Indian television just featured an exclusive hands-on that could help dissipate some of the skepticism about the device.
"Everybody actually said, 'It cannot happen, a $35 tablet,' and not only does it exist, it works and it works brilliantly," said Rajiv Makhni, co-host of the show "Gadget Guru," who took the computer through its paces with show cohort Vikram Chandra and then talked all aspects of the gadget with Kapil Sibal, the country's Minister for Human Resource Development and the same guy who officially unveiled the super-cheap touch-screen device. Aimed at the country's students, it's being called India's answer to Nicholas Negroponte's famed OLPC laptop.
While originally presented as a Linux device, the prototype on the show runs on Android (and handles the operating system "fairly smoothly," the surprised Gurus say). It has a virtual keyboard, camera, full video capability, Wi-Fi for browsing that the Gurus found to be "simple and quick," an e-reader, and 2GB RAM. They say the touch screen is a bit slow to respond. All in all, though, they call it a "fairly impressive little package," particularly for the price, and a game changer for India and possibly beyond.
"We really didn't think it would be as functional as we have found it be," Chandra said.
The tablet is part of a larger initiative aimed at improving India's educational system through technology. It will originally be delivered by mid-2011, subsidized, to higher-education institutions for the estimated $35, Sibal said. (He acknowledged that it will surely cost more at retail.)
Early take on India's $35 tablet: 'Fairly impressive' | Crave - CNET
