Still picking the sand out of iPad's last beach holiday adventure?
A sibling of the world's cheapest tablet computer -- the Aakash, launched in India last month -- promises a cheaper, worry-free and therefore travel-friendly alternative for mobile computing.
The tablet's "proudly made in India" and the base version (meant for students) was launched on October 5. It was christened the Aakash tablet, after the Hindi word for sky.
London-based DataWind, a leading provider of wireless web access, will make a commercial variant of the Aakash available in India by the end of November.
The varient will have a less romantic shelf name of UbiSlate 7. It's currently available for pre-order atwww.aakashdatawind.com.
UbiSlate 7 costs US$60, or a maximum retail price of Rs 2,999, including all taxes and a 12-month warranty.
Dubbed the computer version of the Tata Nano car, the 7-inch touch screen tablet promises a high definition video processor, Wi-Fi Internet and two full-sized USB ports.
The UbiSlate 7 offers the same features as the Aakash tablet: Web browsing, multimedia games and also doubles up as an e-book reader and instant messenger through Nimbuzz Webchat, a popular free call and messaging app.
The only difference is that UbiSlate 7 will have a cellular mode for web access on-the-go, with Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) enabled.
Future products will include a mobile phone version of the device and a larger 10-inch screen.
"This is not only a concept that applies to India, but has ignited the imagination of governments around the world. The Aakash is proudly made in India, and is destined to revolutionize computing and Internet access for the world," says Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO, DataWind.
Impressed? Now let's see if it doubles as a Frisbee.
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