Five reasons why UbiSlate 7 should have been the original Aakash

The ultra low-cost Aakash tablet has seen a massive response from public ever since DataWindreleased the device online. The Aakash, also touted as the world's cheapest tablet, sold out in less than a week after its launch. DataWind had reportedly put up some 30,000 Aakash tablets online with a price tag of Rs. 2,500. Many will agree that apart from the ultra low-price, the Aakash tablet does not offer extraordinary features and lags on many fronts. The 7-inch tablet has been criticised for its slower processor and minimal features, especially when pitted against the better-specced Aakash 2.

The Aakash 2 a.k.a UbiSlate 7 is scheduled to launch in January at a price tag of Rs. 2,999. DataWind's next offering stands out as a better deal as compared to the original Aakash. It's notable that DataWind has not yet provided information about the availability of the original Aakash and appears to be focussing on the UbiSlate 7. The buyers may regret investing in the Aakash as an updated device is coming within few weeks with a marginal price hike. It would have been really great had DataWind launched the UbiSlate 7 as the original Aakash and won many more accolades.

Connectivity

On connectivity front, the original Aakash only supports Wi-Fi. It's notable that the several parts of India still do not have access to networking options such as Wi-Fi. One of the main ideas behind the Aakash was to bridge  the gap between the rural India and technology. The Aakash tablet with its limitation to the Wi-Fi networking options is unlikely to meet the purpose.

On the other hand, the UbiSlate 7 supports both GPRS and Wi-Fi. It also has support for optional 3G modems. Two full-sized USB ports are integrated into the unit allowing pen-drives, external keyboards, web-cams and dongles. The UbiSlate 7 is likely to see more usability in the rural India.

Battery life

Battery life is an important criteria for the mobile devices. The Aakash tablet comes with a 2,100 mAh battery, which is rated to deliver up to 3 hours of backup, depending upon usage. The UbiSlate 7 comes with a better 3,200 mAh battery.

Performance

The Aakash runs on Android 2.2 Froyo operating system and is powered by Arm11 – 366MHz processor. The tablet has a seven-inch resistive touch display with 800x480 pixels resolution. It has 256MB of RAM. The UbiSlate 7 runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system and is powered by a better Cortex A8 – 700 MHz processor. The UbiSlate 7 is most likely to come with a capacitive touchscreen.

UbiSlate 7 is a phone

The UbiSlate 7 is not restricted to just browsing, as its SIM functionality also extends to voice calls. The SIM functionality is certainly going to appeal a lot of Aakash enthusiasts. The original Aakash has no such feature.

Android Market

The Aakash tablet does not support access to the Android Market, which means a lot of apps, ranging from educational and entertainment, will not be available on the device. The Aakash does support document formats: DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, XLS, XLSX, ODT, ODP, and can also run a PDF viewer and text editor. However, access to the apps could have been a major advantage. DataWind may address the limitation in their UbiSlate by providing access to the Android Market or pre-load some more apps in the device.