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Aakash 2 Android tablet materializes, costs around $21 for Indian students
It's a few months late, but at least it's hitting the streets for a few less dollars than expected. The Datawind-built Aakash 2 is finally a reality, launching in India on the nation's National Education Day. It's the second iteration of what amounts to a barebones, affordable Android slate, packing a 7-inch touch panel, 1GHz Cortex-A8 processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of Flash storage, Android 4.0.3, built-in WiFi and a front-facing VGA camera. Reportedly, this one's going to be shipped to Indian students for Rs 1,130 (around $21), while outsiders will be able to snag one for closer to $80. Of course, the difference now is that these kinds of projects aren't quite as novel. Indeed, Chinese megashops are hawking low-rate Android tablets right now for around the same amount, setting a new (low) bar when it comes to pricing on ho hum slates. Still, we're all for getting technology into the hands of students, and you can learn a bit more about what those very students can expect from VentureBeat's hands-on just below.
Lexibook kids-tablet coming to the US, makes fifth-graders dream of an Aakash
French educational tech maker Lexibook is bringing its eponymous kiddy-tablet to the US from next month. It's not talking specs or price, but we're expecting it to be close to the Lexibook First currently available in Europe. The seven-inch slate packs a 600MHz processor, 256MB RAM, 4GB storage (expandable to 16GB with an microSD card), parental controls and 802.11 b/g WiFi. The FroYo-running device retails for £150 ($237) over the pond, but if the company tries something similar over here, we suspect people might plump for something a little more powerful, or less expensive, or both.
Refresh Roundup: week of April 9th, 2012
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!
Aakash 2 to land in April, set budget tablet lovers back a measly $40
The device that started as a $10 laptop, graduated to a $35 tablet and settled on a $60 reality is about to get its first successor: the Aakash 2. Like its predecessor, the new Aakash is twist on a DataWind Ubislate, namely the Ubislate 7+. According to TechSnapr, $40 (or 2,000 Rupees) buys a 7-inch capacitive touchscreen, a 3200 mAh battery and a 700MHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor -- nearly doubling the oomph of the original. Datawind, however, pegs the Ubislate 7+ at familiar 2,999 Rupees (about $60), noting that the unbranded hardware runs Android 2.3 and features WiFi and GPRS connectivity. Students in India should be able to pick up the budget-friendly slab sometime in April, just like Kapil Sibal promised last month.[Thanks, Pravesh]
