The Indian government has expressed confidence
it will be successful in bringing out the improved version of the Akash tablet
by April this year. The Akash 2 is likely to have several improved
specifications such as elongated battery life and faster processor. The
government has been striving hard to make its Aakash project successful. The
device, which is also touted as the world's cheapest tablet, faced harsh critism
from several quarters for its poor quality and dismal features. IIT Rajasthan,
which developed the prototype of the device along with DataWind, found a series
of faults in the device, prompting the government to reconsider extension of the
LC to the Canadian company. Under pressure to provide better endowed low-cost
device, the government has now its turned attention to the Akash, which is
likely to come at the same price tag of the original Aakash.
In the course of complaints on the quality of
the cheapest tablet, Aakash, the government on Monday stated that they are
hopeful to bring out the upgraded version of the tablet, Aakash-II, by this
April. HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said, “To cater the great demand of Aakash among
the public, we need many manufacturers to develop Aakash. We are enhancing the
features according to the feedback we have got from Aakash-I. Hence we want to
be sure that the upgraded version of the product caters to the requirements of
the consumers. We have involved IIT in order to upgrade it. We will be able to
bring in Aakash-II by April.” Agreeing to the differences occurred between
Aakash developers Datawind and the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD),
Sibal said, “We believe in sorting out the issues rather than stressing them.”