Aakash has been manufactured by Canada based company, DataWind in collaboration with IIT Rajasthan. The tablet has been manufactured & assembled completely in India. Datawind has also announced that an upgraded version of Aakash, named UbiSlate 7 is available for pre-order as well. Unlike Aakash, UbiSlate 7 is manufactured and assembled in China. Datawind is projecting Aakash to be a student version of UbiSlate 7, which will cost Rs. 2999 (approx $57). UbiSlate 7 will be available by the end of January 2012. For price difference of just Rs.500, the difference is specs is huge. UbiSlate 7 will be powered by 700MHz Cortex A8 processor and will run Android 2.3. Check the below comparison sheet.
Note that UbiSlate 7 will have a much bigger battery, will also have 3G capabilities and will also act as a phone. But yeah, the tablet will not have Made in India sticker at the back like Aakash. Will you be ordering Aakash or UbiSlate 7? Yes, they are not comparable to the iPads or the Galaxy Tabs and might not even figure in the Value Tablets list. But they don’t need to, when we look at the prices they are being offered at!
