Aakash's Cousin UbiSlate Hits Indian Market; Is Anyone Interested

DataWind has finally announced the commercial launch of the UbiSlate series of low-cost Tablets (although its three months behind schedule) called the Ubislate 7+ and Ubislate 7c. Both the Tablets run on the Android operating system (OS) and are priced at Rs 2,999 and Rs 3,999 for Ubislate 7+ and Ubislate 7c respectively.

Both the Tablets sport a 7-inch screen although while the UbiSlate 7+ has a resistive touch screen (which is kind of annoying to operate); the UbiSlate 7c comes with a capacitive multi-touch touchscreen. They run on the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) OS, are powered by an 800MHz Cortex A8 processor and come with 256MB of RAM. And while UbiSlate 7+ comes with 2GB of internal storage, UbiSlate 7c offers double the amount (4GB).

On the connectivity front, both models come with embedded GPRS modems in addition to Wi-Fi connectivity and the company claims that Tablets will provide up to 3 hours of battery life.

DataWind has also partnered with various companies like Aircel, Yahoo!, Indian Express, Reverie Language Technologies, Get Jar, inMobi, RKS Learning, Intelligia, Pixatel, Poketalk, MyJobs, Blueworld to create an ecosystem for providing content and apps for easy access to the masses.

These Tablets are for educational purpose and for consumers looking for the basic facility of computing. The device is intended for three key functions – wireless Web access, multimedia consumption and routine computing like using word processing/spreads sheets, android apps and playing games.

Then the fact that it is powered by a 800MHz processor (less than what is standard in Tablets these days) and comes with 256MB of RAM (one fourth of what is standard) means that it will be very slow in its functioning.

Earlier, in an interview with Techcircle.in, Tuli said, "Yes, it will be slower than the iPad when you are playing games. But the cost is almost 15 times lower and the price difference matters. If the price tag doesn't bother you; go for an iPad – it's a better brand and more prestigious. But if pricing and good Web access are priorities, Ubislate is the one for you."