Aakash 4 in making !

The Indian government has announced the next edition of the budget tablet, Aakash 4. The government has already finalised on the specifications they would like to have for Aakash 4 tablet. The tablets are aimed mainly at college and school going kids as an affordable option for the students. So far, the government’s experiment with Aakash tablets has been less than heartening. While the tablets came with unsatisfactory specifications and experienced a lot of lag. Looks like the government is taking up the matter and the next edition of the tablets will be high on specifications and features. While previous editions were manufactured by Datawind, the government is looking at some other developers for Aakash 4 tablet. The government is open to collaborating with multiple vendors and manufacturers for the next edition. This time around, a few basic specifications have been laid down which must be adhered to. While ease of playing 720ftp videos and a stronger chip processor are some of the main demands, the government also wants the tablet to come with a 7-inch screen and be touch-compatible upto 5 fingers. The Aakash 4 tablet will mostly have 1 GB RAM and 4 GB internal memory which can be expanded using a MicroSD card slot.The tablet is expected to run on Android Jelly Bean v 4.2 and the government has set a benchmark of 1469 Antutu points for the tablet. While most of the specifications sound less than stellar, they are much better than previous editions of the tablet. Also, priced at somewhere around Rs 3k, the Aakash 4 tablet might feature better specifications. The specs mentioned on the site are the bare requirements and companies providing better specifications will definitely be welcome.According to the public notice issued by the government, “A Sub-Committee comprising of technical experts has prepared the proposed vendor neutral Technical Specifications of Aakash IV. These specifications have been developed with a view to have a device at a low cost. The proposed Specifications of Aakash IV are as under. All interested stakeholders may examine the proposed specifications and provide their comments especially from the point of vendor neutrality, usability and functionality.” While it all sounds great on paper, the actual project is still some months away and it might be a little too less when the Aakash 4 tab finally hits markets. The government needs to strongly pull up their socks and Datawind or not, provide the masses with a tablet that is worth the price. The next model of low-cost tablet under Aakash project will possess calling facility and high speed 4G services support, as per specifications released by government.The specifications released by government suggest it will have "Driver for Phone Functionality with external dongle" and support "Data functionality with external 2G or 3G or 4G dongle".The Aakash project was Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal's brainchild when he was the HRD Minister.The idea is to provide low-cost computing device at subsidised rate to students so that they can access Internet for educational purposes.The first version of the tablet was launched on October 5, 2011. The tablet PC then launched had basic feature and costed government around Rs 2,276. Government later upgraded the tablet with some advance features at the same price.The latest version will have multiple new features but the the final price of the tablet has not been disclosed.The new version of the tablet will have Bluetooth in-built which was missing in the previous versions.According to the proposed specifications, Aakash 4 will have a 7-inch screen with a minimum resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. To make sure that the screen has decent touch sensitivity, government wants manufacturers to use panels with at least 5 touch points. "LCD brightness should be a minimum of 290 cd/m2, and its contrast ratio should be a minimum of 500," states the note. The government also says that it wants Aakash 4 to have support for external USB storage devices, keyboard, mouse, popular 3G/4G data dongles, USB to ethernet adapters and USB printers. The original Aakash tablets were plagued by poor screen and very poor performance. Aakash 2was slightly better but was not good enough for daily use in schools and colleges.