IIT Bombay is working hard to equip the Aakash 3, the next gen Aakash
tablet, with new and improved features such as open source OS, faster
processor, more preloaded apps, advanced memory and a SIM card slot.
The Aakash 3, the next generation of
India's ultra low-cost Aakash tablet, will come with a range of new and
exciting features with an unchanged price. According to reports,
researchers and professors at IIT Bombay are working hard to add newer
applications and more open source software to the third-gen Aakash
tablet .
The Aakash 3 will come with a faster
processor, which will support both Linux and Android operating systems.
The device may come with a SIM card slot, allowing people to use the
device as a communication device.
Researchers are also focussing on making
the device 'as indigenous as possible' and get support from multiple
vendors. Tenders for the Aakash 3 will be floated in February 2013 and
the plans are to roll out 50 lakh units of the tablet in the next phase.
"Our aim is to imbibe the usage of
tablets in the education system and create an ecosystem for this. We
have distributed Aakash tablets to 250 colleges across the country and
asked them to come up with newer ways to use the device," Deepak B
Phatak, committee member and a professor in IIT- Bombay's Department of
Computer Science and Engineering is quoted as saying.
In an interview with Digit, DataWind CEO
Suneet Singh Tuli had hinted that the next generation of the Aakash
would include GPRS and/or even 3G functionality and may look at 9-inch
and 14-inch form factors.
The government recently unveiled the Aakash 2,
developed by IIT-Bombay along with C-DAC. The device was also unveiled
at the United Nations last month.
Source: Times of India