SAKSHAT--THE INDIAN I-PAD

REMEMBER THE  Rs. 1500 Indian laptop? The one that got the world making fun of India in general and me never having faith in Kapil Sibal again?

The one that actually turned out to be an expensive storage device, and then somehow metamorphosed into a tablet?

It's being announced that the "Sakshat" (which sounds conspicuously dirty in Americanese), the $35 tablet codenamed 'Sakshat' is expected to launch by the end of this month.

     

While the Indian media is huffing up the desi-pride angle with talks of "Indian-iPad". there's very little for a complete tablet experience. And there's nothing desi about it; the tablet is made by Canadian firm Datawind Ltd.
The7-inch touchscreen tablet features a inbuilt keyboard, video conferencing facility, multimedia content, Wi-Fi, USB port, 32GB hard drive and a 2GB RAM. There's support for Open Office, SciLab and Internet browsing.

However, this means nothing for the aam-aadmi it was intended for, but there is a desi crop of real tablets worth checking out.
10,000 Sakshat tablets will be shipped to IIT Rajasthan by June-end, following by the launch of over 90,000 tablet units in the next 4 months.

Sakshat: Other Specifications

QWERTY keyboard, mouse and a minimum display of 7” colour LCD/TFT (touchscreen optional)
2 USB 2.0 ports and USB hosts
three hours
batteryless device
SD card slot (8GB expandable memory)
Support to connect LCD projector
Support for external hard disk drive (Minimum 32 GB)
Ethernet port
WLAN
80% shock resistant

While the tablets will be priced at Rs 2,200, there are reports of plans for later subsidies of 50%. The 1500 Rupee tablet might go for Rs. 1100, and has been developed as a part of the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology to bring together 25,000 colleges and 400 universities in the Asian subcontinent in an e-learning initiative.