At $45 apiece, Aakash was billed as the world’s cheapest tablet PC, a device that could potentially close the gap between the digital haves and have-nots and transform education in India, when it was launched in October by human resource development (HRD), communications and information technology minister Kapil Sibal.
Some three months later, the HRD ministry is dissatisfied by the first field tests of Aakash and has decided to order fresh trials with an upgraded version of the device and a much larger sample size, two government officials said. In the first trials, students of institutions across the country tested 10,000 of the devices made by Canada-based DataWind Ltd.
In the first trials, which started before the launch and were spread over a six-month period, Aakash was found to be wanting in processor speed, the quality of its touch screen and battery life, among other issues. People involved in the trials said the tablet heated up quickly and was found to be inadequate in performing basic computing functions such as uploading and downloading of data and videos, browsing, among others.
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