Better, faster Aakash-II to come in April: Government

After fighting criticism coming in from most quarters over the poor performance of the Aakash tablet, both in terms of its build quality and usability, the government today revealed that a better version of the tablet is expected to come out in April, this year. HRD Minister, Kapil Sibal who has been the force behind the entire project was quoted as saying, "In order to cater to the huge demand, we need several manufacturers to manufacture Aakash. We are enhancing the specifications on the basis of feedback we have received from the first version of Aakash. So we want to make sure that the upgraded product caters to the need of the customers… We have involved ITI in order to upgrade it… We will be able to bring in Aakash-II by April." Better one coming up in April Being referred to as the Aakash-II at the moment, the new tablet hopes to fill the gaps left gaping open by its predecessor - the Aakash tablet; and offer a better, and a faster experience. The Aakash tablet, ever since it launched has been finding itself facing both appreciation and criticism. Last week, it came into the limelight, once again when news about its poor performance began doing rounds. It was even being believed that the government may just discontinue the tablet, if the trend continued. This was further fueled when reports about Datawind refusing to carry out certain IIT-certified tests on the Aakash tablet.  Speaking of the idea behind a better Aakash, Sibal stated, "When we launched the Aakash first version, we did not know the feedback… We distributed to several students in order to get the feedback. With that feedback, we are now enhancing the specifications." PTI