What's Sakshat you may ask? It's a $35 tablet device from the Indian government, that's what. Don't check you're clock it's not April, you haven't slept for seven months. Don't post abusive comments about writers getting numbers wrong. No one else could believe it either, even when a working prototype was displayed on a gadget show.
But, apparently, the Indian Human Resource Development ministry has announced a launch date for the Sakshat of January 11th (2011) there was no confirmation of price alongside the launch date but it is assumed there will be no changes by January, Kapil Sibal (head of HRD) has said many times that the tablet will be priced at $35 and that the price would only go lower in the future.
The Indian government set out to create the budget pad in order to bring computer and internet use to those who would not normally have it, I.e. bridge the digital divide, so it can only be a good thing even if they will probably blow up and melt within a few weeks of use.
There may be a mass eating of hats next year as experts who have rubbished the device may be left red faced. One of the main areas of concern surrounding the pad was that no manufacturer would come forward and help mass produce the device. However, that problem has been solved thanks to HCL which has tied up with the ministry to manufacture the Sakshat.
The Sakshat designed for university and college students will run on Android and is set to be surprisingly feature packed for its price with Android allowing full HTML internet browsing and support for flash. It is said to be arriving in three different screen sizes of 5-inches, 7-inches and 9-inches with connectivity options including Wi-Fi, a USB port, and 2GB of on-board storage.
Let's wait and see what happens next year but it will be big news for India and the gadget world as a whole if they pull it off. Hell, at $35 I wouldn't mind one.
What do you think? Do you prophesize Indian doom or do you think HCL can pull it off?
Source: techtree
2 thoughts on “Sakshat the $35 Android Pad to be released in January”
i just can’t freakin wait! and oh Im a bangladeshi, so will I be able to use it? or is it just india?
yes absolutely.. hcl will pull it off.. i used to work for them and i have never known them to fail. ever. They will do whatever it takes to reach the milestones.