The Aakash Tablet is The World's Cheapest – only $35!

Most of us now know about Amazon's brand new tablet computer, the Kindle Fire, which, with its $199 pricetag and unique design, will give Apple's iPad a run for its money, apparently. But what about those that cannot afford such a fancy tablet? Enter the Aakash. With a very low price yet a very functional feature set, this new tablet is set to be launched in India so that even the poor can get on the internet.

The 7” Aakash (“air” in Hindi) is co-produced by UK-based company called DataWind, and contains a 660Mhz CPU from Conexant Systems, 256MB of RAM, a MicroSD card slot (fitted with a 2GB card initially, and with support for up to a 32GB card), two USB ports, a webcam, WiFi connectivity, and the ubiquitous Google Android operating system, though only version 2.2. The touchscreen is also a resistive design, so there is no multi-touch support.

100,000 of the tablets are slated to be given out to students for free by the government, with 500 receiving their devices at launch. Reception has been mixed, with users commenting on sluggish performance and a not-very-accurate touchscreen, but all in all, for the price, the device seems to work pretty well.

A new version of the Aakash tablet, dubbed the Ubislate, will offer cellular broadband support for internet access anywhere as long as a cell tower is in range. It's slated for a launch in December of this year; the device will also be able to function as a cellphone.

(Via Canoe)