BSNL Penta IS701R Tablet puts check to Aakash & Ubislate

Last year, DataWind in association with the Government of India came out with a 7 inch Android tablet for students. Named Aakash, the tablet costs Rs 2,999 in the market; while it’s subsidized rate is just Rs 2,250.

Aakash, which was hailed as the cheapest tablet in the world, was projected as revolutionary and was talked about the world over. In fact, its makers got lakhs of preorders.

Before the euphoria could die down, though, public sector telecom operator BSNL has come out with an extremely low cost tablet of its own. Manufactured by Noida based Pantel Technologies, the Penta IS701R tablet has WiFi and is priced at Rs 3,499.

Now we have two tablets in the same category - at around Rs 3,000. Here we try to compare the Aakash and BSNL tablets in terms of availability, price, specifications and value additions.

Indian Ipad - Touch Screen Tablet - at just Rs.3000

A sibling of the world's cheapest tablet computer -- the Aakash, launched in India last month -- promises a cheaper, worry-free and therefore travel-friendly alternative for mobile computing. The tablet's "proudly made in India" and the base version (meant for students) was launched on October 5. It was christened the Aakash tablet, after the Hindi word for sky.

London-based DataWind, a leading provider of wireless web access, will make a commercial variant of the Aakash available in India by the end of November. The varient will have a less romantic shelf name of UbiSlate 7. 

UbiSlate 7 costs US$60, or a maximum retail price of Rs 2,999, including all taxes and a 12-month warranty.