Aakash 2 hands-on: the $40 educational slate with revolution on its mind
Efforts to put cheap computers in the hands of students have always hit major stumbling blocks. Most notably price. The OLPC project had noble goals, but ultimately ended up well above its target price of $100. The Classmate was more of a “me too” product than anything truly revolutionary. What started as India’s effort to launch a $10 laptop, slowly mutated into a $35 tablet that, even then, struggled in its initial incarnation. What ultimately became known as the Aakash was painfully underpowered and had carried a cost almost double its $35 target. With the second version DataWind is hoping to make good on the promise of an ultra-affordable tablet that can actually be used by students and educators. CEO of the company Suneet Tuli swung by our offices with the Ubuslate 7Ci, the commercial version of the Aakash 2, to give us a chance to put the device through its paces and talk about the transformative power of education.
Gallery: Aakash 2 hands-on
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Gigabyte intros S1081 Windows slate and T1006M netvertible, both packing Cedar Trail
Intel told us to expect next-gen netbooks from a throng of manufacturers, but for some reason it forgot to mention little ol’ Gigabyte. Perhaps that’s why the Taiwanese manufacturer is being slightly standoffish when it comes to detailing its two new 10-inch slates, which both run on unspecified variants of Cedar Trail and have equally unknown launch dates and prices. What we do know is that the T1006M is a convertible tablet that sports 1366 x 768 densely packed pixels, a USB 3.0 port and what appears to be an optional 3.5G modem — specs that are already familiar from our recent encounter at the FCC. Next comes the S1081, which is a straightforward Windows 7 business slate like its $680 predecessor and comes with a choice of HDD or SSD storage, an optical trackpad for extra “precision,” USB 3.0, VGA and HDMI outputs, plus the same optional multimedia dock. Rest assured that we’ll track these newcomers down on the CES floor to fill in the blanks and judge how well they stand out, now that the quiet trail has become a highway. Until then, feel free to read on for the press release — which also reveals that the Booktop T1132, Booktop M2432 and P2532 gaming notebook are all heading to the US market.
Gigabyte intros S1081 Windows slate and T1006M netvertible, both packing Cedar Trail originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Jan 2012 03:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Vizio’s VTAB1008 tablet hits the FCC: your $349 slate now one step closer to shipping
Vizio hasn’t had much to say about its tablet plans since it entered the fray at CES in January, but it looks like things are now starting to pick up again, and fast. We just got wind a listing for a Vizio VTAB1008 tablet priced at just $349 in Walmart’s system earlier this week, and now that same device has passed through the FCC — which, if you place the two together, could well indicate that a launch may finally be imminent. Unfortunately, the FCC listing doesn’t provide much in the way of details beyond the crude outline above and some expected specs (WiFi, Bluetooth and HDMI), but the agency has only been asked to hold back the confidential parts of the filing until August 30th, so we should at least know more by then at the latest.
Vizio’s VTAB1008 tablet hits the FCC: your $349 slate now one step closer to shipping originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Jun 2011 18:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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HP Slate beginning to ship?
We’ve got word from one loyal reader that his HP Slate is en route from Shanghai, and he even provided us PDF proof of that fact, just to quell any doubts. We’re not sure if that’s some little slip on HP and FedEx’s part, or a sign of larger things to come (be sure to let us know in the comments if you’ve received similar notice), but for now all we know is that something enterprisey is scheduled to show up on one Dave P.’s doorstep on December 6th. Godspeed, dear tablet. Godspeed.
[Thanks, Dave P.]
HP Slate beginning to ship? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 19:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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