On Sunday, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said that an upgraded version of the low-cost Aakash tablet, Aakash 2 will be made available in the market soon.

Reportedly, Aakash 2 will have a faster processor and will provide a longer battery life of approximately 3 hours. The tablet will feature an 800 MHz processor which is a marginal improvement from the predecessor -- which was powered by a small 366 MHz processor. The successor was launched by Kapil Sibal at IIT-B in June.

Adding further,reports have informed that Sibal also mentioned that around 100,000 Aakash 2 tablets will be provided to engineering colleges for distribution to students later this year.

Aakash 2 -- Improvement from Predecessor?

A major improvement in Aakash 2 tablet is that it has a capacitive touchscreen while the previous version featured a normal touchscreen. Aakash 2 will run on the Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system. Further, GPRS connectivity which was absent in Aakash tablet has been incorporated in the new Aakash 2 tablet. External storage capacity would be enhanced from 2 GB to 4 GB. The battery spec too has improved from 2,100mAh to 3,200 mAh, to provide a longer battery life. RAM capacity has not received any modifications and stands at 256 MB.

While, IIT-B was handed over the responsibilities of the first phase of the Aakash 2 tablets after the previous version faced some developmental hiccups.

Kapil Sibal was quoted in a report saying, “We have realized a dream that was germinated a few years ago. We have been able to tell the world that through our frugal innovation system we can conquer the world and that's exactly what we need to do for India as a country." Aakash 2 tablet is expected to cost around Rs. 4,000 and will be made available in the market by later this year.

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