Aakash 2 ICS tablet now available for as little as $25 in India

Aakash 2 ICS tablet now available for as little as $25 in India

Following the release of the original Aakash tablet more than a year ago, UK-based Datawind hope to continue to make the cheapest tablet around with the Aakash 2.

The new tablet will run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich right out of box (a step up from the Froyo-based Aakash), and can be had for as little as $25 thanks to government subsidies which are imposed in India.

The original Aakash tablet did not impress many largely in part due to its low battery life (2-3 hours), and almost comically slow 366 mHz processor.

This time around, it seems that Datawind are hoping to avoid the you-get-what-you-pay-for stigma of the original, beefing up the processor to a 1Ghz Cortex-A8 and doubling the RAM to 512 MB. The 7-inch screen will feature a display resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, and you get 4 GB of internal storage as well as microSD support for up to 32 GB expansion. The battery performance again leaves something to be desired, as it’s rated for about 4 hours, but the Aakash 2 will also feature a front-facing VGA camera.

All-in-all, it’s a fairly impressive package for the price.

The Aakash 2 is available starting today in India.

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Facebook-centered INQ Cloud Touch droid on sale now in the UK

Facebook-centered INQ Cloud Touch droid on sale now in the UK, 300 pounds seems pricey

The INQ Cloud Touch phone is on sale in the UK earlier than expected (it was slated for Q3), with some better specs but not quite the bargain price we originally saw. This Facebook-loving Android is coming out just in time – before the similar offerings from HTC get out (the Salsa and the ChaCha).

The INQ Cloud Touch is available right now from The Carphone Warehouse… for £300 SIM-free (which is $490, or a whole of a lot pricier than the $250 we heard originally) or for £18 a month with a 24 month contract (and the phone is free).

Contracts are available for Talk Mobile (theirs is the cheapest with unlimited Internet), O2, Vodafone and 3 UK.

Here’s a quick overview of what you get for your money – a 3.5” HVGA screen, 800MHz CPU (instead of 600MHz like originally announced), 512MB RAM, Android 2.2 Froyo, 4GB microSD card pre-installed, 5MP camera and other goodies.

And of course, there’s the custom user interface – the INQ Cloud Touch comes with deep integration to Facebook.

The INQ Cloud Touch has marginally better specs than the HTC Salsa (the faster CPU mainly, but it runs an older version of Android). However, it lacks the brand recognition that HTC has built up. Got you interested?

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