as expected. the akash 'tablet' is a dud. thanks, mr zero loss.

oct 15th, 2011 CE

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15302663

ok, i don't trust the bbc, but this confirms what i thought would be the case:

1. resistive, ie. stylus-based screen

2. underpowered cpu and memory

3. seriously sucky battery

4. poor user interface

5. poor build quality

i am unpleasantly surprised by:

1. the lack of android market availability. that sounds brain-dead. its like the stalinists are saying. why on earth would you want to use all the pad-friendly android apps out there (100,000 of them)? i wonder if there will be sarkari ads instead broadcast to this thing. like 'rajiv gandhi birthday celebrations every day of the year'. 

i am pleasantly surprised by:

1. the 2 USB slots. i believe (from their website) that these will take the 3g dongles that are popular in india

2. the built-in 2G GPRS connection (according to their website) at rs. 98 a month for 1 GB (who is the carrier?)

maybe i shouldn't be so sceptical. maybe the second version of this will be actually usable. 

on second thoughts, naah. this is the from the stalinists. they don't *want* information to get out to the common man.