Thanks to the runaway success of the original model, called Aakash, a much beefier 7-inch second model of the UbiSlate 7, has now been announced.

The UbiSlate 7 touts the following specs:

• Android 2.3
• 7-inch touchscreen with 800×480 resolution
• Cortex A8 700 MHz Processor
• 3 hours battery life
• Wifi and GPRS
• HD Video playback
• one USB 2.0 port
• 256MB of RAM
• 2GB Internal Storage
• MicroSD slot for memory expansion

While these specifications aren’t exactly what some of us would call impressive, the price point of $57 US dollars certainly is. This model is actually $10 more expensive than the original, but features much improved specifications particularly in processing department (the original had a measly 336MHz Arm11 processor).

The device is expected to hit the markets in India in January, with DataWind planning to produce roughly 1,000 units per day.

We first heard of India releasing the “cheapest tablet in the world” over 1 year ago. Since that time we didn’t hear much more and we questioned its legitimacy. Is a $35 tablet really what the world needs? Perhaps, since India’s Ministry of Human Resource and Development has released some renderings and a notification list for the low cost tablet. It will be sold to students across the country for a mere $35, with regular users being able to pick one up for $60.

The UbiSlate 7 runs on Android 2.2 Froyo and comes with a 7-inch 800×480 multi-touch touchscreen, Wi-Fi, GPRS modem, two USB ports and a 3.5 mm jack. The tablet uses a 366 MHz CPU. HD video processor and 256 MB or DDR2 memory, a proof of the budget cuts that were made to accommodate such a cheap device.

There are a few apps pre-installed like the UbiSurfer browser and a YouTube App, Android Market access must be available since the companies website offers 150,000 apps.

While iPads and other similar tablets are too expensive for most of India’s population, cutting quality in such measures for a cheap product isn’t always the best route. The UbiSlate 7 is slated for release in November 2011.

[Aakash Tablet]

I’d take said claims with a massive bucket of saffron, but what you see here is the M-67 3D from Spice Mobility in India. It sells for Rs 4,299, which works out to less than $100, and that’s without a contract of any kind. It doesn’t have a touchscreen, but the 2.36-inch display is said to offer 3D capabilities.

More specifically, that QVGA-resolution screen is accompanied by a dedicated 3D shortcut key. This swaps between 2D and 3D viewing modes, not only for the UI, but also for pictures and video. There’s also a 2MP camera in back, but it’s a dual-wielding 3D camera pair. And yes, it rocks dual-SIMs too. The phone itself looks kind of like an older Sony Ericsson to me, but I’d imagine the 3D-ness will ultimately leave you reaching for something else in the distance.

SOURCE: Engadget via Spice Mobility

This could very well represent the tipping point for the folks in Cupertino, because India is one massive market and they could really tap into some huge profits by offering a CDMA iPhone for Indian subscribers. Both Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices use CDMA for their networks, and they want the iPhone. If this is indeed the case and Apple goes ahead with a new relationship with these two carriers, it would bode very well with the oft-rumored Verizon iPhone. Yes, I realize that Verizon has nothing to do with Tata, but just having a CDMA iPhone produced would make the transition a heck of a lot easier.

Then again, I’m hearing rumors of a dual-mode CDMA/GSM iPhone as the next-generation offering. If that’s the case, the manufacturing process could be even easier for Apple. Make one SKU (or multiple, I suppose, given the different memory capacities) and let the world battle it out.

SOURCE: WSJ

The so-called Indian tablet has been making its rounds through the Internet, everyone was impressed with its super-low $35 price point; unfortunately, it’s not an original device. Instead, it looks to be a slightly rebranded version of the Hivision Speedpad.  The Chinese company first showed off its version of the tablet at CeBIT earlier this year, saying that they’d be able to sell the Android device for about $100. The “Indian tablet” undercuts the price even further, but you can see that it’s the same device. The button layout is exactly the same and everything.

This debunks the claim by the Indian government that this miraculous device came about via “some of India’s top engineering colleges.” Go ahead and look for yourself: The Indian device is on the left and the Chinese one is on the right. They’re the same, right?

[Androids.in via Crunchgear]

These two handsets mark the first time that Nokia has dabbled in the dual-SIM game, giving consumers the ability to effectively have two different phone numbers within a single device. The C1-00 and C2 are both low-end and they’re being offered to India only for the time being.

The Nokia C1-00 lists at 1,999 INR (about $42) is the cheaper of the two. It has two SIM card slots, but only one is operational at any time. You switch between the two by holding a key.

The Nokia C2 is a little more costly at 2,500 INR (about $54), but it allows you to have both SIM cards working at the same time. Other features include S40, GPRS data, Nokia Life Tools, stereo FM with recording, VGA camera, and microSD slot.

Nokia launches dual-SIM phones [Times of India]

A Russian spy Photo: Newscom/file

Despite just announcing a new phone, it seems that Research in Motion is going into a world of hurt. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia have already said that the BlackBerry service represents a security risk, and now Lebanon, India and Indonesia are joining in on the anti-Berry party.

They’re saying that BlackBerry can be a risk because of its potential use for militant forces, terrorists, and other similar persons bent on our destruction. Because the government has no way of monitoring these services, due to RIM’s high level of security, BlackBerry services are almost a safe haven for criminals.

Lebanon hasn’t formally banned BlackBerry just yet, but they are “studying the issue from all sides” and they’re “discussing this with the concerned administrations and ministries.” Shutting down the enterprise level security in these countries isn’t really an option for RIM, since the corporations that work there rely on its reliability and security.

The United Arab Emirates asserts that with the encryption, the BlackBerry violates the telecommunications regulations of the United Arab Emirates and will block key BB services starting October 11th.

Saudia Arabia plans to turn off the BlackBerry juice as of today. Lebanon announced yesterday that the BB system will have to be assessed in the name of national security.

This is a bit ridiculous, having a company chastised because of their system being too secure.  If its insecure everyone complains about its vulnerabilities, now if its too secure the governments complain because they cannot spy or “monitor terrorists”.  I’m afraid I have to side with RIM on this one.  Will this still allow government employees of said countries to use the security benefits of the BlackBerry, just not its citizens?

India would like a communications center setup for BlackBerry network monitoring or interception of messages.  We will have to see how this all pans out, but there are a lot of upset countries out there, and even a bigger upset company.  “If they can’t deal with the Internet, they should shut it off.”  RIM’s co-CEO Michael Lazaridis told The Wall Street Journal.

“This is about the Internet,” Lazaridis told the Journal. “Everything on the Internet is encrypted. This is not a BlackBerry-only issue. If they can’t deal with the Internet, they should shut it off.”

And after all this, the U.S. and Canadian governments are stepping in.

“There are issues attached to freedom of information, the flow of information, the use of technology. We are in touch with these governments,” P J Crowley, the U.S. State Department spokesman told reporters at a daily news briefing this morning.

After the Indian government asked RIM to allow them to monitor the Blackberry services, Crowley responded.  “We’re going to try to understand what their concerns are, the nature of the ongoing negotiations that they have with this particular company. And then you’ve touched on that there are number of countries that are in the midst of these negotiations and we’ll see what the implications are.”

“So it is not about any one device. It’s not about any one network. We’re trying to see how we can make these technologies more broadly available and they can be utilized in a variety of different ways to help build institutions, accountability, and other trends in key countries,” Crowley added.

“Canada has been working closely with the officials at Research In Motion as well as with governments on the ground to assist them in dealing with these challenges,” Trade Minister Peter Van Loan told reporters in Ottawa this morning.

RIM’s BlackBerry messenger is the only smartphone messaging system whose traffic is soley managed by the company.

With RIM’s Lazaridis denying any third party access to monitor communications running through BlackBerry enterprise servers, it’s going to be interesting to see how it all pans out.

Update: The Saudi Arabian government has turned off the BlackBerry data services for 700,000 Saudi’s. This shutdown occurred at 4AM EST today. RIM housing a data center in Saudi Arabia would allow the service to be activated, right now all data is routed to the Canadian data center. [Bangkok Post]

Additional reporting by Fabrizio Pilato

The WSJ, Yahoo

Part of this has to do with its supposed “efforts to fight terrorism,” but I think this has more to do with the “lobbying by Nokia” and other handset makers who are tired of seeing the fake Chinese knockoffs bite into the sales of legitimate phones. We don’t want to see another Mokia, BlueBerry, or uPhone, right?

This is not only to protect the sales of the “real” phones, but the Indian Cellular Association (ICA) is saying that some of the phones coming from China come with faulty batteries and these can blow up on users. That’s a major safety hazard.

Further still, the phones may not come with a IMEI number, so they become much more difficult to track. That’s where the “fight terrorism” part of the equation comes into play. It is estimated that between one million and 1.5 million Chinese knockoff handsets are imported into India each month.

Talk about Clone Wars, eh?

Source: Intomobile