It is perhaps because, while Nokia has lost significant market share, it still does reasonably well with lower-end cell phones for emerging markets like India, an area that some of the other cell phone companies tend to ignore. It also helps that Nokia is growing its Lumia family of Windows Phone devices and these are starting to do pretty well in places like India, Russia and parts of Asia. These hit the higher end market, helping to balance Nokia’s portfolio.

To further spur on its success in India, Nokia is even hosting a reality television show there where consumers can present app ideas to a panel of judges. The best ideas are then made into a reality, turning them into real apps for Nokia’s Windows Phone devices. Windows Phone and Nokia may be lagging behind in markets like the United States, but it shows that the Finnish company is able to capitalize on opportunities where it sees them.

[Source]

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You think a bargain-bin ICS tablet for around $75-$120 is a great deal? What about $20 for a tablet? That’s exactly what Datawind is doing exclusively for the Indian market.

The Datwind-made Aakash 2 has a 1GHz processor, 7-inch display, Wi-Fi, Android 4.0 ICS and isn’t that spectacular looking but you can’t complain for $20. How did they get down to such a cheap price? Government subsidizing. The Datawind tablets actually cost $40 to make, but the government is helping cover the cost and then selling the tablets on-the-cheap to students across India.

Having a program to give tablets out to students for educational use is nothing new in India. In the past they’ve done similar things for around the US equivalent of $50 or $60– but this price is crazy low. That being said, getting a tablet like this in another country (without subsidizing) would still cost around $60-$80 in order to make a profit.

Do you think that other countries should adopt a similar policy in order to get technology into the hands of students that couldn’t otherwise afford it?

[ source ]

The post Indian-only Datwind Aakash 2 Tablet Costs Only $20, Thanks to Goverment Subsidizing appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

As expected, Intel’s first Atom-powered Android smartphone, the Lava XOLO X900, has arrived. But the device is a mid-tier one and is just meant for the Indian market, although what is important is that Intel’s inside and the chip maker’s first major push is just the beginning.

Powered by a 1.6GHz Atom Z2460 processor (with Intel’s hyper-threading technology), the XOLO X900 runs Android 2.3, and an OTA Ice Cream Sandwich update is said to be in the works. The HSPA+ 3G phone is coming with a 4.03-inch 1024×600 display, a GPU clocked at 400MHz, and an 8 megapixel camera with 10fps burst mode and 1080p video recording.

The device will be available in India on the 23^rd of this month for 22,000 rupees (about $420), which is an attractive price since the iPhone 4S costs twice as much in the country. But many smartphones are available for Indians at lower price points from handset makers like Samsung and Nokia, so it has to be seen whether they go after the XOLO X900 simply because there’s Intel inside.

This launch on the fast-moving Indian market is just a test for Intel, and the company also intends to launch a slightly more powerful handset in China later this year. We are pretty sure that they will be having talks with bigger handset makers sometime in the future for entering slow moving but lucrative markets of Europe and the US.

[Image Source]

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It may not be coming jam-packed with features as the new iPad which becomes available today for the cost of an arm and leg, and it may not be as thin as the teased stainless steel Archos slate, but it certainly is unbeatable when it comes to its price tag. The ridiculously cheap Aakash 2 tablet, which is the successor to the $35 Aakash tablet designed for the students in India, will be launched in the country in the coming month with a price tag of just $40.

Yes, you heard that right, the device will cost only that much. And although it can never be placed alongside all the high-end tablets out there, it features some better components when compared to its predecessor and is expected to come with improved performance (and don’t forget the $40 price).

The new Aakash will come equipped with a 700MHz Cortex A8 processor, a 3200 mAh battery (promises 3 hours of use), 512 MB of RAM and a 7-inch capacitive touchscreen display (replaces the resistive one). That may not look too great, but the previous Aakash lasts just around 2 hours and its performance was not that awesome either.

Although some are saying that the device will run Android 2.2 Froyo, it might arrive with Gingerbread on board. In case you are new to the OS, ICS is never going to arrive. And support for Android Market, now called the Google Play Store, is also a possibility.

The Indian government wants to see a tablet in the hands of every student in the country within the next five to six years. That’s a mighty big task in a country which is home to over 1.2 billion people. Makers DataWind have promised to bring out 100,000 units, although that’s not going to be nearly enough.

[ source ]

The post Do You Want The New iPad Or The New $40 Aakash Tablet? appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

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.

The post India’s Second Budget Android Tablet Is Just $57 appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

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]

The post India’s $35 Android Tablet Named UbiSlate 7, No Longer Vaporware appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

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

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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

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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]

The post Famed $35 Android tablet from India is actually made in China appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

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]

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