Datawind UbiSlate 7Ci (Aakash 2)

Abhijit Ahaskar & Rahul Kumar

The “world's cheapest tablet” is back, with smarter looks and features. Where the earlier one felt raw, this version looks more like a finished product: thinner, lighter, and perhaps a little more sturdy.

The 7” screen is now capacitive multi-touch (800x480), with better response and brighter looks. With Android 4.0, the icons are big and easy to touch and swipe. Web pages can be viewed up close, with pinch and zoom support. All of this was absent in the first avatar of the Aakash.

Placed alongside the older UbiSlate 7+ or the Aakash 1, the difference is stark. The 7Ci is half the thickness, and weighs 286 grams against the former's 398 grams.

The Aakash 2 will sell to college students at a subsidized Rs 1,130 ($23). The equivalent UbiSlate 7Ci sells commercially for Rs 4,499.

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Price: 4,499

Pros: Price, usable speed and performance, capacitive multi-touch display, light and compact.3-hour battery.

Cons: VGA camera. No 3G (the 7C+, at Rs 4,799 has GPRS). Supply (availability) issues.

Specs: Android 4.0 ICS, 1 GHz processor, 512 MB RAM, 4 GB flash, expandable to 32 GB with micro-SD, mini-USB, Wi-Fi, 7” capacitive touch (800x480), 286 g

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Improved performance, features

Memory and storage have been doubled to 512 MB and 4 GB respectively. There's USB 2.0 (through a mini-USB slot), and a micro-SD slot for memory cards up to 32 GB. The original Aakash had two primitive, full-size USB slots; the UbiSlate 7+ had one; this one, smartly, has none. There's Wi-Fi of course; the higher-end UbiSlate 7C+ adds GPRS, but we haven't seen that model yet.

The OS is Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich). You can buy Android apps via the rupee-priced Google Play app-store (formerly called Android Market). This is a good move up from the very limited and mainly phone-apps GetJar store that was available on this device's predecessor.

The front-facing camera is terrible for still photos, but it's what you'd expect from a cheap VGA camera: adequate for video chat in good ambient light. Sound is good with headphones, and just about adequate on the built-in speaker.

Performance: adequate for the price

The processor upgrade (from 366 MHz ARM to 1 GHz Cortex A8) is an improvement, and together with the capacitive touch makes the display quite responsive. We measured its boot-up time at 46 seconds, which is isn't bad for this class.

Application performance is a bit lower than other budget tablets we've tested: but then this device is cheaper than all those other budget tablets, even at its full commercial, un-subsidized price.

We conducted three benchmarks to test performance. In An3Dbench and An3Dbench XL, for measuring graphics and animation capability, it scored 6,482 and 20,543 respectively, which is a bit lower than other budget tablets we have tested. For instance, the Zen A100 Ultratab (Rs 5,999) scored 6,585 and 20,806 respectively.

Browsing is slow. In Qualcomms' Vellamo Mobile Web BenchMark, which tests browsing efficiency, the UbiSlate 7Ci scored a low 614 (the Zen A100 had scored 729; the $199 Nexus 7 scores around 1,300). If you try to multitask with multimedia, such as running several apps in the background while viewing YouTube videos, well, it freezes up. But that's fair enough; you won't do much multitasking with this device.

Good overall package

The Aakash 2 / UbiSlate 7Ci is still the cheapest tablet around, at Rs 4.5k. It won't hold up against Apple or Samsung tablets five times its price. But in its class, it's a good overall package for a student, or anyone looking at additional devices in the house. What it doesn't do is work for a business user on the go.

Battery life of up to 4 hours on the 3Ah is a welcome change from the 2 hours on the older 2Ah battery.battery) is quite a limitation. Especially for the intended student audience. Let's hope those colleges put in desktop power outlets soon. We could have lived with the earlier thickness and higher weight, if it had meant a 6 to 8 hour battery.

DataWind sells four variants of the UbiSlate. The lowest two, the 7Ri and 7R+, use a resistive screen and we do not recommend those. We tested the 7Ci. Then there's the top-end one, the 7C+, which adds GPRS access: highly recommended, if you want to use it on the go (within the limitations of its 3-hour battery life). We haven't tested that model, though, and do not know about its availability.

The Aakash 2 is a good overall package for a student, or anyone looking at additional devices in the house. What it doesn't do is work for a business user on the go.