It seemed like a bit of a stretch from the beginning, but it looks like India’s
$35 Android tablet is intent on proving the skeptics wrong — the Indian government has just announced that it’s awarded the manufacturing contract to HCL Technologies (makers of the once
world’s cheapest laptop), and that the first batch of tablets are slated to be available by January 10th. That initial run will reportedly only include the 7-inch model that we’ve been seeing all along, but there’s also apparently 5-inch and 9-inch versions planned for launch at a later date. We also presume that the tablet is still hanging onto that $35 price tag (for university students, at least), but that key detail is curiously absent from this latest announcement.
India’s $35 Android tablet reportedly on track for January launch originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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It was facing an August 31st deadline before India banned BlackBerry service in the country, but it looks like RIM has now managed to avoid that scenario — at least for a little while. According to India’s Ministry of Home Affairs, “RIM have made certain proposals for lawful access by law enforcement agencies and these would be operationalized immediately,” and that “the feasibility of the solutions offered would be assessed thereafter.” Details are still a bit light beyond that, but India’s assessment will apparently come after 60 days, and there’s still no guarantee that we won’t end up back at square one at that point. Interestingly, India is also still raising complaints about Gmail and Skype, with it now saying that it wants Google and Skype to set up servers in the country that would give it greater monitoring capabilities.
RIM averts BlackBerry ban in India… for now originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Another contender has entered the fray in the great tablet wars of 2010. It’s the $500 Olive Telecom OlivePad, a seven-inch, 800 x 480 capacitive touchscreened device. Announced back in July, Indian television show TechGuru snagged one for review a few weeks back where they, predictably, squared it off against an iPad. The Android 2.1 device looks nice enough, but, according to the translation recently provided by Netbooknews, doesn’t compare to Apple’s device in terms of visual appeal. It is, at least, a licensed version of Android, with access to the Market and the standard Google apps, all of which look to run very well on its 600MHz ARM CPU. 512MB of internal memory is paired with 512MB of ROM, naturally with microSD expansion. There is also a three megapixel camera on the back and a SIM slot not only providing wireless data but also enabling phone calls — though we’d advise taking advantage of the device’s Bluetooth capabilities to avoid holding this chubby slate to your head. The full video is available for you after the break, but don’t blame us if you only understand every third or fourth word.
Update: We’re a little overwhelmed by the responses we’ve received from this post, lots of readers offering to provide a full translation. Savvy was kind enough to provide a closed-caption subtitled version of the video, which we’ve placed below (click through to YouTube to turn on the subtitles). And Sasha Chhabra e-mailed us a full transcription of the entire segment, which we’re also including below. You guys rock!
Continue reading Olive Telecom’s OlivePad reviewed, we wish we spoke Hindi (video)
Olive Telecom’s OlivePad reviewed, we wish we spoke Hindi (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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