An upgraded Aakash tablet to hit India in April 2012

Aakash, the world’s cheapest tablet, will officially be getting a successor, dubbed Aakash 2, in April of this year. According to a report from The Hindu, the news was confirmed by India’s Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal this past Wednesday. In addition, the commercial version of this inexpensive slate, called Ubislate 7+, will supposedly sell for approximately $60.

DataWind, the London-headquartered manufacturer of the $40 Aakash 2, claims the device will be powered by a single-core ARM Cortex A8 central processing unit with a clock frequency of 700MHz (much better than the 366MHz CPU found in the first Aakash) and an HD Video Co-Processor. Furthermore, the new slate will be equipped with a 7-inch capacitive touchscreen display that has a maximum supported resolution of 800-by-480 pixels.

The tablet will also incorporate 256MB of RAM and 2GB of internal flash storage, which can be expanded by up to 32GB. Other features of the next-generation Aakash slate PC include an Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system, two standard USB 2.0 ports, a 3.5mm audio jack and a 3200mAh battery that has an autonomy period of up to 3 hours. In terms of connectivity, Indian students will be provided with a Wireless LAN 802.11 a/b/g module for keeping in touch with friends and family.

It has also been revealed that DataWind lacks the “capacity to manufacture the required number of tablets” and will be partnering up with other electronics makers in order to carry out the task successfully.

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