Reader's take: Top 5 alternatives to Aakash tablet PC

Get Ahead reader Maninder Pal Singh offers five alternatives to the much-touted and now almost-flopped Aakash tablet PC.

An electrical engineer by education and a computer software engineer by profession, has more than 17 years of professional experience working in major IT MNCs. Currently, maninder is a full-time blogger and owns Hacktik.com.

Aakash tablet was launched as World's cheapest ever tablet. It still is. But practically speaking, how many of you have actually been able to receive it after you booked it.

As per the latest media report, only 350+ students have been able to get it so far whereas number of people who have booked it is in lakhs. I think, many of you must have already started exploring alternative options. While exploring the alternatives to Aakash tablet, cost is the foremost factor to be kept in mind.

It is because, Aakash tablet was targetted for people with poor economic background -- the ones who can not afford a usual PC. However, while discussing about alternatives to Aakash tablet, we will consider tablets which are priced a bit higher than Aakash but still are very pocket friendly.

1. WishTel's Ira

WishTel is the company which lost the bid to DataWind (Aakash's manufacturing company) for supplying the low cost tablets to government of India. Speculations are if contract of DataWind with the government of India is not extended, then WishTel could be next in line to join hands to supply low cost tablet PCs to Indian students.

WishTel's Ira is also an Android tablet with 7-inch touch screen. It supports external 3G data card and has an inbuilt Wi-Fi.

You can do almost everything you would like to do with this tablet PC -- browse web, listen to music, watch videos, chat etc. The price tag varies between Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,500 depending upon the model one chooses.

Also read: Top 25 most searched phones in India

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2. Magnum Pepper M74V

Magnum Pepper M74V tablet is manufactured by a Bangalore based company named Lakshmi Access Communication System.

Before Aakash was launched, Magnum Pepper M74V was supposed to be the lowest-priced commercial tablet. The tablet runs on Android 2.2 OS and has 800 MHz processor.

It also supports 3G and Wi-Fi. With price tag of Rs 6,200, Magnum Pepper M74V can be considered as a good alternative to the Aakash tablet.

Also read: 5 GORGEOUS alternatives to the iPhone's Retina Display

Are you a gadget/gaming wizard/afficianado? Would you like to write on gadgets, gaming, the Internet, software technologies, OSs and the works for us? Send us a sample of your writing to gadgetsandgaming@rediffmail.com with the subject as 'I'm a tech wizard/afficianado' and we will get in touch with you.

3. Micromax Funbook

Recently launched, MicroMax Funbook priced approximately Rs 6,499 is a fully loaded educational tablet PC.

Tablet comes with an inbuilt e-learning apps which enables students to access the education and learning content. You can access more than 500 courses for class I to advanced degree courses as well as preparation material for medical, engineering and MBA courses.

Technically, tablet has 1.2 GHz Cortex A8 processor and Android 4.0 (Ice-Cream Sandwich) OS.

Also read: Top 5 Wi-Fi enabled phones under Rs 5,000

Are you a gadget/gaming wizard/afficianado? Would you like to write on gadgets, gaming, the Internet, software technologies, OSs and the works for us? Send us a sample of your writing to gadgetsandgaming@rediffmail.com with the subject as 'I'm a tech wizard/afficianado' and we will get in touch with you.

4. Wespro ePad

Wespro is a Network18 group company which manufactures ePad. The tablet has a RAM of 256 MB and 3G enabled.

Tablet's 8-inch touchscreen supports two-point touching, zoom in or out for images and webpages.

Running on Google Android 2.2 OS with 800 MHz processor, tablet is priced at Rs 6,999.

Also read: 10 must-have apps for Indian smartphone users

Are you a gadget/gaming wizard/afficianado? Would you like to write on gadgets, gaming, the Internet, software technologies, OSs and the works for us? Send us a sample of your writing to gadgetsandgaming@rediffmail.com with the subject as 'I'm a tech wizard/afficianado' and we will get in touch with you.

5. iBerry BT07i

If you spend lots of time watching videos and movies, then iBerry's BT07i is the tablet for you.

It allows you to enjoy Full HD 1080p movies either on tablet itself or you can connect it to TV via HDMI port.

Tablet's specs include Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread OS, ARM Cortex A8 @ 1.0GHz processor and 512 MB RAM.

It's a great tablet for all the gaming fans as it has 3D graphics OpenGL ES 2.0 and motion sensor support. With the price tag of Rs 7,999, the tablet is the costliest among all discussed above.

Also read: Samsung to launch two NEW and AFFORDABLE Galaxy Tabs

Are you a gadget/gaming wizard/afficianado? Would you like to write on gadgets, gaming, the Internet, software technologies, OSs and the works for us? Send us a sample of your writing to gadgetsandgaming@rediffmail.com with the subject as 'I'm a tech wizard/afficianado' and we will get in touch with you.