Last month I said it would believe it when I see a sub $50 tablet, well know I’ve seen it from VentureBeat.  It costs around $45 to build, but with a $10 discount from the government, we have a $35 tablet. Now this is just for India keep in mind and targeted for some of the poorer villages where kids may not have access to any technology (and thus information from the world) much less something they can take home.   Although its VERY underpowered, as we all expected, it still can be used.  3 hour battery life unless you play video, which is surprisingly good.  The only way they can pull that off is dedicated GPU chip that only renders video.

When you watch the video below, keep in mind that this is running what seem to be out of the box Android 2.2.  Powered by a 366 mhz CPU and 256k mem, such sluggish performance is not unexpected.  I would think that once someone stripped out Android to run thinner, or take android 1.2 and update that OS, you could have something usable. Keep in mind that this device is targeted for education, not playing games or for use quickly on the fly where speed really matters.  I would expect the only things really needed to do is created and read documents, research on the web, and education videos. This device does come with a custom browser but that was not tried since the battery died by then.

When you watch the video try to remember the days when we used to work no 386 computers with 14.4 and 28.8 dial up modems.  We were able to survive then, so if the speed of the AARASH could be say doubled, I would say this is real and shows great promise.

and now… some specs..

Aakash stats at-a-glance

Screen: 7-inches; 800-by-400 pixels; Resistive touchscreen

Operating system: Android 2.2, Froyo

Processor: 366 MHz Connexant; HD Video co-processor (both with graphics accelerators)

Memory: 256MB RAM (internal); 2GB Flash (external)

Storage: 2GB card included, expandable up to 32GB

Ports: Two USB 2.0; 3.5mm audio out jack; 3.5mm audio in jack (No built-in speakers)

Connectivity: GPRS; Wi-Fi 802.11 a,b,g

Power: Up to 180 minutes on battery; AC adapter, 200-240 volt

Weight: 350 grams

Check out the video below from VentureBeat