Last month, India’s IT Minister, Kapil Sibal demonstrated the country’s very own Android based tablet ‘Shakshat’ priced at a mere $35 (1600 approx.). Recent news is coming in that HCL Technologies have been given the contract by the Indian Government to manufacture 100,000 units of these low-cost tablets to be readied before January 10, 2011, the official launch date decided by the government.

Although HCL Technologies have earned their fame in the sub-continent for the most part, the quality of devices has not yet impressed major user base. But looking at the sole purpose of the Indian government to uplift the rural academical institutions by providing latest technologies at low cost, little quality was bound to be compromised.

But then again, it is a 30 crore project and the tablet looks decent enough in the hands-on demo by Kapil Sibal (video below). Now some basic tech-specs of Sakshat:

• It will be available in 3 versions (5 inch, 7 inch and 9 inch) with only the 7 inch version available in the first phase.
• Android OS
• 2 GB RAM
• Wi-Fi
• Camera
• USB port
• 2 Watt power system (for efficient performance in areas with poor electricity supply).
• Pre-installed apps like media player, internet browser, PDF reader, etc.

Hands-on video demo of the $35 Android tablet – ‘Sakshat’

Although there is an official Twitter app for Android (Twitter for Andriod), fans have been eagerly waiting for something awesome from the Tweetdeck team. In case you don’t know, Tweetdeck is one of the best Twitter client for desktops, the iPhone, and the iPad. And Tweetdeck not just supports Twitter but also Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, Google Buzz and Foursquare.

Tweetdeck, describing the app’s features, said,

Well, for starters, we have not just taken the well-trodden path of pulling together some basic screens and calling it an app. TweetDeck has been totally built from the ground up with a new approach. It’s still TweetDeck, with a column-based layout as you’d expect, but we have pushed the boundaries of what you should expect from an app in several ways:

Blended columns, Smooth slick UI, Clever composing, key features at your fingertips, Quick access to favorite friends and more…

The app is currently in beta and is not available in the Android Marketplace but you can still download it by signing up here. You will soon receive an email with the download links and instructions to install it on your mobile device. If you are running Android, the app is more than worth a try.

If you are an ardent Android follower, you might as well be had a hell of a week. After much anticipation, the Android 2.2 (Froyo) update is now finally being rolled out for Nexus One users. And that brings in better performance, Flash support and much awaited WiFi tethering.

Possibilities are that you might not have received the Froyo over-the-air update for your Nexus One which may actually pop-up anytime now. However, for the impatient ones, there is a workaround to get the update earlier. DS pointed out to follow these instructions mentioned in an Android developer forum to install the Android 2.2 update.

We will keep up with the updates! So, Subscribe to us and follow us on Twitter.

Few minutes ago, Google unleashed Google TV at the Google I/O conference held at San Fran, California. Google TV is something that’s going to be taken really seriously by the company. Google surely sees a huge opportunity in 4 billion TV users worldwide. Considering the luck Google had with 1 billion Internet users and 2 billion mobile users, it’s obvious for the giant to eye on something even more larger.

Google flipped out some statistics related to TV users around the globe. According to the stats, people in US have increased TV usage more than ever to 5 hours/day and the total money spend on TV advertisements hovers roughly around $70 billion. Of course Google aims to capture more eyeballs to their advertisements, it’s got something to offer too.

Google claims to offer seamless replacement for the traditional TV systems in your house. You just need to connect your existing TV cables with a special Google TV device (manufactured by Sony) and you are good to go. With Google TV, it’s more of watching TV than searching for programs. It takes personalization to another level. The hardware for Google TV will include a keyboard and a mouse. Have an Android phone? Sure that’ll come in handy. You can control your TV with multiple Android phones. Google TV runs Andriod 2.1 and has Google Chrome as a browser.

Image courtesy: TechCrunch

The devices will be specialized TVs and Blu-ray players manufactured by Sony with inbuilt Google TV facility, powered by Intel Atom Processors. Thanks to Android OS, you can run Android apps on your TV. Google TV comes with a new SDK as well. And lastly YouTube’s come up with YouTube Leanback to optimize your TV experience.

Google expects to roll out Google TV in Fall 2010. 

UPDATE: Although Google is lip-locked about the price, chances are that once you pay for the hardware, the service will be COMPLETELY FREE.

How about an Android app nurtured by Twitter itself that not only looks awesome but works awesome! Yes, after much anticipation, Twitter Blog announced the official Twitter app for Android.

The app looks better than most of the Twitter apps currently available for Android. The main advantage of using the official app is probably the seamless integration with the platform.

Some nice features of Twitter for Android are:

• Home screen widget lets you quickly access Twitter timeline. Reading tweets is much easy no matter on which screen you are.
• Contacts Integration – You can see your friends’ tweets right in your phonebook, GoogleTalk list (or any application that uses Android’s QuickContact bar).
• Sharing made super easy – A new option ‘Twitter’ gets added to the share menu of any application so that you can share content to Twitter in a few taps.

Twitter for Android is now available in the Android Market. So download it from your phone. And while you are at it, do follow us on Twitter !

HTC has rolled out a new Android 2.1 smartphone – HTC Legend for the social network savvy Indian youth. HTC Legend has a classic bar form factor, an aluminium body and sharp AMOLED display. HTC Legend is for those who seek high level of personalization. With a widgetized approach to deal with content, it’s easier to get the most out from your phone. HTC Legend also has an online widget library with a wide selection of widgets which you can download.

HTC Legend Full Specifications:

Some additional features of HTC Legend:

» Automatic lowering of ringer volume when phone is picked up (G-Sensor).

» Mutes the ringer when the phone is flipped down.

» Automatic backup of SMS, MMS, Wi-Fi passwords on microSD card.

The price of the HTC Legend is Rs. 25, 990/-.

Seems like HTC has finally narrowed down to the Android powered HTC Bravo to be its ‘flagship’ product for 2010 giving one more reason to cheer to HTC and Android lovers. Although very scant information is available about HTC Bravo, ai.rs revealed its first look. If rumours are believed to be true, HTC Bravo is expected to hit the US market by Jan 2010, assuming the name ‘HTC Passion’ and in the European markets by April, 2010.

Features:

» Operating system: Android

» Processor: Qualcomm 1GHz Snapdragon

» Display: 3.7 inch WVGA AMOLED capacitive touchscreen

» Camera: 5 megapixel (can record a 720p Hi-Def video)

» 320MB RAM

» Bluetooth, WiFi, Micro-USB connectivity

» A-GPS, Digital Compass

» FM radio, 3.5mm headphone jack

That, I guess, is pretty much it! As I mentioned earlier, it’ll hit US markets 3 months earlier than in the Europe, however, no price details are available as yet.

Picture courtesy: ai.rs

As you must have read everywhere about the Motorola Droid that just entered the market, there is nothing much to talk about it. However, unboxing the Motorola Droid is something that you don’t want to miss out.

The official Nokia Blog has done a video of unboxing of the new Motorola Droid phone.

Motorola Droid Unboxed

A quick revisit to the features of Motorola Droid smartphone:

• 3.7 inch touchscreen display.
• 5 megapixel camera
• QWERTY Keyboard
• 16GB microSD card
• GPS, WiFi, and Bluetooth
• Runs on Android 2.0 OS.

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As many of you have figured out that Samsung has entered the Android arena and the Samsung i5700 Galaxy phone, now officially dubbed Samsung Galaxy Spica, is the second of its kind to run on Android.

Although Galaxy Spica has been officially announced in Russia today, it is yet to speak the word out in other countries.

Now let’e take a quick look on what the figures have to say.

Specs and Features:

OS: Android 1.5

Display: 3.2 inch touch screen.

Hardware: 800 MHz processor, 128MB RAM, 1500 mAh battery.

Camera: 3.2 megapixels

Memory: 100MB inbuilt, extendable upto 32GB (microSDHC)

New multimedia feature: Plays even unconverted video files of popular formats.

Other features include GPS Sensor, Compass, WiFi, Bluetooth and supports HSDPA connectivity.

Price of Samsung Galaxy Spica is rumored to be around 320 Euros.

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