HCL Launches Two Tablets

 HCL Infosystems has launched two tablets, HCL ME U1 and the HCL MyEdu Tab. The latter has two versions, one for the K-12 students and another for higher education.

U1 is powered by Android 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich). It is packed with 17 local ready to use applications, sports a 7 inch 800x480 pixel capacitive screen and has a 1 Ghz processor with high performance and low power CPU. The tablet comes with a front camera and 512 MB RAM, with an internal memory of 4 GB expandable to 32 GB.

HCL ME U1 also has a full USB, mini USB and a Micro SD card slot and an option of 3G data connectivity through USB Modem. The U1 also provides for Wi-Fi connectivity. It comes with free goodies worth Rs 3,000 and bundled offers, which include free unlimited downloads for three months on Hungama, discounts on air tickets from Cleartrip.com.

Gautam Advani, EVP and Head, Mobility, HCL Infosystems said, “We are extremely proud to support the next wave of tablet growth by introducing the U1. This is an absolute value for money product and we expect it be a hit with our consumers. Its aesthetics will definitely enhance the style quotient of our consumers”

The MyEduTab K-12 version comes with K12 curriculum mapped digital content, educational applications and games, videos and ebooks. MyEduTab higher education version provides multimedia content on technical and professional skills, assessments and Apps.

The MyEduTab will be available on specifications similar to U1. 

Anand Ekambaram, Senior Vice President, HCL Infosystems and Head, HCL Learning said, “This is an innovative device for the 21st century learner. It will change the way we learn, definitely make learning an interesting proposition and will make the student more engaged even as the cloud ecosystem will enable a learner to imbibe knowledge at his/her own pace.”

The MyEduTab K-12 version will have the following content: NCERT K12 mapped content which will have rich animations and text in 2D and 3D, solved examples, chapter quizzes, key revision points and free NCERT text books. Educational applications available in the tablet will include parental control, online quiz engine, My Studio to search and explore free educational content online etc.

While the price of the U1 is Rs7,999, the MyEduTab K-12 version and the MyEduTab higher education version is priced at Rs 9,999 and Rs 11,499, respectively.

Get ready to use FB in Hindi on your mobile

They say the future lies in smartphones and apps. And Facebook is one company that has made sure that it doesn’t lag behind in the mobile web revolution. Now the social networking site has upgraded it’s mobile app to ensure that Indian users can access the site in eight Indian languages from mobile phones. According to a PTI report, this will be rolled out in phases over the next few weeks, it said.

“With over 50 million people in India on Facebook, we want to make sure that everyone has a great Facebook mobile experience regardless of the device that they choose to use,” Facebook’s Country Growth Manager Kevin D’Souza said in a statement to PTI.

Soon Facebook users will be able to access the site by using ‘Facebook for Every Phone mobile application’ in — Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi, Bengali and Marathi.

Get ready to use FB in Hindi, Gujarti. Reuters

According to TheNextWebstates that move was probably part of Facebook’s larger strategy of increasing user base in India beyond English language. Since the new policy will allow Indian users who are not fluent in English to access Facebook via mobile, it could give Facebook the edge over rivals like Google Plus which is yet to gain large numbers in India.

India has nearly 43.5 million Facebook users, which makes it the second largest user base outside of the US.