The upgraded version of world's cheapest computing device Aakash will be available at the same price to the students.

The government will procure the upgraded version at the existing price of Rs 2,276 and it will be distributed among students at Rs 1,100 after subsidy.

"This (Aakash 2) will be launched in April at the same price," HRD Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters here where a prototype of the new version was displayed.

Senior Ministry official N K Sinha said initially around 500 to 600 tablets were distributed among students but the feedback received was that the battery drained, the device was freezing and there was difficulty in operating it.

"Then we thought about newer version which is Aakash 2.

The battery power is 1.5 times more... so that it doesn't freeze. Processor speed has been upgraded from 366 mhz to between 700 and 800 Mhz. Resistive touch screen has been converted in to capacitative touch screen," he said.

Sibal said that existing vendor of Aakash tablet Datawind will supply the advance versions to the government.

In future C-DOT and ITI will play a major role in manufacturing them with help from C-DAC, Sinha noted, adding, there are capacity constraints in the manufacture large quantity of devices required in the country.