3.5 lakh college students in Gujarat to get tablets at Rs 1,000 each

The state government has allocated Rs 200 crore for this scheme, Rupani said during the launch function.

AHMEDABAD: Around 3.5 lakh college students in Gujarat will get tablets at a subsidised rate of Rs 1,000 each under a state government scheme launched by state Chief Minister Vijay Rupani here today.

Under this scheme, the first year college students in the state will get 7-inch ‘NAMO E-Tab’ tablets, which have a market value of Rs 8,000 each, by just paying Rs 1,000.

Several students, who had already registered for the scheme, received the tablets from the chief minister at the launch ceremony here today.

In the coming days, more such events will be organised in different parts of state to distribute the tablets, which have voice-calling facility, a government release said.
7 things you didn’t know you can do with your old Android tablet

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7 things you didn’t know you can do with your old Android tablet

If you own a budget Android tablet, chances are that you have just kept it aside owing to its limited performance capabilities or because you upgraded to a better one. However, your budget tablet is not completely useless and can be employed for various purposes.

Car navigation

The large screen of your tablet is great for viewing maps and directions. Get a car mount (Rs 399 onwards) and a car charger (Rs 399 onwards) to fix the tablet in your car. For apps, you can go for Google Maps. It supports turn-by-turn navigation and you can download offline maps for an area so that internet connectivity is not needed. Keep in mind that you will need to take the tablet out every time you leave the car to prevent damage from sun or it being stolen. You can also check out Map: Directions & Local Search app by MapMyIndia.

Music player

Most tablets come with at least 8GB of storage space — 8GB can hold thousands of songs! Moreover, with streaming services such as Google Play Music, Gaana, Saavn, Wynk etc., you can have access to millions of songs at any given time. These services also of fer offline download of songs for subscription. By default, the speakers of a tablet won’t be loud enough for a bed-side player, so you will just need to invest in a Bluetooth speaker. Pair the tablet with the speaker and you have your digital music player ready.

Security camera

Cameras on a tablet are usually sub-par and not ideal for clicking pictures. However, the same camera is as good as a basic security camera in quality. Using free apps such as IP Web cam, you can set up your tablet on a desk or table and then use it as a remote security camera. The stream can be viewed in any browser and you can even have it automatically uploaded to cloud storage. If you want advance features such as motion detection, then you will have to invest in the paid version.

Book reader

Kindle offers a free app for book lovers that can work with their Kindle accounts for books. Similarly, there are plethora of other free apps available (Google Play Books, Aldiko, Moon+ reader etc.) that can turn your large screen tablet in to an e-book reader. Most of these apps support common e-book formats and also offer options to adjust text size, font, colour and brightness. Also, the apps remember you reading position and can help you start from where you left off.

Digital photo frame

Using a desk stand, you can use your old tablet like a digital photo frame. The default gallery app does not offer auto-cycle of stored photos, so you will have to get apps like Google Photos or Digital Photo Frame Slide show. Both apps show your on-device photos as customizable slideshow. If you want some thing richer in content, get the Dayframe app. It lets you combine photos stored on the device with other services such as Instagram, etc. and show them in a slideshow.

Personal planner

Instead of using pen and paper to jot down your schedule, you can have your old tablet work as a digital planner. Install a feature rich calendar app such as SolCalendar, Cal, or Calendar+ on the tab let and you can have it show location based weather, holidays and even appointments synced from other calendars, apps and mails. Some of the apps can even be set to notify you via sound or vibration of upcoming or important events.

Wi-Fi router

This is only applicable on tablets with 4G support. If your tablet has 4G data capability, you can keep it connected to power, install a data SIM in it and enable Wi-Fi Hotspot. This way, you can have a personal Wi-Fi available anywhere without taxing your main device’s battery. All Android tablets come with Personal Hotspot creation capability. Head to Settings > More > Tethering & Personal hotspot. You can set a name for your network and we highly recommend that you put a password so that no one else can use your data network.

NAMO E-Tab is the acronym for ‘New Avenues of Modern Education through Tablets’.

The state government has allocated Rs 200 crore for this scheme, Rupani said during the launch function.

“Our aim is to realise the dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to build a new India. Though the tablets, made by well known companies, are worth Rs 8000 in the market, we are giving it at a token rate of Rs 1,000 to the college students,” he said.

On the upcoming assembly elections in Gujarat, Rupani said the BJP government does not believe in giving false promises to win votes.

“Whenever election comes, parties promise to give laptops, houses and what not. But, we do not walk on that path. Our aim is to transform our youth into the new age power, not just new age voters. I am confident that these tablets will open new frontiers for our students,” he said.