The Android tablet deluge continues unabated with Archos announcing 5 new Android tablets. Our recent Android Tablets pre-lanuch roundup covered the hottest yet to be released tablets, and some of these Archos offerings appear to be worthy additions to that group.
Archos have gone for a naming convention that signifies the screen size, and decided to brand them all as ‘tablets’. This is fine, although you might raise some eyebrows telling your friends about your new 2.8-inch 320×240 tablet. The 28 and 32 are really media players by another name, but we can see that the ‘tablet’ badge simplified the marketing drive and make it buzz word compliant.
The flagship 101 10.1-inch tablet is device that stands out from the bunch with 1024×600 screen, fold out stand, phone tethering and 720p video playback. The device weighs a mere 480g and has a thickness of only 12mm. That’s thinner than a certain device by a company named after a fruit. Yes, the 101 is a device we’d like to get to know better.
Android Apps are provided, not via the Android Market, but via Archos’ own AppsLib; a Marketplace for Android Tablets. It remains to be seen if Google will address the issue of Apps for Tablets swiftly or if a third-party provider solutions, like that from Archos, will become the de-facto Tablet Market.
We’ve managed to track down all important release dates and prices for these 5 contenders and the good news is ‘pretty soon and pretty cheap’.
All five models come with Android 2.2, WiFi (b/g/n), usb and g-sensors. All except the 28 have Bluetooth 2.1 EDR
ARCHOS 28 internet tablet
320×240 2.8-inch screen, 800 MHz ARM
Available in September 2010: $99 – 4GB
ARCHOS 32 internet tablet
400×240 3.2-inch screen, 800 MHz ARM, Camcorder capabilities
Available in September 2010: $149 – 8GB
ARCHOS 43 internet tablet
480×85 4.3-inch screen, 1GHz processor
Available in September 2010: $199 – 16GB
ARCHOS 70 internet tablet
800×480 screen 7.0-inch screen, 1GHz processor, phone tethering, mini-HDMI and USB ports. VGA Webcam
Available in October 2010: $274.99 – 8GB and $349.99 – 250GB (HDD)
ARCHOS 101 internet tablet
1024×600 10.1-inch screen, 1GHz ARM A8, phone tethering, HMDI-output, 720p HD video playback, font webcam.
Available in October 2010: $299 – 8GB and $349.99 – 16GB.
To be honest Archos isn’t a name that has lit up our hearts in the past, and has been known to ship some pretty so-so devices. By getting on the Android band wagon they seem to have stepped up a gear and what we have here is a genuinely interesting line up of devices, especially at the higher end. We look forward to testing some of them out.
[Archos]