Archos is back with a new press release announcing two powerful tablets: the Archos 80 G9 and Archos 101 G9. Both of these tablets have Android 3.1, both of them have the Android Market inside out of the box, and both have the option to work with a 250GB hard drive.
Both of these tablets are packing the same dual-core Texas Instruments OMAP 4 processors at 1.5 GHz, and both of them have a – yes I love this – kickstand installed on the basic hardware. Both devices will be playing 1080p videos in any of the following formats with an “optional plugin”: AVI, MP4, MOV, 3GP, MPG, PS, TS, VOB, MKV, FLV, RM, RMVB, ASF, and WMV. The displays are thus: 80 G9 with a 1024×768 pixel resolution 4:3 ratio display, the 101 G9 having a 1280×800 pixel resolution 16:10 ratio display. Both devices have HDMI out that’s also capable of outputting 1080p.
Now let’s see the difference: Archos 80 G9 has an 8 inch screen with 1024 x 768 pixels resolution, while Archos 101 G9 bumps that to 1280 x 800 pixels. An HDMI port is responsible for video output to a big screen TV (Full HD is supported) and a USB port can be used to connect peripherals supported by Android 3.1 Honeycomb or the 3G WWAN USB modem sold separately by Archos for just $49.
So it’s clear Archos is trying to get a big slice of the tablet market bringing those competitive tablets, and Android 3.1 Honeycomb together with access to Google Marketplace sure will help a lot, but the biggest surprise comes from pricing: $279 for Archos 80 G9 and $349 for Archos 101 G9. That’s even better than the ASUS EEE Pad Transformer. My only hesitation is the one regarding battery life, as a mechanical hard drive and a 1.5 GHz dual core CPU are bound to consume a lot of power and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Archos G9 tablets manage running times of about 5-6 hours (official figures state 36 hours of audio playback, 7 for video and 10 for Internet browsing). There’s a price to pay for performance and storage.
Both of these tablets are packing the same dual-core Texas Instruments OMAP 4 processors at 1.5 GHz, and both of them have a – yes I love this – kickstand installed on the basic hardware. Both devices will be playing 1080p videos in any of the following formats with an “optional plugin”: AVI, MP4, MOV, 3GP, MPG, PS, TS, VOB, MKV, FLV, RM, RMVB, ASF, and WMV. The displays are thus: 80 G9 with a 1024×768 pixel resolution 4:3 ratio display, the 101 G9 having a 1280×800 pixel resolution 16:10 ratio display. Both devices have HDMI out that’s also capable of outputting 1080p.
Now let’s see the difference: Archos 80 G9 has an 8 inch screen with 1024 x 768 pixels resolution, while Archos 101 G9 bumps that to 1280 x 800 pixels. An HDMI port is responsible for video output to a big screen TV (Full HD is supported) and a USB port can be used to connect peripherals supported by Android 3.1 Honeycomb or the 3G WWAN USB modem sold separately by Archos for just $49.
So it’s clear Archos is trying to get a big slice of the tablet market bringing those competitive tablets, and Android 3.1 Honeycomb together with access to Google Marketplace sure will help a lot, but the biggest surprise comes from pricing: $279 for Archos 80 G9 and $349 for Archos 101 G9. That’s even better than the ASUS EEE Pad Transformer. My only hesitation is the one regarding battery life, as a mechanical hard drive and a 1.5 GHz dual core CPU are bound to consume a lot of power and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Archos G9 tablets manage running times of about 5-6 hours (official figures state 36 hours of audio playback, 7 for video and 10 for Internet browsing). There’s a price to pay for performance and storage.
Anyway, it’s too early to make speculations, so we’ll have to wait util the first reviews will make it to the cloud. Retail availability is scheduled for September.
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