While the world waits for a deluge of Android-based handsets, there may be more interesting devices appearing in other markets. One of the best looking is Archos’ new media player, combining high definition video and TV recording with HSPA connectivity and 500Gb of storage, and all just 10 millimetres thick. And the French firm’s first product with cellphone capabilities will get to market around June, ahead of most of the big name Android smartphones.
The Internet Media Tablet looks like Archos’ existing personal media players, except far slimmer. It sports a high resolution, 5-inch touchscreen with high definition playback and full width page viewing, and promises ‘laptop-like performance’ with a full browser and support for Flash and Flash Video. This will make the full screen video experience far superior to that of smartphones and most mobile internet devices, and the gadget will be able to record TV shows when hooked up.
It seems the product will use two Linux implementations in one device ‘ Android’s telephony stack, supported by 7.2Mbps HSPA, and Archos’ own Linux multimedia framework. The manufacturer also boasts of battery life of seven hours for video playback.
Archos has been making Linux-based media players for years, and last summer released its new generation of tablets, Archos5 and Archos7, which come with 4.8-inch and 7-inch touchscreens, with ‘pseudo-HD’ 800×480 resolution, plus Wi-Fi. But these only had a cellular connection as an optional extra and were not optimized for mobile phone functions.
The vendor has already explored mobile carriers as a possible new channel to market, and French operator SFR offers a version of the Archos5, with the HSPA option, branded Archos 3G+. The manufacturer will hope to increase its presence in operators’ catalogs with its new tablet, which could push its range beyond the video/media niche to take on more general purpose wireless tablets, such as the Nokia 810 (which Archos outperforms) or the emerging range of products based on Intel Atom.
The US Dish network is also a distributor for Archos devices and holds a significant shareholding in the French company.