Archos may not hit the headlines like Apple, but it was one of the first vendors actually to produce an Android tablet rather than just talking about one, and now it aims to build on its headstart with five more launches this year.
The company has outlined plans to deliver five Android tablets in September and October, for the US and European markets initially, and with a variety of features, though all running the latest Android release, 2.2 or Froyo.
In February, cheekily just days after the iPad was unveiled, the French manufacturer unveiled its ExoPC slate, and now it will release its new quintet, reverting to its usual habit of calling its devices ‘ phones, MIDs and media players ‘ after itself.
First comes the Archos 101, the top end model, though still priced at only $300. For that, you get a capacitive 10.1-inch touchscreen and an iPad-like form factor, just 0.5-inches thick. It runs on a 1GHz processor and includes an HDMI port for 720p HD video output, plus USB and Bluetooth connections for tethering. It has a front-facing VGA camera that works with preloaded video chat applications and comes with 8Gb of memory. A 16Gb version is also available for an extra $50.
The Archos 70 is rather different and seems to be tapping into a subset of the tablet market, the home organizer/media system, rather than the mobile segment of the iPad. In fact, it is an evolution of the existing Archos 7 Home Tablet, but it gains a capacitive touchscreen rather than the 7’s resistive display, adds a front-facing VGA camera, and supports a mini-HDMI port for video output to the TV. The Archos 70 costs $275 for an 8Gb model, or $350 for 250Gb.
Then comes a product for the slightly odd mini-tablet subsector epitomized by Dell Streak. The Archos 43 has (you guessed it) a 4.3-inch screen, which is the size of the largest superphones and slightly smaller than the Streak’s. The problem with this category is it tends to sit uneasily between being a phone and a tablet, in user experience terms, but Archos is giving it a go with a device that costs $199 with 8Gb. It has a 720p video camera but only has resistive screen technology.
Even further down the size scale is the Archos 32, targeting emerging economies and the youth sector (it could take on the iPod Touch). It has a resistive 3.2-inch touchscreen, 8Gb of memory, rear-facing HD camcorder, composite video output and Android 2.2, all for $150. However, this falls more into Archos’ traditional personal media player segment than true tablets, as does the smallest gadget in the range, the Archos 28. As CNet points out, this 2.8-inch product is ‘more wafer than tablet’, but provides a slimline media player with 800MHz processor for only $99.