Archos Outs Five Touchscreen Tablets

French manufacturer Archos presented no less than five Android-based tablets in the days running up to the IFA. They say there's strength in numbers, but will that be enough to have Steve Jobs worried?


With a range of different-priced models due to hit the shops this autumn, Archos looks to have got the tablet market covered, from entry-level right the way up to the high-end. The screen size varies in relation to the price, from 2.8 inches to 10.1 inches.

The Archos 28 (2.8-inch screen, 4 GB or 8 GB memory, from £99) and 32 (3.2-inch screen, 8 GB memory, £129) would perhaps look more at home in the MP4 multimedia player market. They have Wi-Fi for mobile Internet connectivity but there's no 3G. Plus, given their budget price tag, both have resistive touchscreens.


Higher up the range, the A43 (4.3-inch screen, 8 GB or 16 GB memory, from £199) and A70 (7-inch screen, 8 GB of flash memory or 250 GB hard drive, micro SD expansion slot, from £229) both have capacitive touchscreens.

But if any of the tablets is designed as a real rival to the iPad, it's got to be the Archos 101, with its 10.1-inch capacitive touchscreen (1024 x 600 pixels). It has a processor clocked at 1 Ghz, like the A43 and A70, and (just) 8 GB or 16 GB of memory, which can be expanded via the micro SD slot. It weighs a little under 500 g. Plus, like the A43 and A70, it has a USB port and an HDMI output. The Archos 101 will cost £269 for the 8 GB model or £299 for the 16 GB model.


All models are billed for release in September and October.

No AndroidMarket

A major downside of all these Android Froyo 2.2 devices is that none of them has access to Android Market, and buyers will have to make do with the manufacturer's own store, AppsLib. This is certainly a brave (some would say risky) choice on behalf of Archos, which could prove to be a very costly decision for a brand that's still recovering from a less-than-rosy 2009. However, Archos CEO Henri Crohas was as optimistic as ever at the product presentation, assuring us all that the brand was well ahead of the competition.

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