I haven’t played basketball in years. I don’t even exercise regularly. I love air conditioning. I explain all this to D-TRAINED, a Nike physical trainer, on a soul-sapping hot day. He ignores my slob story and runs me through a grueling series of drills. Afterward, with my hands melting into my knees, D-TRAINED walks over and hands me an iPhone—and it shows me what I really did. More »
It was inevitable the game-like features of Foursquare’s ‘mayorships,’ ‘badges’ and ‘check-ins’ would ultimately pave a path to paid advertising. Yes, that unassuming little geolocation-based
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Short Version: Want the Microsoft Surface without the Microsoft? Archos may have the device for you. This unique tablet/keyboard combo turns itself from traditional slate into an Android-powered ultralight in a few simple steps. Best of all, it’s going to get Jelly Bean in Q4 2012 so your investment, at least for a few months, will be sound.
The cons? It’s a little chintzy, a little underpowered, and the screen tops out at 1280 x 800 pixels. But can Archos, a stolid and staid tablet maker, create a breakaway hit?
Features:
Pros:
Cons:
You’re at your coffee purveyor of choice. You pull out what looks like a white slab of plastic and pull it apart. A few quick movements and you’ve placed one half of the slab on the table and pulled up a small stand. You fit the other half of the slab into an indentation and it connects automatically with powerful magnets. You begin typing as if you were on a real laptop and the customers sitting around you eye you admiringly and a little bit lasciviously. You are the hero of the cafe.
This life could be yours if you pick up the Archos Gen10 101 XS, a $400 tablet from Archos that doubles as a real ultralight laptop. In general, the 101 XS is a run-of-the-mill Android tablet with a twist. The XS joins the Asus Transformer as one of the first tablets to ship with a fully-fledged keyboard that turns the slate into an ultralight notebook in seconds. The question, then, is whether that is a good thing.
In my time with this tablet I’ve come to appreciate the 101 XS in theory if not in practice. Archos has done a great job of integrating the keyboard with this tablet and making it clear that you’re supposed to use this thing in ultralight mode. Powerful magnets hold the keyboard on the screen until you pull them apart and prepare them for docking. You then lift a little leg up out of the keyboard and drop the screen into a groove that is also magnetically active. At this point, the screen is pretty much stuck there until you decide to pull the whole thing apart. You can lift it, swing it around, and even pull it forward. The system will hold.
It is important to note that you must orient the tablet in landscape mode to attach it to the keyboard. You simply can’t stand this up in portrait mode because the edges are slightly rounded and the power and volume buttons are on the right side.
The build quality on the prototype model I tested was very good. The entire thing is clad in white plastic with metal inserts and the entire package fits together seamlessly. I honestly wouldn’t recommend carrying the device without the keyboard as it doesn’t take up much room and it acts as a screen protector when closed. The tablet weighs 21 ounces and is 0.31 inches thick.
The device has an HDMI out as well as microUSB on the side next to a microSD card slot. The keyboard can charge the tablet via a microUSB cable although it does not contain a built-in external battery.
The keyboard itself comes in the standard Chiclet-style that will be familiar to those already using tablet keyboards. There’s not much key travel and all of the keys except for shift, caps lock, enter, space, and tab are the same size. It has a very standard front-facing webcam that is so uninteresting that they don’t even describe its specs. It’s good for video chatting and that’s about it.
The tablet runs a completely stock version of Ice Cream Sandwich and Archos promises upgradability to Jelly Bean at the end of the year. Given the hardware, the system is perfectly serviceable as a text editing and social media machine. Try to do anything else and you’re going to run into problems.
The tablet scored 1379 in Geekbench, which is fairly solid for an Android tablet. Considering the Nexus 7 maxes out at 1600, a score of 1379 should be just fine. Unfortunately, titles like Asphalt 6 HD stuttered during gameplay and the device lagged once you began opening and closing applications.
That’s fine, however, because the package includes OfficeSuite 6.1 Pro, a fairly capable office app that’s compatible with Word and Excel. Here is where the entire thing shines. Coupled with the keyboard you literally have a small word processing machine coupled with a spreadsheet and presentation editor. If you bought this to, say, play HD games, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. If you bought it to do work on the road, you could invest in worse.
The battery on the 101 XS is good, topping out at about one and a half days of mixed use. This drops precipitously when playing games or watching video but expect a good 5 hours of video time and about a day of regular use as a laptop/slate reader. Archos says they hit about 10 hours of regular web browsing although I saw about 12.
Click to view slideshow.
Because the software is bog standard, what we’re really looking at is the hardware and I’m pleased to say the docking system is quite clever and very usable. As an ultralight laptop this thing is more than acceptable for basic office tasks and could replace a very low-end laptop in your bag.
It’s a clever, cool convertible tablet that attests to Archos’ willingness to experiment in the space.
Archos is really good at making solid, boring devices. For years they made PMPs (until that market fell through) and now they make tablets. The 101 XS is clearly a flagship device this year but I worry that folks looking at other tablets – including the iPad – will find less to love in this one. First the screen is acceptable, but is built at such a low resolution that any other tablet looks amazing in comparison. Sure, there are plenty of 1280 x 800 pixel screens out there and at the price it’s still a good deal. However, if I’m going to be staring at a screen for hours editing and writing, I’d prefer a bit higher resolution.
Availability will also anger many. The device will be available in Europe in mid-September and then North America in November. By that time this thing will be an also-ran. Considering the planned Jelly Bean upgrade won’t happen until Q4 holidays I suspect Asus, HTC, and Samsung will run circles around this device, not to mention the Microsoft Surface which lands in October.
The 101 XS, then, feels like an experiment. It’s a successful one, to be clear, but its rarely wise to invest in a company’s trial balloon. I have a feeling that Surface-style devices will be the Next Big Thing™ in CE and this is just the beginning.
The model I used exhibited a few problems. For one, the metal skin scratched quite easily. A varnish will be applied to final versions to prevent this, but it was pretty egregious. The build quality is solid but nothing special. It’s not going to fall apart on you, but it’s not going to win any beauty contests.
You can also recreate this device with an iPad quite easily with a Keyboard cover. Although Archos will argue that you pay more to outfit an iPad like this, you also get more. The screen is better and the iWork apps are notably superior. Similar keyboards can be had for almost any Android tablet out there, including the Nexus 7. Arguably this case/tablet combo exists in a contiguous whole, so that’s a benefit.
It almost feels as if any overt recommendation would be moot in this case as the tablet will be facing stiff competition in the U.S. next quarter. However, if you’re in Europe feel free to check it out and compare it to similar offerings from other tablet manufacturers. It’s a bit underpowered but the price – a low $399 – and size make it a very interesting alternative to even an ultralight laptop with similar processor firepower.
The experiment here is a success. It’s up to you to decide whether this form factor is something you’re looking for in a tablet, especially considering upcoming alternatives in the space. I could definitely see myself using it on a short weekend trip if I had some Word work to do but beyond documents, presentations, and some spreadsheets, you may want to look elsewhere.
I’m starting Bag Week off with two bags from one of my favorite manufacturers, Nomadic. This Japanese seller of quality bags makes their rucksacks out of rip-stop fabric and offers a certain stark, compact design that is as far from your typical JanSport as a kimono is from an Ed Hardy shirt.
Most of Nomadic’s bags are quite small and the the WT-18 Wise-Walker Toto is no exception. It is about 13 inches long and 11 inches wide but expands to snugly hold a 15-inch laptop. It has a side bottle pocket and a set of front pouches for phones, notebooks, and pens. A front padded pocket is perfect for smaller tablets and the entire bag expands to hold thicker books when necessary.
Designed as more of a tote than a messenger-style laptop bag, folks looking for something considerably smaller will definitely get a kick out of this. The build quality is excellent and the bag comes in beige, black, and gray with a light blue lining. It costs $90 but in my experience, Nomadics can take quite a beating and are worth the extra investment.
The second bag, the WL-25 Wise-Walker backpack aims more at the academic set. The $77 backpack comes in black, navy, and gray and has a large 17-inch main pocket and can hold a smaller laptop although they claim to fit up to 15-inchers in there.
The backpack is surprisingly strong and light and has a bright orange rip-stop lining. It has a set of pockets in a front zippered pouch for pens and notebooks and includes a long, springy keychain attachment.
Both of these bags are far lighter than most of us are used to and they’re quite small. If you’re looking for something more compact than the traditional tote or backpack and are OK with paying a bit more for quality, I’d highly recommend Nomadic. Folks who have a hard time finding smaller backpacks will definitely prefer these models even over similarly sized U.S. brands.
Nomadic is obviously a little pricier than most other bag manufacturers but I’m a fan of the quality and the sizing. Far too many bags are too big and sloppy to be of much use while walking or commuting by train or bike, which is why I definitely recommend looking at these two thin and light rucksacks.
Click to view slideshow.
Bag Week is our yearly celebration of laptop bags. Being that they are, for the most part, quite boring, we don’t find it odd that most folks settle for janky bags they get free with their laptops. Therefore we’ve created Bag Week, a service for you proud men and women of the laptop carrying world. We’ll be talking about a panoply of travel and back-to-school sacks and if you have a favorite you’d like featured, drop us a line at tips@techcrunch.com with the subject line BAG WEEK. You can read all of our bag week coverage here
The Toshiba Excite 10 LE, still the thinnest you can buy now, was one of my favorite gadget to launch at CES this year, and I could not wait to play with this super light and beautifully crafted Android tablet. The Toshiba 10 LE has been on the US market since March 6, when we were travelling in Europe to report news from MWC and CeBIT.The most unique feature of the 10 LE is its lightness (0.3” !!) and thinness (1.2 lbs) compared to all the other tablets. I personally love the elegant design. On the performance side, the Toshiba tablet offers regular specifications including a TI OMAP 4430 Dual-Core Processor with 1GB LP-DDR2 RAM, 16GB (or 32GB), 5 MP rear camera with LED, 2 MP front camera, and a 10.1″ display with a 1280×800 resolutionThe 16 GB costs $529.99 and the 32 GB $599.99 which is in the price range of other competitive products with bulkier bodies.
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By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Toshiba quits Windows RT tablet race, Toshiba Thrive receives Android 4.0.4 ICS update earlier than expected,
Ever wonder why the World War II British slogan "Keep Calm and Carry On"
has surfaced some 70 years later to become today’s most ubiquitous meme? Not
only has the Internet been cyberventillating variations on the theme online for
over a year now, one can find t-shirts and other memorabilia easily
accessible for purchase in the real world.
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