Hasta La Gadget!

Archos announced it was working on Android-based multimedia tablets in lots of form factors long before the iPad got everyone tablet-crazy. This week, the company began shipping its 4.3-inch and 7-inch models to customers in the US and Europe, while some Europeans may have gotten their 10.1-inch units early.

The Archos 43 is straightforward: 4.3″ FWVGA screen (480×854 pixels), Android 2.2 OS with an Archos skin, 1GHz ARM processor and 16 GB of flash memory for $250. (The tech specs say it also comes in an 8GB version, but that’s not an option now at the Archos store.)

The Archos 70 is a little more interesting, if only because it’s actually slightly more retro. It’s got the same guts as the 43, but a slightly lower-resolution screen (800 by 480) and a 250 GB hard drive (the kind that spins) option that’s forthcoming for $350. (Right now, only the 8GB flash model for $280 is available — which doesn’t seem like so much of an upgrade over the 43, with fewer pixels and less memory.)

Archos also has a 2.8-inch Froyo PMP for $100 — a nice little iPod Touch/Nano replacement — but most of its Android units are still officially unavailable. The 10.1-inch version was briefly reported to be shipping in Europe, but has since either been pulled or sold out. There’s also a 3.2-inch PMP with a video camera that’s still on the way.

That 250 GB hard drive reminds me that most of the companies releasing Android tablets now have been developing them for years — long enough that they were never really designed to compete with the iPad, but the iPod Classic and iPod Touch. It’s as if the iPhone’s touchscreen created an evolutionary fork in media players, with the slim, oversized iPad going one way and the square, high-capacity Archos 70 going another.

See Also:

• Archos 101 Android Tablet: iPad Rival or Giant Phone?
• Archos Unveils $500 Tablet
• Archos Promises Android-Packed Media Tablet/Phone
• New Archos Tablet Is a Kid's Toy, Not Suitable for Adults …
• Elegant New Archos Players To Come With 3G
• Your Froyo Tablet Probably Won't Support Android Market
• First Look: ELocity's Android Tablet Makes Great Media Player …

In a bid to grab a little of that “respect” we keep hearing so much about, Archos has just started shipping its downright seductive 4.3-inch Archos 43. Boasting Android underneath, an HDMI output and inbuilt WiFi, this $249.99 portable media player has just about everything any on-the-go media lover could want. Though, we will say… that 16GB of storage could afford to be expanded. Good thing there’s a microSD slot, huh? Hit the source link if you’re interested in experiencing that whole “Add To Cart” phenomenon.

[Thanks, Kevin]

Android-based Archos 43 PMP now shipping for $250 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Nov 2010 00:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lack of Google’s official app store has been a thorn in the side of would-be Android tablet makers for a good long while, and it looks like the Tegra 2-powered Advent Vega will be no exception when it hits the high street tomorrow. Electricpig took the £249 device for a spin, chatting up Advent product manager Adam Lockyer the whole time, and discovered that while the 10-inch tablet will come with the 5,000-app-strong Archos AppsLib store, it won’t have Android Market at launch. “The plan is that when you get to January time, there’s a new release of Android and you’ll be able to get the marketplace on this product,” Lockyer said, suggesting that maybe — just maybe — the availability of Android Market itself might be one of the fragmentation issues Google intends to fix in Gingerbread. Wouldn’t that be nice? Video after the break.

[Thanks, Chak I.]

Continue reading Advent Vega tablet won’t come with Android Market, might get it as part of Gingerbread update (video)

Advent Vega tablet won’t come with Android Market, might get it as part of Gingerbread update (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 17 Oct 2010 13:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Peugeot shows off tablet-equipped HR1 concept vehicle originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Oct 2010 00:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Of the five tablets Archos announced last week, the most interesting is the 101. Yes, that’s because it is pretty much aimed right at the iPad, in both specs and size. And if you were wondering just what a 10-inch wide-screen tablet would look like, now you know. First, some numbers.

The 101 has a capacitive 1024 x 768 touch-screen, a 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor and a host of ports and radios normally associated with a netbook: HDMI, a microphone, a USB port, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, a front-facing VGA webcam and accelerometers. It even has a kickstand.

As for size, it comes in slimmer and lighter than the iPad, at 12mm thick (the iPad is 13.4mm) and weighs 480 grams (the iPad weighs 680-grams). Best of all the features, though, is the price: $300 for the 8GB model and $350 for the 16GB. That’s $150 cheaper than the 16GB iPad (this comparison is apt as the 101 has no 3G option).

But it comes down to the software and battery life. We don’t have any reports on the power use, but apparently the scaled-up cellphone interface doesn’t work so well. Brad Linder at Lilliputing got his hands on the 101 and said that “thumb-typing in portrait mode is reasonably comfortable, I found text entry in landscape mode to be a bit awkward.” The 101 runs the latest version of Android, v2.2, which is theoretically capable of running Flash.

I wonder if, in the rush to get iPad rivals to market, the manufacturers are missing the point. Touch-screen tablets have been around for years, but it took a brand-new interface design and a big-ass battery before anyone actually started to buy them. And remember, it took Apple years to design it. Until the proper, purpose-built tablets (like HP’s expected WebOS tablets) finally appear, it looks like we’re getting the tablet PCs from the 1990s all over again, only with smaller cases and without Windows.

Archos 101 product page [Archos]

Archos ‘iPad Killer’ [Giz China]

Closer look at the Archos 101 Android tablet [Lilliputing]

See Also:

• NYT: Google Android Tablet Imminent
• How the Tablet Will Change the World

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