DENVER —
Archos will push the envelope for tablet processing
power and storage with the planned September
shipment of two Android-based tablets that incorporate dualcore
1.5GHz processors and 250GB hard drives.
The features will appear in an 8-inch tablet and a 10.1-inch
model, both of which will be the company’s first Android
tablets to use the Honeycomb OS designed expressly for
tablets.
The company is also bringing Android to two new product
categories: a home cordless phone and a tabletop Internet
radio, both equipped with touchscreens. Both will ship in
September with ability to download apps.
The two new Wi-Fi tablets are the 8-inch Archos 80 G9
at a suggested $279 and the 10.1-inch Archos 101 G9 at
$349. With TI-made ARM Cortex dual-core A9 processor
running at 1.5GHz, the tablets deliver more processing
speed than other tablets announced to date. The Hewlett-
Packard TouchPad and a recently announced Huawei tablet,
for example, offer dual-core 1.2GHz processors, while
the HTC-made Evo View 4G for the Sprint network uses a
1.5GHz single-core processor.
The additional speed, Archos claimed, loads web
pages up to 50 percent faster than tablets running
the dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 1GHz processor,
and it enables the tablets to decode
1080p H264 High Profile videos, whereas
other tablets have difficulty in smoothly playing
720p H264 High Profile video, the company
said.
With 250GB Seagate hard drive, the
two tablets and a 7-inch Archos tablet
unveiled last year are the only tablets announced
to date with hard drive, the company
said. The hard drive holds more
than 250 hours of full 1080p HD video,
which can be transmitted through an HDMI output for display on a 1080p TV.
The tablets are also the industry’s first with an optional
3G USB stick that slides into the back of a tablet and disappears.
The $49 stick, which also plugs into laptops, can
be used with month-to-month prepaid service. The company
didn’t specify the 3G technology used.
In home products, the Android-based Archos 35 Home
Connect Internet radio is due in September at a suggested
$149 with AC/DC operation, Wi-Fi, dual speakers, preloaded
Internet radio app to stream thousands of Internet
radio stations, and the Archos alarm clock app that streams
weather, traffic and news. It also features front-facing webcam
and video-calling application for video chats with PC
and Android mobile phone users.
The Archos 35 Smart Home Phone, due in September at
a suggested $159, brings Android smartphone capability to
a DECT cordless phone. With front-facing webcam, it can
be used for video chats. It also enables contact sharing with
Android smartphones, caller photo display, web browsing,
email access and downloading of Android apps.
The cordless phone and Internet radio incorporate Wi-Fi
and download apps from Archos’s own app store. The cordless
phone is also compatible with ADSL broadband service.
