Greenwood
Village, Colo.
– Archos continues to broaden its portfolio of mobile devices beyond portable
media players (PMPs) with the launch of an Android-based mobile Internet device
(MID) and its first ultramobile PC (UMPC). Both are Wi-Fi-equipped.
The Android-based MID, called an Internet media tablet (IMT) by
the company, is the Archos5, which is equipped with 5-inch widescreen
touchscreen. It becomes available online Sept. 15 at Amazon.com, Newegg.com,
and Archos.com at prices from $249 to $499 in capacities from 8GB to 500GB. It
goes on sale in early October in RadioShack, Best Buy, InMotion and FutureShop.
The company launched its first IMTs last year, but none were Android-based.
In UMPCs, the company plans mid-October availability of its touchscreen-equipped
Archos 9 UMPC, which runs
Microsoft Windows 7 Home and Student on Intel’s Atom Z515 1.2GHz processor.
It’s priced at a suggested $499 with 60GB hard drive. A 120GB version is planned
at an unspecified later date.
The Archos 5 and
Archos 9 follow the launch earlier this year of the company’s first
netbook, the Archos 10, which became available in July at 1,000 Blockbuster stores
at $299 with embedded link to Blockbuster.com
Like the company’s PMPs, which aren’t Wi-Fi-equipped, the Archos
5 IMT plays back audio and video, stores digital photos, and stores recorded TV
shows when plugged into an optional DVR docking station. The Archos 5 adds Web
browser, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, ability to download Android applications, Wi-Fi
access to Web radio and Web TV channels, personal navigation device (PND) functionality
with built-in GPS and voice
guidance, and RDS-equipped FM tuner. Other features include stereo Bluetooth, 720p
video storage and playback, and TV output to display video and Web sites on a
connected TV.
The Archos 5 is available with 8GB of flash memory at $249, 16GB
of flash memory at $299, and 32GB flash at $379. All three come with MicroSD
card slots for additional storage. The 160GB and 500GB versions are equipped
with hard drive at $329 and $499, respectively.
The Archos 9 UMPC
features 8.9-inch 1,024 by 600-pixel touchscreen, virtual keyboard and Wi-Fi
802.11b/g. The 0.63-inch-thick device will come in 60GB and 120GB hard-drive
versions with a choice of black or white. Features include a 1.3-megapixel built-in
Web cam, optical track-point mouse, 1GB of RAM,
Bluetooth, Skype software for audio/video conferencing, built-in stereo
speakers, removable lithium-polymer battery, two high-speed USB ports and Ethernet port.
The company expects
them to be compatible with 3G-cellular USB
modems.
