Should Amazon be worried that ARCHOS has just announced a 7 inch Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) tablet for $199? If I were faced with a buying decision between the Kindle Fire and this new ARCHOS 70b Internet Tablet, I would pick the ARCHOS due to the specs alone. The processor is faster than the Fire’s at 1.2Ghz, it has an HDMI out port, a SD card slot and the full app market. It won’t be in stores till January, but that’s just a hop, skip and a jump away. Which tablet would you choose between the two? Full press release after the jump.
ARCHOS Unveils the ARCHOS 70b Internet Tablet, the First Android Honeycomb Tablet Under $200
DENVER, CO – (December 20, 2011) – ARCHOS, an award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, announced today the upcoming availability of the first android 3.2 ‘’Honeycomb’’ tablet under $200, the ARCHOS 70b internet tablet. The new ARCHOS 70b IT is an enhanced version of the ARCHOS 70 IT Gen 8 that features an upgraded capacitive touch screen and a powerful processor at 1.2 GHz.
The ARCHOS 70b internet tablet runs Android 3.2 Honeycomb, Google’s full suite of mobile applications with Android MarketTM, giving users access to over 300,000 applications such as games, books, social media and news. With Honeycomb, users will have faster and smoother transitions between different applications, and more intuitive navigation to and from home screens.
Very slim and light, the newest version of the ARCHOS 70 internet tablet Gen 8, offers the best performances in terms of portability, immediate internet access, multimedia, apps and affordability. This new version has a higher resolution capacitive screen (1024 x 600) for vibrant colors and crisp clarity and has doubled the RAM to 512 MB for a smoother web experience and more efficient multi-tasking.
This connected mobile device with a sublime user interface, 3D Graphics accelerator and Wi-Fi connectivity, also comes with a full pack of connected apps such as a web browser and email application, HDMI output and Micro SD connectivity.
With this enhanced Android tablet, users will benefit from:
• An affordable price starting at $199 for 8GB
• Smoother multi-tasking and a faster web experience thanks to the upgraded RAM
• Brighter colors with a high resolution capacitive screen
• Android 3.2 Honeycomb, the Android version designed for a tablet
• Access to a full array of apps with the Android Market and its 300,000 apps such as news, eMagazines, eBooks, social media, games and more
• A full multimedia experience with upgraded multimedia ARCHOS apps for video and music
• HDMI output, giving users full access to their Android experience on their TV including all the pre-loaded apps, video playback, 3D games, photos and all the Android Market apps
Availability & Price The ARCHOS 70b internet tablet will be available in stores starting in January with the recommended retail price of $199.
About ARCHOS ARCHOS, pioneer in the portable audio and video player market, and now specializing in Android Tablets, has repeatedly revolutionized the market for consumer electronics since 1988. Today, ARCHOS offers Android Internet Tablets, Tablet PCs and MP3/MP4 players. In 2000, ARCHOS launched the Jukebox 6000, the first MP3 player combined with a hard disk. Then in 2003 ARCHOS introduced the first portable multimedia players with TV recording. In 2006 Wi-Fi is implemented and then touch screens in 2007. In 2008, ARCHOS launched the first generation Internet Tablets, and then the first ever Android powered tablets in 2009. ARCHOS has offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. ARCHOS is quoted on Compartment C of Eurolist, Euronext Paris, ISIN CodeFR0000182479. Website: www.archos.com.
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Have tried two 7″ units (amazon’s Fire, leader’s impression)…as a reader and for videos, they are fine. However, web surfing is just no good at that size.
Both renders the pages just fine, but they are way too small to read! Until there are 7″ specific layouts, forget about practical surfing with a 7″ tablet.
@rainy I agree with you. The web surfing experience in 7 inch devices isn’t all its crackec up to be. At least not yet.
I dot know if Archos is first, but I bought my Ainol Novo 7 a few weeks ago and it has Honeycomb 3.2 installed with 4.0 upadate coming soon.
@Loue Well I guess if you have a 7″ device with Honeycomb, you do have the first one as the Archos tablet isn’t available till January 🙂 How do you like the Novo 7? I’ve not heard of that brand.
Amazon Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble Nook Color/Tablet have much more expensive displays than is likely to be found on this or other inexpensive tablets.
When you get to 8GB storage size you really should have an easy cloud service attached. Does Archos do anything like that? I guess you could just install Amazon’s music service and Netflix.
It’s nice to see the tablets come down in price. One wonders how Archos is selling at that price if Amazon is really taking a loss on every Kindle Fire?
I was looking for a few reviews on a smaller tablet that I could use to stave off boredom on my daily commute, and saw this announcement about the Archos 70b internet tablet.
I read the article and the follow-up comments, and Loue Tarfas’ comment caught my eye. I had never heard of Ainol either and I thought I was really ‘tech-savvy’. lol
This piqued my interest and after some hours on Google, I seem to have discovered a gem. The Ainol Novo7 Aurora, that was launched a few weeks ago and the specs are quite impressive – Android 4.0 Icecream sandwich, 5 point multitouch capacitive IPS screen, 8gb of internal memory, and more for about £170. That fits just right for what I want.
It doesnt come with the access to the Android market, but there is a root fix for that. a video review is available on slatedroid . com.
What do you guys think?
Cheers.