At the end of August, we alerted you of the Archos GamePad. Archos claims that it is “the first true Android games console”. With a price tag of just £129.99 ($208) and the specs to back it up, the GamePad may be the gaming tablet of the Holiday Season 2012.

In a press release on Thursday, Archos put the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean gaming tablet up for sale. The main focus of the device is to hit the Android market in which Android users spend over 9 hours a month gaming. Furthermore, the Acer GamePad has the following specs:

• Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
• Google Play and Google Mobile Services
• 7″ 1024 x 600 pixel display
• 14 physical buttons and dual “analogue” sticks
• 1.6GHz dual-core processor
• Mali 400mp quad-core GPU
• 10 mm (0.3 inch) thin body
• Weight of 330g (0.7 lbs)

The Archos GamePad will also sport a completely new mapping tool for games. As you can see in the video below, the tool makes it incredibly easy to integrate the GamePad’s physical controls with touchscreen games. Take a look:

What do you think about the Archos GamePad? Will you be buying one this Holiday Season? Let us know in the comments below.

[ Source ]

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As its name implies, the 97 Carbon features a 9.7-inch 5X multitouch IPS screen. There’s Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich under the hood and, thankfully, there is full access to Google Play and the full suite of Google apps right out of the box. Power comes by way of a 1GHz processor and 1GB of RAM. The 16GB model has the same $249.99 retail price as the 16GB Nexus 7, but the 97 Carbon also has a microSD expansion slot and a full-sized USB host port. It has the bigger screen too, as mentioned.

More information can be found on the official page on the Archos website. Expect the Archos 97 Carbon to launch later this month.

[Source]

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Way before the iPad even came into existence, Archos was selling what it called Internet Tablets. They were mostly reserved for tech-savvy users which resulted in being shifted to the sidelines at local retailers. You’d think that with all the iPads and Android tabs flooding the market Archos would fall off the face of the planet.  Not according to recent news from the company.

As it turns out, despite all the overwhelming attention that devices like the Galaxy Tab and Motorola Xoom are getting, Archos is doing just fine. In fact, they’re doing better than fine; they’re growing. This is despite the fact that the average Joe and Jane don’t even know about Archos at all.

In 2009, Archos raked in 57.9 million Euro in revenue. That number increased to 83.3 million Euro in 2010. They’ve experienced at two-fold increase in North America and a 116% growth in Europe. Most of the money, not surprisingly, is coming from its line of tablets like the Archos 70 IT and Archos 101 IT.

“By year end, the success of the Generation 8, especially ARCHOS 70 and ARCHOS 101 tablets, had exceeded all our expectations. The demand was such that we faced shortages in most stores. The demand is maintained at a high level in the current quarter, confirming the strong development potential of the tablet market and validating the strategic choices made very early in this area, more than two years ago.”

They’re still catering to the geekiest of the bunch, but there are more tech geeks today than there may have been a few years ago. And they haven’t even touched Honeycomb yet.

[via CrunchGear]

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Archos 101 Android Tablet with 10.1-inch LCD

Archos was already a major contender in the media player and Internet tablet market before the iPad had landed. Looking to re-establish itself as an industry leader, Archos has just announced no fewer than five new Android tablets. There’s even one that starts at under a hundred bucks.

The largest of the bunch is the Archos 101 Internet tablet with its 10.1-inch high-resolution screen, an HD multimedia support, and an adjustable kickstand. It also boasts a 1GHz processor, Bluetooth, USB, tethering support, HDMI TV out, accelerometer, 3D openGL technology, WiFi-n technology, and a PC-like web browsing experience. The Archos 101 ships this fall in 8GB ($300) and 16GB ($350) variants.

Offering many of the same features are the smaller Archos 70 Internet tablet and the Archos 43 Internet tablet. They get 7.0-inch and 4.3-inch color displays, rounded out by Android and Adobe Flash 10.1 players. The Archos 43 adds a 2MP HD camcorder to the mix as well. Look for the Archos 70 in 8GB ($275) and 250GB ($350) versions this fall too. The Archos 43 is only available as an 8-gigger for $200.

At the smallest end of the scale are the Archos 32 Internet tablet and Archos 28 Internet tablet. It’s probably more appropriate to call these MP3/MP4 players, but they are powered by Android. This means you get email, web browsing, social networking, and other apps, in addition to music and video streaming. The 4GB Archos 28 will be $100 and the 8GB Archos 32 will be $150 when they ship later this month.

ARCHOS introduces five new android tablets starting below
$100 [Archos]

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When we first heard of the Archos 7 two years back it sounded quite interesting, our impressions were that it was to be a PMP similar to the Archos 5, but times have changed and so has technology, and now Archos plans to ship it in March of this year as a Google Android tablet.

The Archos 7 sports a 7-inch LCD screen with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, 8GB onboard storage, expansion with an SD card slot, webcam and less than half an inch thick.

From devices I have come across, Archos always seemed to have been lacking in the software department. Sure it had Archos Media Center, which we don’t know if it will stick around for this release. But it’s great to see the company move in to something like Android, compatibility will be enormous, applications and games will become available, it will just become a more interesting and supported product that won’t disappear in to the ether.

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