The Archos 101 G9 has a dual-core 1.5GHz CPU, 512MB of RAM, 1280×800 screen, and comes pre-installed with Android 3.2 Honeycomb — but fear not, you can upgrade the Archos 101 G9 (or Archos 80 G9 for that matter) to Android 4.0 Honeycomb with an update offered officially from Archos which you can download by selecting your product right here.
You can find a detailed list of specs and more at the Archos 101 G9 tracking page in our mobile device database.
We’re really looking forward to Archos’ new G9 tablets, their inexpensive price and unique features are going make them a welcomed addition to the world of Honeycomb tablets.
As Charbax of ARMdevices.net shows us, the TI OMAP 4460 found in the G9 tablets will run at different speeds depending upon the capacity (and the price) of the tablet that you purchase.
When Archos first announced the Archos 80 G9 and the 101 G9, they were said to eventually be available in 8/16/250GB capacities, while other specs would remain the same. However, at IDF they are now showing that the 8GB variant of both models will run at 1GHz instead of 1.5GHz.
The lower capacity makes sense to bring down the price even further and offer additional choice to customers. What I don’t quite understand is the lower clock speed. As far as I can tell, the 8GB model of the 80 and 101 is still running the same CPU as the 16/250GB models. Feel free to correct me on this, but I can’t think of any additional fee that would be incurred to use a different clock speed on the CPU, so I have to wonder why they are lowering the speed on the 8GB variants.
My best theory is that Archos wants the more expensive models to be the most appealing, and give an additional incentive for going with one of the higher capacity units. If that’s the case, I can’t help but feel like they’re artificially giving users of the 8GB variants the shaft, though I’m hoping there is something less dubious behind it.
Archos confirmed US pricing for the 16GB variants of the 80 and 101 back when they were first announced; $270 and $349 respectively, and we should see the other models officially priced soon. Charbax has the official EU prices for all models here. The G9 80 and 101 will become available at the end of September, according to Archos.
Chippy is on the IDF show floor and we’ll see if he can get this question about the CPU speed answered for us.
We’ve just finished adding the recently announced Archos 80 G9 and the 101 G9 to our mobile product database where you can find official specifications, popularity charts, links, photos, and more. Have a look here:
We’ll be keeping a close eye on these exciting upcoming devices along with plenty of others. You can browse through our entire database here, which features hundreds of mobile devices!
It’s getting somewhat difficult to sort out the wheat from the chaff when it comes to low cost tablets now. For me, someone that has good devices knocking around, it’s even more difficult to find something that stands out.
One device that has piqued my interest over the last few weeks though has been the Archos 101. Personally I’m not too interested in it but it’s not me I’m thinking about. I’m thinking about the family coffee table, parents and grandparents, maybe even the car. As I mentioned in my Sept 3rd hands-on, it’s a good value product that could work well as a gift. The iPad would look better on the coffee table of course but at a starting price of 499 Euros, it’s out of the ‘gift’ price range for many.
What are you going to use this coffee-table gadget for? Ignore email, Twitter, Facebook and anything else that needs an account because when you share a single-user Android device with the family, you’re at risk. What the family needs (possibly) is a flexible on/offline video player, image viewing, web browsing and gaming, a bus/train/flight timetable, holiday booking, Wikipedia and other casual activities. Pure entertainment. You won’t be worried about mobile use (although portability is important) so the low-cost 10 inch screen devices seem to be a perfect fit. Video codec support is will be needed for supporting all the different types of videos thrown at it and TV-Out support goes hand-in-hand with that. SD card or USB on-the-go is also useful. A stand, critical. A full applications market would be great but I think that many can live with a set-up phase that includes a bit of sideloading if it’s going to save them the money.
The Archos 101, at just 299 Euros, looks like the ideal device. It’s Archos which means you’ve got their history to take into account and late delivery of products, quality and upgrades is something that I got hit with on the Archos 5 Internet Tablet. As Froyo has already been released for the 101, at least the major upgrade has been delivered. The community is strong with this one too and hacks, tips and tricks will be freely available.
The Archos 101 is a device that a lot of people are looking at this holiday period. I’m getting a lot of queries about it and even after reading a review of the Advent Vega yesterday, I still see the 101 as being the most interesting of the low-cost 10 inch devices. Yes, the Toshiba Folio 100 has a content store for audio and video but its quite a bit more expensive.
The only thing that worries me about the 101 is the hardware. Tracy and Matt have a review that isn’t positive at all about the hardware. There are mentions of screen viewing angle problems and also other issues but I can’t see any general consensus that the Archos 101 is a bad product so right now I’m putting this one at the top of my 10 inch Android list and might even venture out soon to buy one.
Pre-orders are not yet available but you can sign up for availability notifications from Dynamism on their Purchase page. We’ll hopefully see these tablets start to become available in mid-October, but Archos hasn’t said anything official just yet.
10” consumer tablets don’t seem to make much sense to me. I can’t think of any scenarios that need that much space apart from newspaper and magazine typesetting. Sure, a netbook running a multi-windowing OS could use a whole lot more space but when I look at Android tablets that show one window at a time through apps that were created for a maximum 5” screen I have a problem. Having said that, there’s a special feeling one gets when touching and moving huge web pages smoothly across such an area when the screen is only 50cm from your face. Video becomes more immersive too, especially when it’s good quality. The challenge is to create a large screen at a very low weight. A low price always helps too!
The Archos 101 [specifications and details] does 10” in 480gm. That’s an impressive size/weight ratio and when you add in a price of just $300 you have to agree that Archos have set out in the right direction with the 101.
Its almost no surprise that the Archos 101 doesn’t include Google Applications but there’s a lot more to get excited about. A full range of codec support, USB host (with full-size USB port) and a good level of processing power. It looks good too which is important when you’re aiming for as many coffee tables as possible.
Personally I still think that 7” makes more sense for a single-window experience but if you’re looking for an impressive gift for yourself, big is always better right?
Full specifications are in the database, a Chippy hands-on is shown below and we hope to be testing this out further as soon as we can. Note that the test devices at IFA were all running Android 2.1 Android 2.2 will, without a doubt, speed this up to very acceptable levels.
It’s just so depressing to see this. 2nd generation Android tablets coming out from Archos that still don’t have Google apps included. No contacts sync. No Gmail. No Buzz. No Maps. No Latitude. No Market. Again – No Google Market!
I hate to start on such a low note but really, haven’t we all learned that an Android device without Google apps is only half an Android product?
[and relax…]
Moving on to the details then. We have two sub 4 inch devices that we’re not covering here, a 4.3 inch device (Archos 43) with a resistive (cough) screen that will ‘eventually’ replace the Archos 5 (according to Engadget this will also upset the patient Archos 5 owners that are wanting 2.x upgrades) , a 7 inch tablet (Archos 70) with a capacitive screen…wait for it… at 800×480 resolution and a 10 inch device (Archos 101) with a 420 gram, 1024×600 capacitive screen.
It’s the 10 inch device that appears to have the right ingredients. At 420gm that’s ebook-light and if Archos are including their video playback skills (we assume they are due to the HDMI-out) then you’ve got yourself a flexible friend there assuming you can handle a bit of sideloading.
There’s a ton of specs on the Archos UK site and they include Android 2.2, a 1Ghz CPU and multitouch on the capacitive screens. Unfortunately, I don’t see any mention of 3G.
Sellout.Woot has the Archos 101 G9 Turbo on sale (for one day only, as is Woot’s style) for a reasonable $259 (permalink). The price has been dropped $20 from when we saw the same product on sale from Woot back in February for $279. This is a brand new 8GB WiFi-only version of the Archos 101 G9, though, unlike most tablets, you can add data connectivity thanks to a USB modem that can be optionally added after purchase. The ‘Turbo’ in the name denotes that this unit is clocked to 1.5GHz instead of 1.2GHz (an arbitrary limitation as far as we can tell). The cheapest you’ll be able to find the Archos 101 G9 from Amazon is currently $302, which means the Woot deal will save you $43 (14%) off that price.
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