Archos targets Cost Conscious Tablet Segment

Apple’s latest iPad has created a feeding frenzy at its stores, with an estimated 3 million tablets sold in three days- numbers that top what most of its rivals have sold in the last two years.

Yet while everybody keeps asking the question of when the next iPad killer will be released and if it will be a Windows 8 or an Android product, they seem to lose sight of the larger issues.

Amazon’s Kindle Fire took off because it met a pent up need in the market, not because it was an iPad killer. Others are also looking at selling into distinct segments- some will go head to head with Apple and I am sure that in the future we will see some of them succeed.

Looking for a tablet but do not want to wait in line at the Apple store for a budget busting product? Well Archos may have what you are looking for as the company has delivered a pair of tablets looking to appeal to the thrift consumer. While looking around at rivals to Apple I noticed that last week the company had upgraded its products with the Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) operating system and now seems like a good time to take a look at what it is offering.

Archos has been targeting this space for some time but still works to deliver high quality products and this looks to be the same. The latest two offerings are the Archos 80 G9 and the Archos 101 G9 with prices starting around $300.

The Archos 80 G9 is powered by a Texas Instruments 1.5GHz dual core OMAP processor and comes with an 8-inch touch screen display with 1024 x 768 resolution with full support for 1080p video. It has a variety of storage options allowing users to have from 8GB of flash storage or a 250GB hard drive. The hard drive version features 2GBs of flash cache so that it limits the amount of time the system needs to access the hard drive.

The tablet features a 720p front facing camera that can be used with Google Talk for video chatting with an individual or with Google+ Huddle for group chats. It also features Picsel Smart Office preinstalled so you can read and edit your Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.

The Archos 101 G9 has very similar specifications to the 80 G9 with some slight differences. It has a 10-inch display with 1280 x 800 resolution and features the option of a 1GHz processor as well as the 1.5GHz offering. Storage, camera and apps are relatively the same.

While it does not have the flash that Apple offers with its iPads such as the very high resolution display or the tailored apps that Apple has created for use with the iPad, it also does not have the price tag involved. For a solid entry level tablet Archos looks to have a solid offering for users that understand what they need in a tablet and buy based on that

While it does not have the flash that Apple offers with its iPads such as the very high resolution display or the tailored apps that Apple has created for use with the iPad, it also does not have the price tag involved. For a solid entry level tablet Archos looks to have a solid offering for users that understand what they need in a tablet and buy based on that.