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Yea, we’re still drooling over the Archos G9 tablet, what with the impressive list of specs it boasts at such affordable price points, and all. We can’t help but to sniff out more and more we can about this device. A video of the device has been uncovered showing off its viewing angles. To be honest, it’s quite impressive just how clear the picture is when looking at it from the several angles we see here. Unfortunately, color does look washed out on the 10.1 inch display but that could be due to the video. And for the brief few seconds they actually used the device, this thing looks maddeningly quick. Check it out for yourself above and check here if you need a refresher on the specs that will likely leave you devoid of breath. [Thanks Richard!]
Anyone else think its funny that they’re using a Samsung TV for the video out?
what else should they use?
its not like they manufacture their own TVs ;)
man im still waiting for the catch on this devices.
right now they just seem to be to good to be true.
looks like we finally have a manufacturer who just wants to produce a good device that is combatitively priced.
Archos does the same every year, they always come with the best value. Last year, their Archos 70 Internet Tablet was $275 vs $699 for a Samsung Galaxy Tab or Archos 101 Internet Tablet was $299 vs $550 average for iPad1. The year before then, Archos 5 Internet Tablet (the worlds first Android tablet) was $249 vs $249 iPod Touch or somekind of non-Android touch screen devices from Samsung and a few others, it took Dell a year to come with a similar $500+ Dell Streak (lacking multimedia, kick-stand…). When Archos cuts corners they do it for the consumer, they do it to keep prices reasonable. For example here on G9 they seem to be using TN screens, that perhaps halves the screen cost compared to IPS but on the other hand the newest TN screens have excellent quality and viewing angles, LCD tech always gets improved every year. Archos uses 3G Stick method instead of built-in 3G, that halves cost of 3G and also makes it much cheaper and easier for Archos to manufacture them, since all G9 devices are 3G compatible instead of having to manufacture half of each type complicating manufacture and distribution process. They developped their own casing system also halving cost on the casing. People sometimes complained last year’s Archos was too light, since they don’t use NASA technology for casing like everyone else does, it lowers their weight and allows them to use larger battery in thinner form factor and also provides space for things like kick-stands and hard drives which nobody else does on the market. You can do native 720p video conferencing on the 101 G9 tablet natively, how cool is that? You might even be able to do 1080p video conferencing using HDMI output if it supports a 1080p USB webcam, basically the hardware can support 1080p video conferencing in 30fps on the HDTV, it’s only a question of 1080p USB webcam driver support.
wow!
thanks for all the insight.
you dont happen to know anything about a release date?
or maybe you can make an educated guess.
September is a guess. But it depends on several things, maybe they can ramp up production sooner and start shipping sooner, perhaps they want to extend production a bit to have more volume available a bit later. Archos is a small 100-employee company so they don’t have the production budget of Apple or some of the other Tegra2 tablet makers, but they recently got a $43 Million investment so they can probably afford to ramp production better and faster than they did previous years, even though now the products keep getting more and more advanced and more and more complicated. Looking at the initial videos from the G9 launch in Paris, the Honeycomb software seems to run pretty smoothly already, although they said they still have some optimizations to do before shipping. And the OMAP4460 also needs to be in full mass production, I don’t know if it is yet.
Thanks for the info Charbax, You always got all the full Archos details. I have been following your posts online for months now. Great job, Archos evangelist. I am hoping to do the same for Archos across Africa. I think their products will do very well here.
How long do you think its going to take you to own one for yourself? do you guys(and i mean bloggers/reviewers) can get to play/own devices sooner than release dates? I am asking this because I am waiting for your review to get me the 101 G9 in any configuration i can get my hands on.
change your name to joedumb03 immediately.
No problem, I have been searching the web pretty far for similar videos. This was probably the best and most informative I found.
The g9’s look amazing. They got some great specs, and an amazing pricepoint (although with most archos stuff, I’d wait until some reviews are out because they’re very “hit or miss”). Id love to buy one, but with all the rumors of Tegra3 devices coming out soon, its tough to not wait too… Although I cant imagine tegra3 devices will be anywhere near this cheap, but it could force prices of tegra2 devices waaayy down. Even then though, the g9’s look better than most tegra2 tabs, and I doubt tegra 2 tabs will be this cheap either…
These g9’s really do have a lot going for them right now.
They problem with their product is the release date, september is just too long to wait especially knowing that by that point there will be next gen tablets with quadcores and such, and that ice cream sandwich is only 2 months away
I am definitely buying one these tablets. The price point is just to good to pass up, in my opinion. If it sucks, I will just return or sell it. Actually scratch that I will keep it no matter what. There are also some pretty decent China made tablets at Merrimobiles, Deal Extreme, and JTShop if you wanted to check out affordable tablets. They might not have Honeycomb but, they are more than capable of getting the job done.
Look how ashy that screen gets. I hate LCD
Doesn’t look all that good when it’s head on.
Too bad that they did not bring out a 7″ version, probably due to Honeycomb not being compatible yet and then they went with the square 8″ instead. Oh well, hopefully they will bring one out when Honeycomb 3.2 comes out.
Is it known yet if these new tablets will have the same tethering functionality as the original Archos internet tablets?