Technopoda » Archos announces its Gen 8

Archos is well known for its achievements in the PMP and MP3 players areas. After all, Archos has been a pioneer in the MP3 players development, Apple didn’t invent that type of device, Archos had created MP3 players for a few years before the first Ipod was launched. Then Archos has fully developed PMP tactile devices, its 4th generation being the shinny years of that roadmap. The 5th generation has then been full of improvements and innovations, but it also has been source of failures from Archos: because of Apple and of the lack of interest from the mass market for that type of devices. The next generations, 6th and 7th, have shown a slow but significant move in the Archos’ strategy toward Android, Tablets and PMPs more and more web connected. The problem of those generations has been the strategy of Archos, more and more focused on “no name” Chinese cheap devices – which were attractive on the paper, but badly manufactured, badly thought and not well supported. Also, Archos has been well known for its lack of software support and its persistence to focus on specific technologies – like resistive screens for instance.

Today, Archos is presenting its new generation, what is going on with this 8th Gen? What are the new orientations and improvements?

The line-up introduced today includes a 2.8″ model, a 3″2 model, a 4″3 model, a 7″ model and a 10″ model.

It all starts with a special patent that allows the cases to be ultra thin. Instead of having a casing that’s 2 millimeters thin, the products have a 0.2 millimeters casing. As a result, the 7″ tablet weighs 300 grams with a 10 millimeters width. The 10″ model weighs 480 grams for 10 millimeters (compared to 680 grams for the iPad). We’ve been told that compared to most products on the market this means 12% more screen and that the models are 11% thinner and 30% lighter. The products are flat, which means that you can lay the down and not have them moving back and forth for awhile.

The entire line is Froyo and Flash ready (it suppose to be incoming…). When we asked, we were assured that Flash would work smoothly. That remains to be seen. The archos software for video/photo/music is integrated into Android. Apparently that will enable the tablets to show the user the synopsis and poster for the movie (even the pirate copies). Same goes for music files that will have album covers displayed.

The Android Market is not present but AppLibs replaces it. Archos has an agreement with Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and soon the Fnac chain ( a French equivalent). It also has a deal with a few 3D comic books distributors, 3D games, and some press applications as well as a German TV affiliate for English, German and French content. They insisted on showing us that Fring was pre-loaded and that they had 5000 apps available including Deezer, Spotify, Twitter and the Office Suite.

The line has WIFI n, Bluetooth, reads DVIX and for the bigger models it does so in HD. The resolution is 1024 by 600 pixels with a 1 GHZ processor.The cameras are all on the bottom. The 2.8″ doesn’t have as many functionalities as the other bigger tablets. Starting the 3² model you can connect them to the TV quite easily and use them as controllers (just like…you know…the other tablet).

Once again, except for the 2.8″ model, all tablets can connect to a smartphone’s 3G using Bluetooth (yes it is compatible with the…you know…iPhone).

The tablets work on PC and Mac with a FAT32 format. There an HDMI slot. Archos representatives raved about the possibility to have the internet on your TV with the tablets and the possibility to have streaming and transfers from and to your tablet. You can also plug in a Bluetooth keyboard but only a Qwerty (here it’s Azerty). The bigger models have a kickstand which is a big plus. The smaller ones are meant to be used as a super MP3 player with multiple functionalities.

The company decided on an aggressive pricing strategy with the smaller model starting at 99 euros. They hope to have multiple tablets per household, just like TVs. They may well achieve that since over here in France we have a 95% of multiple TV owners in the household.

Here are the specs: