The bargain bin Tablets from Archos have up until now provided some super affordable products at modest build quality and specs. However so far the lineup from Arnova and above have all featured Android 2.2 Froyo as their OS of choice, well make way for the first of their 3.1 Honeycomb powered slates. The G9 series is comprised of two models, the 8-inch 80 and the 10-inch 101 with 8GB of internal storage although a 250GB mechanical drive is optional. The 80 provides a resolution of 1024 x 768 and starts from $299 while the 101 bumps the display to 1280 x 800 for $369. Easily the cheapest 8 and 10-inch Tablets running Honeycomb on the market today they bare a strong resemblance to the 7-inch Archos 70 Internet Tablet we reviewed back in April.
Both G9 Tablets feature support for full HD 1080p video playback and full sized USB ports. Under the hood the processor architecture comes from Texas Instruments with a dual-core 1.5 GHz CPU inside. Archos have also included an optional 3G stick for those times when your outside of Wi-Fi coverage. Other common features found in both Tablets are capacitive touchscreens, 720P webcams, widescreen viewing angles and the popular kickstands at the back, which prop the devices up and make them ideal for watching movies on a table or for use as digital photo frames. At present we are expecting a September release. Mediocre build quality not withstanding, if Archos can improve the stability of their hardware and software implementation, along with correcting some Wi-Fi issues they might just have the surprise wallet saving hit Tablet lineup of the year.
