Android Tablet: 10 Inch Tablet

Friday, 19 October 2012

10 Inch Tablet

Archos enters the tablet-with-keyboard market, competing for a spot at the top among a slew of hybrid devices. Its $399 price tag pits it against midrange Android devices such as the Asus Transformer Pad 300 and the Acer Iconia Tab A510. Though Archos is the underdog of the bunch, it shouldn't be overlooked; the top-tier brand has come up with a solid tablet that won't break the bank. The 101 XS is thin, lightweight, and seems stylish and sophisticated in white and gray—until you hold it. The combination of plastic, stainless steel, and aluminum looks like an attempt at what "special limited edition" is supposed to look like. Still, it's a major step up from last year's G9 series. And coming in at only 8-mm thick and weighing 600 grams, it beats the latest iPad by the smallest of margins. On the tablet's left side you'll find micro-SD, micro-USB, and mini-HDMI ports, plus a 3.5-mm headphone jack. On the right you'll find the power button and a volume up/down rocker that's neatly recessed so you don't accidentally press it (a problem I had on the Archos G9). A mono speaker is integrated on the rightfront side of the display and the front camera is to the left, allowing for video chatting.

Under the hood, the 101 XS comes loaded with a dual-core 1.2-GHz OMAP 4470 CPU with PowerVR SGX544 GPU and 1 GB of RAM. While it may not be the fastest tablet, swiping around the desktop, launching apps, and gaming were fluid and smooth. Once the 101 XS gets upgraded to Jelly Bean, the newest version of the Android OS (which should happen before the end of the year), we should see a big performance boost.