By Want a beefy Android Tablet that looks more like a photo frame than anything else? Lucky you – ARCHOS has just announced their ARCHOS 8 Home Tablet:
The ARCHOS 8 home tablet is the first 8’’ home digital device to help keep the family connected to each other. The ARCHOS 8 Home Tablet is perfect for displaying family pictures through the digital photo frame application, for web browsing, accessing web services.
At just 12 mm in thickness and weighing around 400 g (0.9 Ib), the ARCHOS 8 is a product that’s equally at home in the kitchen, in the living room, office or entry. Instant on for quick web searchs, social network updates, photos, videos.
The ARCHOS 8 Home Tablets offer far more than just picture or video viewing. Services such as Cookineo, a cooking recipes app, local weather information and business directories simplify household chores and help users to plan their days.
While email, social networking services and a family calendar app, help the family to keep in touch and schedule their lives on one tap on the screen.
Is that “frame” a little too much bezel for your tastes? No problem – the company also just announced the ARCHOS 7 Home Tablet which looks much more like the traditional tablets you’ve seen roaming around in public:
The ARCHOS 7 Home Tablet is the first 7’’ Android tablet to deliver the Internet and all the applications for your digital lifestyle whether you’re lying on the couch or you’re out and about, for a breakthrough price of just $179. The ARCHOS 7 Home Tablet sports a 7’’ touch screen and a slim form factor of only 12 mm thick. Weighing approximately 350 g (0.8 Ibs), the ARCHOS 7 Home Tablet is extremely portable and can be easily carried around the home.
With the ARCHOS 7 Home Tablet, users will always be in touch with the world around them through easy access to information services such as news, weather and local business directories. The video player software provides a great movie and YouTube™ viewing experience.
With built-in Wi-Fi, the ARCHOS 7 Home Tablet can easily be connected to a home network, while the built-in USB connection makes transferring files from a PC or a USB stick simple.
This tablet consumes power at a very modest rate thus allowing up to 7 hours of video playback and up to 44 hours of music from a full battery charge.
Definitely two different form factors for two different intended purposes. We don’t typically see the larger “frame” used in an Android kind of way but, if you’ve got some disposable dollars, I can see it being something cool to keep in a trafficked area like the kitchen for quick access to info and whatnot.
And here is a little overview of both directly from the ARCHOS website:
The ARCHOS 7 and the ARCHOS 8 Home Tablets are two new Android™-based multimedia tablets specifically designed for home use to enhance one’s digital lifestyle. The ARCHOS Home Tablet range bridges the gap between the Smartphone and the desktop PC to provide always-on access to the web and multimedia content in a large-screen format. Their screen sizes are 7” and 8” respectively.
The ARCHOS Home Tablets are designed for use in the bedroom, the back yard or the kitchen – the hub of the modern home. Large, high resolution screens make them perfect devices for browsing the web, reading and sending email, enjoying photos, watching videos, listening to music, playing games, and much more.
The new devices align with ARCHOS’ strategy to introduce innovative electronic products with extremely aggressive pricing. In this case, the first large-screen Android devices at affordable prices, starting from $179 .
The ARCHOS Home Tablets create a new range of Android tablets based on an ARM 9 processor @ 600 MHz which will run alongside ARCHOS’ existing Internet Tablets, offering functions, features and applications suited to the home. A complete new range of ARCHOS Internet Tablets, based on an ARM Cortex up to 1 GHz, will also be launched in the summer 2010 offering a richer set of features with screen sizes from 3” to 10”.
ARCHOS is saying a Summer 2010 launch which other sources are claiming means April for the ARCHOS 7 and May for the ARCHOS 8 – but that remains to be seen.
If these would’ve been released right when the first digital photo frames were, this would be HUGE. But alas, here is archos in a tablet centric world not putting out the best product.
I don’t know, Phil…I have a G1 (upgrading soon) and I use google calendar/tasks etc to manage my home (i.e. I send my kids their chores through gmail). This would be PERFECT to mount on my fridge for recipes, calendars, email etc. I’d be happy to use an android tablet that has the same feel as my phone. But then again, I’m a tech mom, and speed/performance isn’t my first concern.
Phil: I will probably buy one of these when they come out. When my cell contract was up last year, I was torn between the Moto Droid and G’Zone Rock. The fact that you have to buy a data plan with the Droid killed it for me – so I got the G’Zone, but my wife got the Droid. I have been Jonesing for a Droid Tablet that I can either use with WiFi, or in remote areas use Bluetooth to go online via cell phone tethering. This looks like it fits the bill! With the money I saved by not going with the data plan I can buy one of these.
With a 3G USB modem, this will be truly a device for the modern web surfer
What does 3G USB modem with a device (archos 8?) mean? Something new? More than a modern web surfer? Can I make something more with a device and social media? Tell me if I can!
i have my archos5 internet tablet and got it from radioshack($249), thing about it was the price totally high end compared buying ipod touch at 4.8 inch and a lot of great specs onboard…but it it’s 3g and 1ghz processor,i might say its very good, sad to say nothing in it… The entrance of archos 7home tablet at ($279) and almost same specs to archos5 internet tablet, i definitely recommend this product…but consider those upcoming archos3″-10″ and got 1ghz of processor starting below 100bucks..i must say they may hit the market…tnx!