The Archos 43 and the Archos 70 that we posted about previously have finally been released. The Archos 43, featuring a 4.3 inch touchscreen display, Android 2.2 Froyo, WiFi, and HDMI output, and 16 GB of storage, is finally shipping for $250. This seems like a fair price to pay, but unfortunately there is still no Android Market support. The Archos 70, as you might have expected, features a 7 inch touchscreen display with a 1 GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor, 8 GB of storage, a microSD card slot, Android 2.2 Froyo, WiFi, Bluetooth, and a front-facing camera. All this comes in an 11 ounce package that is just 0.43 inches thin. Unfortunately, as with the Archos 43, the Archos 70 does not have Android Market support. The Archos 70 has been released and is selling for $280, which seems like a great price to pay considering that the smaller screen Archos 43 is going for $250. A 250 GB hard drive version of the Archos 70 should also be released shortly for $350. If you would like to see the full specifications of the entire line of new Archos tablets, please visit our previous post. Overall, at these price points and boasting the specifications that they do, the Archos 43 and the Archos 70 seem like pretty good competitors in today's tablet market, except for the lack of Android Market support, of course.
There's a good reason why these tablets are low cost...they do not contain the phone-features listed in the requirements for the android market...hence google won't certify the device, but that doesn't mean it's a bad device.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of phone features isn't the a reason that Google doesn't certify devices or give them the Android market. They have given plenty of tablets without phone features the Android Market, for example, the WiFi Galaxy Tab. Also, there are plenty of hacks that will allow you to add the Android Market. Even if you don't have the Android Market, it isn't that big of a downside because you can download all of the applications via other services.
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