French gadget manufacturer Archos has today announced a new range of Android tablets, and they’re set to become the cheapest tablets with the Honeycomb OS.
Literally minutes ago Archos unveiled the 80 and 101 G9 Honeycomb tablets to a packed room in Paris.
The 80 is an 8-inch tablet, and as you may have guessed, the 101 is a 10.1-inch tablet, the same size as the Motorola Xoom or Asus Eee Pad Transformer.
Both tablets will run the very newest Android Honeycomb 3.1 when they go on sale, and will include Google certification, meaning that the Android Market and Google Maps will be on board. Despite Archos’ long-standing history with Android tablets, this is the first time they have released a Google certified device with the Android Market installed.
Dual-Core 1.5GHz processors made by Texas Instruments will power both devices, and storage will come in the form of 250GB mechanical and flash hard drives by Seagate. The option of both mechanical or flash storage is an interesting one, but Archos are offering the option for both tablets. If you opt for the mechanical 250GB hard drive, your tablet will only be 3mm thicker than the models using flash storage.
HDMI out will be supported as well as full HD 1080p playback. Archos’ legendary video format support will be on board, so you’ll struggle to find a video format that won’t play on these new tablets.
Both devices are Wi-Fi only, but interestingly you’ll be able to buy an external 3G dongle from Archos themselves for £49.99 that connects to a full-sized USB port.
By far the best thing about these new tablets is the price. Starting at £199 for the 8-incher and just £249 for the 10.1-inch device, these prices make the new G9 tablets the cheapest Honeycomb tablets on the market as far as we’re aware.
There’s no release date for the tablets confirmed yet but we’ll be sure to keep you posted.
Would you consider buying an Android Honeycomb tablet if it was this cheap? Let us know by dropping a comment below!