It seems like every company out there is trying to put out a tablet now a days, and Archos is no different.  With so many different ten inch tablets coming in costing more than $400 mark, they’re not as budget friendly as the smaller tabs for people who don’t need a full on computer (or want a little supplement that won’t break the bank) – Archos wants to change the mold there with this model.  While most tablets don’t bring much innovation to the table, sometimes you get something really neat like the G9.  Even though you could consider this a “budget” ten inch model, it still holds up relatively well to some of the more robust ten inch tabs.

The Archos G9 is loaded with nifty little features that you’ll be hard pressed to find in other tablets.  For one, it has a “kick stand” in the back of it – and this is something you would normally have to buy an expensive tablet case to get.  That alone is worth noting, because cases that offer something like that (and that actually deliver a useable stand) run $50+.  That’s money that you won’t need to spend once you get a G9 – something welcome in today’s economy.  The stand might look small and that it would be flimsy, but I found it to be very good quality, and perfect for watching a TV show or a movie on the go – provided you’re not trying to stream the media unless you’re on WiFi.  Unfortunately the G9 isn’t tied to any service provider for 3G out of the box, but Archos does sell an add-on adapter to enable 3G for the provider of your choice.  I understand the desire to give people the freedom to choose their own provider, but it would be nice to see the “3G Stick” included without an extra cost.  One thing about the add-on that is good though, is that it is a standard USB modem – meaning you can take it out of the tablet when you don’t need it, and drop it into a laptop so you only will need one data plan (One Plan to Cover Them All – apologies to Lord of the Rings fans everywhere for that).

One of the really big things that I love about this tablet, is that is has a micro-USB slot that allows you to hook up an external hard drive with the host adapter cable.  This is really great when paired with a portable external hard drive (like the Hitachi I reviewed last week), because you can really beef up your storage space with little effort.  All that extra storage will be necessary if you want to use the 10.1 G9 to the best of its abilities.  You see, while the G9 plays games as well as any other tablet, and runs productivity apps at a respectable speed, it’s true power is the ability to lay out true HD video using basically every codec under the sun.

The media player that is on board the 10.1 G9 tablet can handle literally any media format you throw at it, and deliver crisper images than some of the more expensive tabs I’ve played with (the Thrive for example).  With a 1280 X 800 LCD screen, you can be sure that anything you want to watch will be beautiful, and it can be viewed from a number of different angles (something I had issues with on other tablets).  To have all of this in a 0.1 inch tablet running Honeycomb coming in right around $300 is crazy (depending on where you get it, the 10.1 G9 can be found for as low as $299), and it’s consumers everywhere that will benefit from that craziness.

The battery life could have been a little bit better in my opinion, but really for the price I can’t complain.  In reality, that’s where any complaint you could potentially levy against the 10.1 G9 falls flat.  Because the price is SO ridiculously low, there’s no reason to complain about things that tablets costing twice as much have.  My Galaxy Tab only lasted just over an hour longer running movies non stop, and base model of that runs $150 – $200 more than this tab; and let’s not even compare the Thrive against it.  Against everything else, that low price is such a shining point that you’ll end up forgetting about little petty things (like the awkward button placement, or overly large area to hold onto it).

The only MAJOR issue with the 10.1 G9 is the amount of RAM that it comes with.  While 1 GB is the minimum for most other tabs, the G9 ships with only 512 MB.  Now this doesn’t affect most of the “casual” tablet games, but try loading a website with a lot of things on it, and you will see performance drop to a crawl.  If you root it and drop an Android manager in though, you can manage that performance drop a bit, and at least make it useable.  The fault isn’t completely on the G9 for that though – vanilla Honeycomb is notorious for memory leaks after time.

Editor’s Rating:

4 out of 5 stars

Great

The Bottom Line:  If you’re in the market for a tablet that is cheap, and incredibly good at playing videos of all kinds (and is at least decent at most other tablet tasks), then look no further – if you’re going to be doing things that eat up RAM though I would look elsewhere (for now).

Pros:

• Easily one of the best video players I’ve had the opportunity to use on a tablet
• Such a low price point for a decent tablet will encourage more people to jump on the tablet bandwagon
• The “kick stand” on the rear of the G9 is perfect for watching movies while relaxing

Cons:

• Only 512 MB of RAM really means that performance takes a hit at times
• The button placement is extremely awkward, and the outer casing is a bit bigger than it really needs to be
• While the 3G Stick is a great idea, it would have been nice to see it come standard in the box

You can pick up an Archos 10.1 G9 Tablet from Amazon for $327.55

Best Buy is offering a superior price on this Archos 501638 4GB Flash Portable Media Player!

Portable music doesn’t always have to be an expensive affair, as evidenced by this very decently priced Archos MP3 player which is now even cheaper than before! For under $20 you can grab this player which sports 4GBs of internal storage for about a thousand songs of space as well as an impressive 20 hour battery life perfect for use on the go. It supports a variety of popular formats as well, including MP3, WAV, FLAC and more as well as AVI videos which you can watch on its display. It’s also super compact which is perfect for the on-the-go methodology it promotes, so grab some headphones and load on your favorite tunes to go.

They’ve got this media player for $10 cheaper than Amazon and they’re including free shipping, making the final price $17.99.  Add tax for most states.

GadgetReview is giving away an Archos 4.3 Tablet to one luck GadgetReview reader!

The Archos 4.3 is an Android tablet that boasts a 4.3-inch touchscreen and 8GB of storage. It’s powerful processor can playback hi-def movies, allow you to access your email just about any where you go and play the latest 3D games thanks to OpenGL 3D graphic support. But that’s not all. The Archos 4.3 has a camera that can capture full HD videos and is one of the lightest and thinnest Android tablets on the market today making it suitable for those on the go. Other features include WiFi, Bluetooth, an HDMI port and a microSD card slot for additional storage.

We’re giving away one of these to one GadgetReview reader for FREE. To enter just LIKE our Facebook Fan Page and then leave a comment on the associated Facebook post telling us which comic book hero you’d like to go toe to toe with (as in fight).  Again, you’ll need to head to our Facebook page and leave your comment on the post announcing this contest.

Will pick one winner at random from the comments, but in order to WIN you’ll have to Like Us and comment on Facebook. If you’d like a double entry, follow us on Twitter and retweet this contest.

This contest ends 10/2/2011 at 11:59 PST

It’s open to US residents in the continental US of A only.

The past week has surely left us with a variety of different sales, with items ranging from games to cameras and TVs some new pre-orders have also come along for the ride. Here’s 10 that made a mark:

10. Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-HX97 Digital Cameras – $279

Here’s a doozy of a discount, this feature packed Sony Cyber-Shot 16.2-MP Digital Camera has hit a rock bottom price and continues to remain at it for the time being. In order to see the price you either need to log in to Buydig or make a new account there, but either way these savings do exist and considering what this beauty is capable of there’s no going wrong here!

9. Toshiba 46SL417U 46-Inch LCD TV – $700

This is one we definitely thought would expire in short order, but the sale on this large 46-Inch Toshiba TV is still alive and kicking. This TV of course provides a full 1080p High Definition resolution but other features such as the 120Hz ClearFrame refresh rate, ultra-slim bezel and Wi-Fi connectivity paired with Internet widgets keep this one ahead of the pack. Don’t miss this low price!

8. Archos Arnova 501732 10-Inch Tablet – $140

Thanks to a coupon from TigerDirect you can make an extra $30 savings off the already low price of this interesting 10-Inch tablet from Archos. Though it may not be as powerful as leading brands we see commonly it still provides a full Android experience in a portable package and thanks to its 10-Inch display all Web sites can be viewed properly without the need for zooming in and out. Definitely check this one out!

7. Acer Aspire TimeLineX 11.6-Inch Netbook – $590

Amazon has you covered for savings on this shining star of a netbook! This Acer Aspire TimelineX netbook comes in with a super portable 11.6-Inch display but thanks to its powerful internals you’ll be zooming through applications and web browsing like its nothing. It includes a fast Dual-Core Intel i7-680UM CPU with 4GBs of DDR3 memory along with a large 500GB hard drive. The best part of course is it’s 8 hours of battery life!

6. Lenovo N5902 Multimedia Portable Keyboard – $40

Lenovo surely wants to knock sales out on this brand new item! With a coupon built right into this link you can grab the new and improved N5902 keypad which looks very similar to its predecessor but features fully backlit keys, a sleeker design and enhanced battery life. Don’t miss out on this one as it definitely won’t last long. Keep in mind that this product is brand new!

5. I-Inc IP191ABB 19-Inch LCD Monitor – $59

With all the PCs floating about getting your hands on the right monitor is crucial. But thanks to the new sale price on this I-Inc 19-Inch display you can get your hands on one for a super low price. This one comes with a 720p High Definition resolution along with a speedy 5ms response time and native 1,000:1 contrast ratio. A price like this is not something to shake a stick at and definitely won’t last much longer!

4. Maxell 723443 LR6 AA Batteries – $12

Amazon has slightly lowered the price on this one since we reported it and that just makes the deal even sweeter! Now’s the time to grab a bunch of these Maxell LR6 AA batteries at a fraction of the price you would generally pay for this many batteries. Regardless of all the lithium ion batteries we see these days there is certainly no shortage of devices which require AA batteries to operate, and that ranged from many cameras, TV remotes and toys for the kids.

3. Amazon: Buy 1 Video Game, Get another at half price sale

Yep, you heard right and this deal is still going strong! Choose from many different titles spread across many different platforms including Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo DS and even the new 3DS handheld. Raking in the savings couldn’t be easier, simply add 2 of the listed titles of your choice to your cart, and the second one you add will come to you at half price during your order. The best part is that they are already discounted to begin with!

2. Free $2 Amazon MP3 Credit

Now what can be better than free? For a limited time when you punch in the code: FALLMP3S you can net yourself $2 of free credit for Amazon’s MP3 store! The files come DRM free and are easy to play on anything from your computer, iPods and portable devices and even across your network. Thanks to Amazon’s cloud service you can automatically download your music onto any device straight from the cloud which makes the process even easier!

1. Pre-Order the Amazon Kindle Fire – $199

We’re very surprised this is still available, considering the popularity and pure power that the Kindle has to offer the new Kindle Fire tablet is definitely not something to ignore. For only $199 you can have your hands on this powerful device which includes a dual-core processor, 7-Inch display and full high definition resolution for viewing all sorts of content with ease. Oh and this one comes complete with full color as well!

TigerDirect is practically giving away this Archos Arnova 501732 10-Inch Android Tablet!

Now’s your chance to grab a full-featured tablet without the insane prices that usually go along with it. This Archos Arnova tablet comes in at a large 10-Inch screen size and is powered by the Android operating system for plenty of customization and apps. In addition to its 4GBs of internal storage the Arnova comes with a USB port and even a MicroSD slot right on the bottom for easy expansion of storage, which can come in handy considering the large array of HD video and picture formats that it supports. It also comes with full support for Wi-Fi connectivity and because of its 800 pixels of wide viewing space you can see the entirety of sites without zoom required, and that also makes social connectivity much easier as well. Don’t miss out on this steal of a price.

$30 in savings followed by a $30 Coupon (JSC44710) bring this 10-Inch tab down to $140. Shipping is free.

Today, ARCHOS unveiled their line of G9 tablets, which will be available this September in two sizes; 8-inch (80) and 10.1-inch (101).  Both ship with Android 3.0, an OMAP 4 processor with an ARM Cortex dual-core A9 running at 1.5 GHz, and Seagate’s 250GB hard drive.

By default both sizes are limited to WiFi connectivity, unless an optional 3G USB stick ($49), which inserts into a concealed USB port, is purchased.  ARCHOS doesn’t waste anytime pointing out that this 3G stick can also be paired with a laptop, and used on a pay-as-you-go-plan. An HDMI output insures that full HD video can be fed to an HDTV, while the 8-inch G9 can display a 720p picture on its 1024×768 screen and the 10.1-inch version a 1280×800 display.

Both sizes will cost $279 and $349 respectively.

DENVER, CO – June 23, 2011 – Today, ARCHOS, an award winning technology innovator and
pioneer in the tablet market, introduces an unrivaled combination of speed and storage with its
latest tablets featuring an OMAP 4 processor with an ARM
®
Cortex™ dual-core A9 running at
1.5 GHz and Seagate’s 250GB Hard Disk Drive (HDD) capacity.
The 8” ARCHOS 80 G9 and 10” ARCHOS 101 G9 are powered by Android
TM
3.1
“Honeycomb,’’* the latest Android version. ARCHOS G9 tablets come with Google’s full suite of
mobile applications and Android Market
TM
, giving users access to over 200,000 applications such
as games, books, social media and news. With the latest version of Honeycomb, G9 tablets also
offer a full web experience complete with Adobe
®
Flash
®
support for on-the-go web browsing,
communication and applications.
Additionally, the G9 tablets feature a unique 3G ready solution where customers no longer
need to choose between WiFi and 3G models at purchase. ARCHOS 3G Stick is a standard 3G
stick for laptops which has been designed to be compatible with all ARCHOS G9 tablets. All G9
tablets come with a concealed USB port on the back of the device that when paired with the
ARCHOS 3G USB Stick will enable 3G connectivity.
The G9 tablet range continues to push technological boundaries and features the following
innovations..
Fastest Tablet Experience Ever
ARCHOS have decided to push their G9 tablets even further by loading them out with a 1.5 GHz
dual-core OMAP 4 processor from Texas Instruments™. With 50% more raw computational
power, ARCHOS G9 tablets have the power needed for a great Android experience.
For example, with the 1.5 GHz OMAP 4 processor the ARCHOS G9 tablet enhance a user’s web
browsing experience with page load time reduced by up to 50% over tablets running the Nvidia
Tegra 2
TM
processor at 1 GHz.
All your HD multimedia in your hands or on TV
With the best multimedia experience, ARCHOS G9 tablets are the only tablets able to decode
1080p H264 High Profile videos whilst current standard tablets are not even able to play 720p
H264 High Profile smoothly.
ARCHOS have replaced the standard multimedia apps with ARCHOS boosted apps for video and
music to give to users more format compatibility and a unique user interface.
With film and TV series metadata automatically downloaded, even video files are automatically
organized by title, actor, director, year, season and episode, ARCHOS have redefined the tablet
device category by providing consumers more ways to experience HD entertainment.
ARCHOS G9 tablets also feature an HDMI output, giving users full access to their Android
experience on TV including movies in 1080p resolution. .
WiFi or 3G, no need to choose, it’s up to you whenever you want
This patented solution lets the consumer add a standard PC 3G stick to his tablet whenever and
wherever. The ARCHOS G9 3G Stick has been specially designed to fit perfectly into the back of
any G9 tablet. Just remove the cover and slide in the ARCHOS G9 3G Stick to unleash the full
portability of your ARCHOS G9 tablet.
With this innovative USB 3G stick, consumers will no longer have to choose between a
WiFi and a 3G tablet at purchase. For just a $49 upgrade, the users can purchase the ARCHOS
G9 3G Stick and start enjoying 3G connectivity on his ARCHOS tablet or PCs compared to other
tablets where 3G modules add over $100 to the cost and there’s no option to add it later.
This cutting edge 3G stick offers one 3G solution for both a tablet and a laptop and uses just one
data plan
1
. Offered as a Pay-As-You-Go Plan, there is no subscription required and the consumer
need only pay for what they need when they need it.
Top performance, best value
While the competitors’ tablets are priced starting at $499, ARCHOS is offering an 8’’ tablet
starting at $279 and 10.1’’ tablet starting $349.
ARCHOS is offering cutting-edge performance such as a more powerful and faster processor,
unique 3G solution, enhanced multimedia experience and more storage capacity with the built-in
250GB HDD from Seagate.
ARCHOS are the first in the industry to offer a tablet with a hard drive, bringing 8 times more
storage at the same cost of a standard 32GB tablet.
ARCHOS are also the first to offer such high performance at such affordable price, making
ARCHOS G9 tablets the best cost-performance value.
The ARCHOS 80 G9 and ARCHOS 101 G9 will be available at the end of September and will be
shown beginning of September at IFA.
Two tablets to fit your lifestyle: ARCHOS 80 G9 and ARCHOS 101 G9
The ARCHOS 80 G9 is the portable tablet with perfect size for web browsing, ebook and
newspaper reading with its 8” 4:3 screen and a resolution of 1024 x 768.
The ARCHOS 101 G9 is the perfect entertainment tablet to share the Android Honeycomb
experience. With 250GB of storage space, users will be able to carry over 50 hours of full 1080p
HD to watch on their 10.1” wide 1280 x 800 16:10 screen

Newegg is offering some great savings on this ARCHOS 30c Vision 3-Inch 4 GB Touchscreen Multimedia Player w/ FM Radio priced at only $59.99 – $10 Instant Discount + Free Shipping = $49.99!

Now’s your chance to give yourself portable access to all your favorite media files without burning the wallet. This Archos 30c Vision MP3/Video player offers you all the comforts of a good music player including a sleek and stylish design which easily fits in the pocket or palm of the hand, support for a wide range of music and video formats, and a slim 3-Inch Touch display to control it all. It also gives you FM radio connectivity for that extra music or newscasts you crave and has a battery life of about 13 hours when listening to audio while also weighing in at only 2 ounces.

Newegg has a slick deal available on this Archos 101 (501594) 10.1-Inch Android Tablet for only $343 – $38 Coupon (EMCKEHD44) + Free 2-Day Shipping = $305!

Tablets are the new thing and as such they are cropping up everywhere, it’s possible to sort through and find the features you want while still maintaining a good price that you can afford. The Archos 101 features a very large 10.1-Inch display for utilizing the Android Operating System and because of this you can customize just about anything about it and grab as many apps as you like with the 16GBs of Internal Storage and SD card reader. It can easily view and handle all sorts of high definition videos and media and considering it supports pretty much every file out there you won’t run into something it can’t play. It’s designed to replace your PC at many tasks like Web Browsing which you can do instantly just by loading up the tablet and because it supports flash you will get the entire experience from it.

Newegg is offering the lowest price on this Archos 70 (501582) Android 7-Inch Tablet which you can nab for just $274.99 – $45 Instant Discount + Free Shipping = $229.99!

Portable Internet is just a tap away with this handy tablet from Archos, and now you can get it for a lower price than ever. The Archos 70 7-Inch Tablet is powered by the Android UI and because of this it offers you a nearly limitless functions ranging from normal Internet viewing and web chatting to movie streaming and 3D Game playing. It has a super fast 1Ghz Processor backing it so you can blaze through any task and with support for tons of audio and video formats you can enjoy all your favorite content anywhere. It supports tethering from mobile phones as well, which increases its portability and usage outside of WiFi environments.

Adorama via Amazon has a super low price available on this Archos Vision 15 4GB MP3 Player which comes to $27.92 + Free Shipping = $27.92!

Get ready to take all of your music with you at a price you can easily afford on any budget! This Archos Vision MP3 player has 4GBs of storage which allows you to fit up to 2,000 songs at a time so you can listen to whatever you want anywhere you go. What’s even better is that it also supports a whole range of formats from MP3 and WMA to APE and FLAC for lossless fans while also supporting MPEG-4 video formats and JPG and BMP image formats for viewing on the 1.5-Inch color display. It also has up to 10 hours of audio playback on a single charge so you won’t run out of life in the middle of your favorite albums and can take it anywhere.

TigerDirect is offering a coupon deal on this Archos 7 (501521) Home Tablet 7-inch Tablet for just $149.99 – $20 Coupon (YZJ25306) + $2.99 Shipping = $132.98!

Take all of your favorite videos and media with you anywhere you go! With the compact Archos 7-Inch Tablet powered by the fully customizable Android Operating System there is almost no limit to what you can do on the go! With full Wireless connectivity you have the Internet at your fingertips and from here you can watch all your favorite videos or listen to your favorite music online as well as communicate with friends and family via email or IM. At the same time it has an 8GB capacity so you can store a large array of video/audio files of many formats to play and take with you anytime you want. It has a maximum battery life of 3.5 hours on a single charge.

TigerDirect has coupon savings on this Arnova Archos 501732 10-inch Android Tablet for just $199.99 – $30 Coupon (BYU27295) + $7.29 Shipping = $177.28!

With a price this low you can easily get your hands on a super sleek tablet! This Archova Archos offers a large 10-Inch clear Display for optimal interaction with all your favorite applications. It is powered by the super customizable Android operating system with thousands of apps available for download as well as a fully flash capable Internet Browser so your potential tasks will never end. With the USB Host connection you are able to connect devices like Keyboard and Mice for enhanced interfacing as well as flash drives and other storage mediums for powering up storage capability while also allowing you to seamlessly copy files like videos and music over quickly and easily. It comes with 4GBs of storage right out of the box and that can also be increased with the use of MicroSD cards.

Putting aside the fact that the product page reads like an April fools joke, the Arnova by Archos looks like a product that should have hit a few years ago, not in 2011.

In a nutshell, it’s a bedside alarm clock that provides access to the web’s endless array of podcasts, radio stations and video.  Who are we kidding -it’s near impossible to wax poetic about the device, so we’re just gonna lay down the specs and move forward.

Specs:

• 3.5-inch 320×240 touchscreen
• Photo, video and audio playback
• 2GB of built-in storage and an SD card slot
• Alarm clock funtions with multiple alarms
• 3.5mm input and output
• Mini USB port
• Power via wall adapter or 4 AA batteries
• Compatible with Windows, Mac or Linux
• Remote control
• 199 x 84 x 84 mm

Read

Archos comes steaming out of the gate at CES with two new portable media players powered by Android and by the well-known Archos policy of pricing things as low as manufacturing will allow. Models 28 and 32 have, surprisingly, 2.8 and 3.2 inch screens, and come with the over-reaching ‘internet tablet’ moniker.

Pretty small for a tablet, don’t you think so, Archos? That’s not to say that these little players, with their WiFi capability and Android platform aren’t extremely nice for the $100 and $150 price.

They both come with 8GB of storage, which will hold a bit of songs while you chat and play and Facebook your life away, and all the other things you can do with a mini-micro-tablet. And the Music Cover Carrousel app churns through album covers like a fat kid through McDonalds hamburgers, especially since it lets you add widgets to the home screen for faster access to your choice of musical poison.

Build in accelerometer and Open GL 3D technology brings these babies up to speed with whatever games can be player on smartphone-sized tablets.

Read

Archos doesn’t like shooting single bullets, so their launch of Android devices couldn’t include just small media players. An Android tablet seemed very much called for, and that’s what the $350 7-inch Archos 70 Internet Tablet is. With 8GB of flash memory, a 250GB hard-drive and an 800 x 480 capacitive multitouch screen, it’s no revolution in the land of tablets, but Archos is taking a step in the right direction by mostly letting go of proprietary ports and connectors, and the Android Marketplace, making this a platform more open towards whatever configuration you have in mind for it.

Running Android 2.2 on a 1GHz ARM Cortez A8 processor, it gets graphics acceleration through an OpenGL ES 2.0 card, and remains slim enough to measure in at 0.43 inches thin and weigh in at 11oz. The front-facing VGA camera doesn’t add much weight, and connectivity happens through 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and, of course, Bluetooth.

Read

The price is $159.99 + 4.99 S&H = $164.98!

Model: 501438