This week, we’ve had the Archos 101 XS tablet to play with. We’re not sure whether it’s pronounced “ten point one” or “one oh one”, but it doesn’t matter because this thing is amazing. It’s an Android 4.04 tablet (upgradable to 4.1) with a specialisation for audiovisual media. It can still do everything any other Android tablet can do – mail, browsing, apps, widgets, Angry Birds… – but excels at playing video and music.
I talk about it
If you want to have a close look at the tablet’s features and see it in use, then spend a few minutes watching this video review.
I was extremely impressed by the Archos-specific features. It streams video very nicely from a NAS media server, with very little initial buffering, if any. The drag-and-drop or multiple-select file manager makes it a breeze to move files from a network share onto the device to take with you. The video and music browsers make connecting to SMB and uPnP network shares very easy, and the browsing interface is nice and slick. The battery life seems excellent – Archos say it will do 7 hours of video, and I tested it for two hours and it certainly looks that way – more than enough for a long journey (or a box set of your favourite show).
Vital Statistics
| Width x Height | 273 mm x 170 mm |
| Depth | 8 mm (13mm with cover) |
| Weight | 600g (800g with cover) |
| Display | 10.1″: 1280 x 800 MVA |
| Application Framework | Android 4.0.3 “Ice Cream Sandwich” upgradable to 4.1 in Q4 2012 |
| Capacity | Flash Memory: 16GB* + micro SD Slot (compatible up to 128GB) |
| RAM | 1GB |
| Processor | Smart multicore OMAP4470 processor @ 1.5GHz (ARM® Cortex™-A9) with a PowerVR™ SGX544 GPU; 3D OpenGL Support |
Read more about it over on the Archos site.
Gold!
CDW award the Archos 101 XS tablet the Gold Award for being brilliant. The XS is out later this week, priced at £299. Order yours now!
Great product!
We’ve got to give it back now, and I really don’t want to! 🙂