Archos, a French consumer electronics company has launched what it claims is the first large-screen tablet running Google’s Android operating system.
The tablet, which starts at 149 €, is said to bridge the gap between the smartphone and the PC, and acts as a portable internet access terminal and entertainment device, playing back audio and video and supporting the full range of Google Android Apps.
It has a 7in touchscreen supporting 800×480 resolution and is just 12mm thick. Archos says the 350g device provides seven hours of video playback or 44 hours of music on a single charge.
The tablet ships with a number of pre-installed applications, including web radio app Deezer, instant-messaging tool Ebuddy, eBook service Aldiko, and newspaper app DailyPaper.
In addition to the Archos 7, the Archos 8 home tablet, which has an 8″ screen, offers services such as Cookineo, a cooking recipes app, local weather information and business directories to simplify household chores and help users to plan their schedules.
At the same time, email, social networking services and a family calendar application help the family to keep in touch and schedule their lives with just one tap of the screen.
The Archos tablets are available to order now on the company’s website.
The Archos tablets are based on the ARM 9 processor @ 600 MHz. A complete new range of ARCHOS internet tablets, based on an ARM Cortex up to 1 GHz, will also be launched in the summer of 2010 offering a richer set of features with screen sizes from 3” to 10”.
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