Archos may have underdelivered with internet tablets in the past, but since that was mostly due to half-baked UI, we’ll allow ourselves to get excited about an Android-based Archos tablet—especially one with specs like these.
https://gizmodo.com/archos-5-lightning-review-5060305
This little invite suggests the Android tablet will be announced on September 15th, although we’ve seen rumors of this come and go with no real announcement. But this rumor looks more likely; according to Pocketables, it’ll have a 5-inch WVGA touchscreen capable of 720p playback (with HDMI output), 3.5G mobile internet, and up to 500GB HDD. We’re hoping the touchscreen’ll be capacitive rather than resistive like Archos’s last MIDs.
https://gizmodo.com/archos-event-invitation-unsubtly-hints-at-rumored-andro-5259045
And, because everybody has to have one, Archos has launched AppsLib, essentially a Android app sub-store for devices larger than smartphones (tablets, MIDs, netbooks, whatever). We’ll see if others embrace Android for larger devices, especially with the Google Chrome OS looming on the horizon, but it’s a nice idea that would actually make a lot of sense for Apple’s rumored tablet, if it’s on the same platform as the iPhone. We’re pretty excited about this new crop of HD video-playing gadgets (like the Zune HD), and if this materializes it could be a really impressive next-gen PMP. [I4U]
