Acer and Archos: war of prices on the shelves

Acer and Archos formalize the time their new tablet on the way to high-end segment...

On the one hand, Acer presents its Iconia Tab RM A200, 1200. We talked you at the beginning of months, and it is a "light" of the A500 version to be however the law in a migration to Android "Ice Cream Sandwich" as early as next month. Basically, the idea of Acer is to propose an interesting alternative to the G9 of Archos. Small recall of characteristics: a touch screen of 10.1 inches in 1280 x 800 pixels, a dual-core Tegra 2 processor from Nvidia 1 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 8 or 16 GB of expandable storage with the port for memory (up to 32 GB) microSDHC card memory, a USB Host port, a 3.5 mm jack plug, 3260 mAh batteryWiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, and GPS.

From the A500 (tested here), it loses so the dorsal APN 5 megapixels for offering only a front-end sensor 2 megapixel camera, the micro-HDMI disappears output also, but in return the Tablet loses a few grams (720 against 765) and is thinner (12.4 mm against 13.3 mm). Now known as the sale price of RM A200, this Iconia Tab 1200, which will begin to €329 8 GB version. But given the prices charged for the A500 in some merchants, this RM A200, 1200 should very quickly be found under the bar of €300.

In the face, Archos - always well positioned on the means of range, and the entry with its Arnova - pulls its Internet Tablet 70 (b). A Tablet whose selling price is set at €199. It is a 7 "model that runs on Android Honeycomb (3.2) with a CPU running at 1.2 GHz (probably an ARM Cortex A8 single-core). Archos therefore give the taste of the day its 70 shelf date of 2010 and had been launched under Android 2.2.

The hull metal is maintained in this "b" version, the capacitive screen passes to the 1024 x 600, the RAM is 512 MB and the storage capacity to 8 GB. All with access to the Market and presence of the media player from Archos. Side connectors, there is the presence of a mini-HDMI, a micro-SD slot and a 3.5 mm Jack. Without forgetting the VGA webcam. After the passage of G9 Turbo mode at 1.5 GHz, Archos is therefore also reinforces the shelves more accessible segment. Duels of between 200 and 300 tablets prepare for 2012, leaving the top-of-range €400/500 to Tegra 3 models and other new mobile processors very efficient.

Read More

Archos, the Turbo and the OMAP4

The saga of the frequency of the processors in Archos continues: the pre-announcement several months ago talked of processors at 1.6 GHz. The announcement last June was "limited" to 1.5 GHz (which is above the competition). A few days ago we learned that the entry-level tablets work at 1 GHz and 1.5 GHz (Turbo) range top models, with output in October. And the latest information, in an official press release the company indicates that available since yesterday shelves are well timed to 1 GHz, expected in October will be timed to 1.2 GHz and 1.5 GHz models will be available only in 2012.

The first thing is that Archos was awaiting a series 4460 OMAP4: a chip with two Cortex A9 at 1.5 GHz and a PowerVR SGX540 384 MHz. This chip was not available for the announcement and does not always seem to be present, in any case not in mass. The other chip used by Archos on the "classic" versions, it is the OMAP4430. This SoC (smart all-in-one) is compatible with the 4460 pine pine but works less quickly: both at the level of the processor - 1.2 GHz maximum - and at the level of the GPU, running at 304 MHz. In view of the "Turbo" to 1.2 GHz, is the chip that is used in the range.

If Archos highlights problems of Texas Instrument on its chip - which seems clear-, there is another problem that society overshadows a little: Ice Cream Sandwich, the next version of Android, will offer a platform of reference based on the OMAP4 (such as Honeycomb uses Tegra 2). From there to think that Texas Instrument retains its chips for "large" manufacturers and Android tablets, there is will not take that one not... that us not.

Read More