Archos is preparing to take on industry heavyweights like Motorola, Samsung and Apple with a lineup of Android Honeycomb-powered tablets.
According to Le Journal du Geek, the Gen 9 series will feature a screaming 1.6GHz dual-core ARM A9 CPU, 250GB hard drive and a 3G radio.
In addition, the €400 tablet is expected to provide full and easy access to the Android market, which (certain) earlier Archos devices failed to offer.
As Engadget’s Michael Gorman notes, Archos is hoping to claim some of the iPad 2’s market share by tempting consumers with a fast processor and a massive amount of storage.
250GB of HDD storage certainly seems like a plus compared to the iPad 2’s (maximum) 64GB storage option. However, in an age of cloud-based apps and streaming music services, one wonders if an immense amount of storage will be enough to differentiate Archos from the competition.
Yes, it may help lure some adventurous Android enthusiasts and diehard Archos fanbois. But it will undoubtedly fail in dissuading the Apple faithful from ditching a proven, albeit walled-garden ecosystem for a Honeycomb tablet.