Archos 80 G9 and 101 G9 tablets: 1.5 GHz CPU, 250 GB storage and moderate prices

Only a day after it announced the Arnova 7 cheap Android tablet, Archos is back with a new press release announcing two powerful tablets: the Archos 80 G9 and Archos 101 G9. I suppose G9 comes from ‘generation 9′, but that’s not important. What matters is the 1.5 GHz Texas Instruments OMAP 4, a dual core chip that can trash current tablets when it comes to performance (at least according to Archos).

And the CPU is not the only thing setting Archos 80 G9 and 101 G9 apart from the current offering: there’s also the matter of the 250 GB of internal storage supplied by a Seagate Momentus Thin hard drive. That’s right, a regular mechanical disk drive inside those two tablets.

Now let’s see the difference: Archos 80 G9 has an 8 inch screen with 1024 x 768 pixels resolution, while Archos 101 G9 bumps that to 1280 x 800 pixels. An HDMI port is responsible for video output to a big screen TV (Full HD is supported) and a USB port can be used to connect peripherals supported by Android 3.1 Honeycomb or the 3G WWAN USB modem sold separately by Archos for just $49.

Archos 80 G9 and 101 G9 tablets

So it’s clear Archos is trying to get a big slice of the tablet market bringing those competitive tablets, and Android 3.1 Honeycomb together with access to Google Marketplace sure will help a lot, but the biggest surprise comes from pricing: $279 for Archos 80 G9 and $349 for Archos 101 G9. That’s even better than the ASUS EEE Pad Transformer. My only hesitation is the one regarding battery life, as a mechanical hard drive and a 1.5 GHz dual core CPU are bound to consume a lot of power and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Archos G9 tablets manage running times of about 5-6 hours (official figures state 36 hours of audio playback, 7 for video and 10 for Internet browsing). There’s a price to pay for performance and storage…

Archos 80 G9: 8 inch 4:3 aspect ratio screen

Anyway, it’s too early to make speculations, so we’ll have to wait util the first reviews will make it to the cloud. Retail availability is scheduled for September.

Archos 101 G9: 10 inch 16:10 aspect ratio screen

And here’s a teaser from Archos for its G9 tablets:

Update: And this is a video with Archos G9 101 showing great viewing angles for the 10 inch screen (source).