Friday, 31 August 2012 19:20

Archos launches a 7-inch gamepad

Written by

Reading time is around minutes.
ARCHOS logo

Archos announced they will release a 7-inch Android tablet made primarily for gamers. Lately a lot of high quality Android games have come out and Archos hopes that this will be a trigger for their success. We also talked few days ago about the new console OUYA, that will be Android based, so it looks like the Android gaming market is starting to grow rapidly. Many would describe the Archos GamePad as like an XL PS Vita and we can agree that they have some similarities but let’s not mix apples and pears. The Archos GamePad will run on Ice Cream Sandwich, so we can expect it to be able to handle all of the latest games for Android. At launch it will run on Jelly Bean and will not get the upgrade until more games become compatible with it.

The GamePad will run on a 1.5 GHz dual core processor, and GPU. These will be the same as in the Samsung Galaxy S3, quad core Mali 400. Games will be displayed on 7-inch capacitive display, probably with IPS matrix, with a resolution of 1280x800 pixels. The GamePad’s physical controls are one of the main advantages over tablets with only a touchscreen console where fingers often get in a way of the action. It is hoped that this GamePad will be of decent quality with low price, like most of Archos devices are.
archos gamepad
You can find standard directional controls on the left side of the tablet, while x, y, a, b buttons are on the right. Also if you don’t like the typical “arrows” there are 2 analog nubs on each side with a small button below each one. The GamePad has Google's certificate and full access to the Google Play store, so there will be tons of games to be played on it. With all these new consoles and tablets based on android we can expect new high quality games to come to the Google Play. Sales will start in October with expected price of $150.

[Ed – the Archos GamePad with its controls has a big advantage over many of the other tablets that are on the market. You can use it like a standard gaming product or use it for more mundane purposes like reading ebooks, or watching movies. With its price point and gamer orientation we expect these to do well for the most part. Once demand for the design is validated we have a feeling that Archos might partner up with nVidia to gain access to a larger range of games.]

Discuss this in our Forum

Read 2931 times Last modified on Friday, 31 August 2012 19:30

Leave a comment

Make sure you enter all the required information, indicated by an asterisk (*). HTML code is not allowed.