Laptop Thoughts: Archos 80 G9: Quick Review of a New 8-inch Tablet

"As far as tablets go, a couple of interesting things are going to happen between now and the holiday season. One, we're going to see a glut of smaller 7- and 8-inch tablets running Honeycomb (like this, this and this) hit the market. And if the Kindle Fire and Acer Iconia Tab A100 are any indication, they're going to be cheaper, making slates palatable to folks who previously couldn't bring themselves to spend $500 on a plaything. The Archos 80 G9, then, is the perfect specimen on both counts."

A surprisingly good, solid wifi-only tablet for the money, and it's sporting Android Honeycomb 3.2 (nearly pristine) rather than Gingerbread (2.x) as found on most tablets with a smaller form factor. A very good 1024x768 display (with a very useful kickstand) that can actually be seen outdoors, and a decent processor and battery life (for this smaller size) are the highlights. Negatives are a tinny sound, and a relatively poor 720p front-facing camera. Also offered is an HDD option with a 250GB drive, and a 4GB flash drive for the OS. Prices are $300 for an 8GB version, $320 for a 16GB version, and $370 for the 250GB HDD + Flash version. Nice to see that prices are realistic for potential buyers that are not willing to spend more for a tablet.