Archos is a funny company. I remember seeing a number of mobile multimedia devices from them years ago. But, I’ve never seen any of the many Android tablet models they announce year after year. Here’s another one I’ll probably never see. At $130 it may be the least expensive Ice Cream Sandwich based tablet available. And, you get an Alvin and the Chipmunks theme too.
Its specs look pretty good for a $130 device. They exceed the more expensive Kindle Fire and Nook Color.
7-inch display
800×480 pixel resolution
WiFi
380 grams
1GB system memory
4GB flash memory
microSD slot
Front facing camera with microphone
The first Windows Phone devices released in the fall of 2010 had hardware limitations imposed by Microsoft. Thus, the entire first generation of devices lacked components that were common even back then. Among the hardware missing from the reference design and the devices based on it is a gyroscope. This component has become increasingly important in games and motion based activities. Microsoft’s design shortsightedness has come back to bite it less than two years after the first Windows Phone devices were released. Its own recently released PhotoSynth panoramic camera app for Windows Phone (first released for the iPhone) won’t work correctly with the entire first generation of Windows Phone devices.
The combination of a one-day sale and an apparent pent-up demand for a niche vertical program category (programmer’s editor) has placed the freshly released 