ARCHOS GamePad

The French electronics company Archos is hoping to bolster its presence in the United States with ARCHOS GamePad which combines physical gaming controls and standard touch screen with a full Android/Linux-powered tablet. Playing games like Mass Effect Infiltrator and Nova 3 was not a nice gaming experience, due to lack of physical controls. It also has a pair of stereo speakers, standard A/B/X/Y buttons, D-pad and two analogs. Kind of looks like the Wii U or maybe even the PS Vita

PS Vita

Wii U

ARCHOS GamePad

The 7-inch slate has a dual-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz and a quad-core Mali 400 MP GPU and includes 1GB of RAM. It will have a Micro-USB port and a Mini-HDMI output at the very top of the device, and a microSD slot that is expandable up to 64GB. None of those slots are found on the kindle fire or Nexus 7.

The GamePad will be Google certified, too, says Archos. That means it will include full access to Google Play. With over 600 000 apps and games, Google Play has the content for you.

The Mali 400 MP GPU I think is a nice choice for gaming. Its texturing performance is very solid as this GPU has full support for next-generation and legacy 2D/3D graphics applications. It's so much faster than the PowerVR sgx540 found in the nexus and outclasses HTC's EVO Adreno 220 easily. The Mali 400 MP even holds its own vs. the Tegra 3 (Kal-El).



ARCHOS, pioneer in the portable audio and video player market, and now specializing in AndroidTablets, has repeatedly revolutionized the market for consumer electronics since 1988. Today, ARCHOS offers Android Tablets, Tablet PCs and MP3/MP4 players. In 2000, ARCHOS launched the Jukebox 6000, the first MP3 player combined with a hard disk. Then in 2003 ARCHOS introduced the first portable multimedia players with TV recording. In 2006 Wi-Fi is implemented and then touch screens in 2007. In 2008, ARCHOS launched the first generation Internet Tablets, and then the first ever Android powered tablets in 2009. ARCHOS has offices in the United States, Europe and Asia.