Tablet World.pdf

REVIEWS Archos 101 XS
Archos 101 XS
This 8mm tablet is one of the thinnest we’ve seen, and comes with
a keyboard that doubles as a protective cover
● PRICE £299 ● COMPANY ARCHOS ● WEBSITE archos.com
PROS
Fast performance;
relatively cheap;
keyboard cover;
ultra-thin
CONS
Build concerns;
glossy screen
VERDICT
This is Archos’ best
tablet to date, and
a strong rival to the
Asus Transformer Pad
300. We have some
concerns with the
build quality, however
OVERALL SCORE
42 TABLETWORLD
The 101 is the fi rst Android tablet from Archos’ new XS range and one of the
thinnest we’ve seen at just 8mm. It comes with a keyboard that converts into
a cover when you’re not using the tablet, but there’s no battery in the keyboard.
The cover is held in place by strong magnets, and more magnets hold the XS
when docked into the keyboard. A small stand can adjust the tablet’s tilt angle.
Despite the reasonable price, the 101 XS has a fast dual-core processor and
1GB of RAM. The 10.1in screen has a standard resolution of 1280x800. There’s
also 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, and a front-facing camera and mono
speaker. You get 16GB of storage and can add up to 64GB with a microSD card.
Inevitably, there’s a trade-off between thinness and rigidity; the thing that
concerns us the most is that pressing too hard on the screen left causes ripples.
We didn’t like the power and volume buttons lying fl ush with the edge of the
case either, which makes them diffi cult to locate.
On the side are microSD, Micro-USB and Micro HDMI ports, plus a
headphone socket. At the bottom is an X-pin connector, which can be used
to attach accessories such as a speaker dock.
In our benchmarks, the Archos 101 XS recorded 1,407 points in Geekbench
and 1,575ms in the SunSpider JavaScript test. It’s a fast tablet.
The 10.1in screen’s glossy fi nish means it’s very refl ective, and its average
brightness prevents you from minimising refl ections when ramping it up to its
maximum setting. Colours, viewing angles and contrast are all decent, however.
The keyboard dock is one of the main reasons you might want to buy the XS,
and it frees up a lot of screen space in comparison with an onscreen version. Its
separated keys have just enough travel to give feedback for quick typing. There
are also plenty of shortcut keys, so you almost never need to touch the screen.
The keyboard works well when typing with the tablet propped up on a desk,
but held on our lap it failed to register keystrokes when typing with normal force.
The 101 XS is Archos’ best tablet to date, and its lower price and less fi ddly
keyboard make it a strong rival to the Asus Transformer Pad 300.
“The 101 XS
is Archos’ best
tablet to date”
SPECIFICATIONS
10.1in (1280x800)
capacitive multitouch
screen; Android 4.0.3 Ice
Cream Sandwich; 1.5GHz
TI Omap 4470 dual-core
processor; Imagination
Technologies PowerVR
SGX54 graphics; 1GB
RAM; 16GB storage;
microSD; 802.11b/g/n;
Bluetooth 4.0; 1.2Mp
camera, 720p video; GPS;
Micro-USB; Micro HDMI;
3.5mm headphone jack;
271x169x8mm; 631g