Google’s Android system has had companies all abuzz for several months, but so far the G1 phone is the only device out there using Android. That will change in the next few months, and Archos is joining the Android supporters, using Android power on a new Internet tablet due in the third quarter of the year.
In a statement, Henri Crohas, CEO of Archos, said:
"Support for an Android-based device represents a historical opportunity for Archos to combine all the best of our Internet media tablets with a phone in a single device delivering high-quality video and a full Web experience in true mobility."
It will combine an Internet Media Tablet (IMT) with a mobile phone, and use the OMAP 3 platform from Texas Instruments. And what will it do? It will sport a high-res 5” touchscreen with DivX playback and video recording, similar to TiVo – and all that with a thickness of just 0.39,” and a hard drive that can run up to 500GB. The device will be able to connect through Wi-Fi or 3G, and is believed to have a full HTML browser.
And the battery life for all that? Archos says it should be up to seven hours of video playback. No price has been mentioned yet.