What we liked:  Super thin, lightweight, and voluptuous in white, a Archos 101XS looks beautiful and feels plain in hand.  It’s a best bid from a association nonetheless and a discretionary accessories supplement to a value.  We’re also blissful to see a Coverboard enclosed in a box.  Bonus points for a scarcely batch Android 4.0 experience.

Room for Improvement: It’s going to be tough to sell this device during $400 opposite bigger companies with some-more promotion capabilities.  Even with a Coverboard and additional ports, a 101XS could mount to dump a few bucks off a cost tag.  Those burnt by a prior Archos inscription knowledge might not be assured of value.

Review during a Glance: Archos was formerly in a bad mark of perplexing to contest with companies like Samsung and Motorola for a square of a Android inscription market.  The new Coverboard immediately puts it in a examination with Asus Transformer series.  Thanks to a reduce cost point, a 101XS is a good gold in a box, though it’s usually a tad too high for normal consumers.  With many folks meditative “$200 tablets”, Archos will have a plea convincing people to open their wallets a bit wider.

Hardware

No matter what we demeanour at, a initial thing we will notice about a Archos 101XS is a white and grey color. While many companies are going with variations of grey or black, it’s lovely to see this starkly opposite tone scheme.  The outward of both a arrangement and a Coverboard feel rather soothing to a touch, generally on a white parts.

As for a grey steel plate, it comes opposite as a “let’s glue this square on and we’ll be finished” further and seems unequivocally easy to scratch.  We know a need to go with steel (magnetic Coverboard) though we’d like a small some-more courtesy for destiny models.

A front-facing camera is found centered on a left palm side while a orator sits opposite a arrangement on a other side.  When sitting on a table on a inscription mount or a Coverboard conjunction of these worried us.  Pick a inscription adult and reason it on a own, however, and you’ll find yourself covering one or both up.

The volume rocker and energy symbol are found on a right side (landscape) and feels fine when docked.  Again, picking a inscription up, we wish a camera adult tip and a orator opposite bottom front.  Sadly, this puts volume and energy buttons during a bottom corner and in a unequivocally ungainly spot.

Ports

Archos is one of those manufacturers that mostly integrates ports that don’t make it into other code tablets.  The same goes for a stream mode as it includes microSD container (up 64GB), micro-USB, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a mini-HDMI port.

Charging is finished around micro-USB with plugs on both a inscription and a Coverboard.  We favourite that a block is directly in a behind of a keyboard and not adhering out of some pointless side or front. Another and in micro-USB is that we have so many of these fibbing around.  Keep one nearby your table and a Coverboard can lay there semi-permanently.

Display

The Archos 101XS facilities a 10.1-inch 1,280×800 pixel arrangement and unequivocally loves to collect adult your fingerprints.   And while it’s not on a turn of IPS displays we have seen elsewhere, we were gratified with a colourful colors and video playback.  There were a few instances where we found a arrangement not induction swipes or taps, though zero worse than other tablets we’ve used. Blacks and whites were frail and a altogether pattern tender those who saw a tablet

Coverboard

We’re large fans of a Coverboard however we know that it’s not ideal technology.  Heck, even perplexing to lift a arrangement detached from a keyboard/cover is not always easy.  We attempted to be peaceful as to not risk dropping a Archos 101XS though found it severe on some-more than occasion. In fact, we’ve already beheld that a Coverboard no longer seems to fit cosy opposite a display. Perhaps as a outcome of perplexing to examine a dual detached to open them, a cosmetic keyboard could be stronger.  Of march if we blunder on a other side and make a magnets weaker, afterwards you’ll have complaints of tablets that don’t have a “snap together” feel.  You’re ostensible to be means to simply turn and lift a dual halves detached though it is never that easy.  We fear that extended use of a inscription could outcome in a less-than-desirable locking.

A week into use and it shows signs of wear.

We are used to carrying a mark for a palms to rest on netbooks, notebooks, and even a Transformer Pad dock.  The Archos does not give we anything to set your hands on and could mount to be a small deeper.  However, to do anything along those lines, afterwards we’d not have a perfectly-sized Coverboard.

Unlike a Transformer Prime, a Archos 101XS Coverboard does not assign your inscription while docked.  That’s positively not a understanding breaker for us, and it was to be approaching deliberation a reduce cost point.  If we wish something that keeps a gangling assign for your tablet, afterwards you’ll have to compensate a reward during this point.

Although it sounds like we are not digging a Coverboard here, we indeed conclude it utterly a bit. It’s thin, unequivocally light, and a Android-specific buttons are great.  As most as we like ubiquitous Bluetooth keyboard, zero beats one that has dedicated buttons for home, menu, brightness, lock, and more.

At scarcely half a density of a Transformer Pad and dock, a Archos Gen10 comes opposite super neat and complicated looking.  Regardless of what is underneath a hood, a weight and pattern drew “oohs and ahhs” from a friends and family.

Accessories

Archos has combined a exclusive pier opposite a bottom of a Gen10 array and will have a possess line of tradition accessories.  A 32 watt Speaker Dock lets users assign their inscription while hosting USB peep drives/hard drives and personification music.  Stepping down a notch, a Docking Station does all a same, save for a speakers.  In a place are RCA audio ports for your home stereo or receiver.

Software

Archos does unequivocally small to a batch Android 4.0 knowledge and that’s always a plus.  Aside from an extended media/audio codec support, a Ice Cream Sandwich is what we see on Pure Google devices. Of march a doubt of, “Where’s Jelly Bean?” will come adult of that Archos has an answer – somewhat.  According to a hardware maker, a Android 4.1 refurbish is approaching someday in a fourth quarter.  Given that a inscription is not due stateside until November, it’s probable that it launches in a U.S. with a Jelly Bean experience.

There were a few pre-installed applications on a examination section including News Republic, OfficeSuite, Asphalt 6 HD, Fruit Ninja Free, and Spider-Man HD.  Toss in a few other Archos apps and we have a singular set of “bloatware” titles.

Conclusion

We’ve unequivocally enjoyed examination Archos come into their possess with Android inscription efforts.  As a association we’ve secure for over a final decade or so, it’s good to see a association continue to evolve.  We extol a preference to go with a Coverboard and appendage pier however it stays to be seen either it is value a gamble.  At $400, it is tough to get people to cruise it over a device form a bigger code such as Samsung.   Thanks to a Kindle Fire and Nexus 7, a standard chairman usually wants to spend half that money.  Of course, those who have copiousness of disposable income are already deliberation that things out of Cupertino.

Indeed, Archos has frequency had most of a sell participation for a Android tablets.  Unless they mangle out some critical ad income and uncover off a enhanced experience and features, consumers simply won’t know about a device.

We like what we see in a Gen10 array however we don’t adore everything.  Given some time with a accessories and destiny models (8-inch, 9.7-inch), we might come to conclude things more.  That said, we suggest we get some face time with a 101XS before creation your purchasing decision.