As promised back in September, the Archos 80 G9 Android tablet is now available for purchase.
What’s interesting about this slate are features you get for only $270, which is the price for the first available model – the Archos 80 G9 501897 8GB.
As far as we know, the Archos 80 G9 501897 is the cheapest available Android Honeycomb tablet on the US market today and also the cheapest dual-core tablet. It has a dual-core ARM Cortex A9 1GHz processor.
Other appealing features on this affordable slate are mini HDMI output, GPS, and a 720p front-facing camera. A rear facing camera is missing, but on the back of the device you have a slot for Archos’ patent-pending proprietary 3G USB stick. The $49 stick can be used as a 3G mobile broadband module on Archos G9 tablets and on PCs with USB. Basically, with the Archos 80 G9 501897 you get an empty slot, which can be populated with the separately sold 3G module accepting standard SIM cards. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to find the module on the market at the time of this writing.
Besides 8GB of storage, the Archos 80 G9 501897 has a micro SD card slot for expansion, USB slave and USB host ports, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The screen resolution is XGA 1024×768 and the claimed battery life is 7 hours for video playback and 10 hours for web surfing.
The 80 G9 is not the lightest and thinnest tablet with its weight of 1 pound and 0.46-inch profile. Its chassis is made of dark grey non-glossy plastic and has a kickstand on the back.