Archos 101 G9 review

The Archos 101 G9 tablet has been available since the end of last year, but it’s one of the first tablets to receive an upgrade to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which makes it one of the most up-to-date tablets available. There’s a choice of storage options: either 8GB or 16GB flash memory models, or a 250GB hard disk version which is thicker and heavier. Our sample, a Turbo model, also comes with faster processor than the original, up from 1.2GHz to 1.5GHz.

It has a bright 10.1in screen with a 1,280×800 resolution. The glossy finish means reflections can be a problem, but the display has surprisingly good viewing angles, and colours are accurate if a bit flat. It’s certainly not as eye-catching as the AMOLED screens on some smartphones and tablets we’ve seen recently, but for reading web pages and watching movies, it’s got a good balance of size and resolution.

The dual-core processor can play HD video and 3D games, but as usual we still found Android stuttered a bit when multiple apps were open – this is a problem with Android rather than the tablet. As well as 16GB of built-in storage space, there’s a microSDHC card slot, and if you need more room, you can buy an adaptor that lets you attach USB storage for only £8. There’s also an optional £50 3G adaptor that plugs into a dedicated slot on the rear.

Android 4.0 is the real star here. The main improvements are behind the scenes, but a major change means apps will scale better to fit the varied resolutions of Android tablets. Older apps get a Compatibility View option – a small icon that appears in the task bar that lets you zoom the app to fill the available screen space. You can also resize widgets on the home screens – once you’ve added a widget, you simply press and hold on it for a while to bring up bounding boxes that you can adjust to make the app fill the screen better.

As far as apps are concerned, Archos has used a light touch. There’s a collection of preinstalled third-party apps, but you can uninstall all of them if you want, although with 12GB of free internal space, all accessible for apps, it’ll be a while before you need to clear space. Archos has also added a file manager that lets you browse network shares and media servers as well as the contents of the SD card or attached USB storage.

We were disappointed to find that the preinstalled office document viewer was a trial version and not one of the many freely-available viewers. The other pre-installed apps are hit-and-miss, and it’s worth keeping in mind that the Android Play Store (what used to be called the Market) offers a much wider variety, so you should be able to find what you need.

Archos has also installed its own music and video apps, which both have interfaces that use up the entire space available. Both have a carousel view on the left that you can swipe up and down to browse files or left or right to access favourites, recently added files or all files. There’s also a list view on the right – if you click on an item here, the interface expands to make a more detailed view for the current item. Both apps let you access SMB shares and media servers, too.

If you already have an Android phone, you can also download a remote control app that lets you control the G9 from your Android mobile. This means you can pull out the tablet’s kickstand, fire up a video and sit back and watch it while having full control over media playback. The internal speakers are quite loud but don’t have much bass, so for a more immersive movie night you should plug in a set of speakers via the headphone port.

Our main complaint about the G9 is its build quality. The tablet’s plastic case creaks if you flex it, and there’s a small gap in the join between the two halves of the case. We also noticed a bug with the touchscreen; if you touch the very left or right edge of the screen, it activates the button on that side – the Back button on the left, or the tray menu on the right. This can be annoying, especially pressing Back whilst reading a web page or watching a video.

Still, such faults are forgivable considering that the G9 has the latest version of Android, 16GB of internal storage and yet costs only £270. Archos’s light touch with the software, the bright screen and the option of 3G make the G9 a worthy Budget Buy winner.