Archos 101 10-inch Android tablet starts shipping

The latest Archos Android tablet, the Archos 101, is reportedly shipping to shops across Europe today.

A ten incher, it’s of comparable size to the iPad, but at a fraction of the cost with an RRP of $300 (Circa £220) compared to the iPad’s hefty $499/£429 price tag. It’s actually a fair bit lighter than the Apple tablet too, weighing just 480g.

With a 1024 x 600 resolution display, the tablet is powered by an ARM Cortex A8 CPU running at at 1GHz with DSP, and a 3D OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics accelerator. 8GB or 16GB variations are available, while the battery life is claimed to be as much as 36 hours, which must be a standby-time calculation.

There’s plenty of connectivity options too: HDMI, USB 2.0 port plus a USB host connector to directly transfer your files without using a PC and a Micro SD Slot all feature, while there is WiFi (802.11 b/g/n) and Bluetooth 2.1 EDR support to boot. There’s also a webcam and mic for video-chat services.

Here’s the key selling points according to Archos themselves.

– HD Multimedia: Play your favorite HD videos and view photos on the high resolution 10.1 inch capacitive touch screen
– Applications: Customize your device by downloading your favorite Android applications from AppsLib
– Internet: Surf the web in full width just like on your PC, and stay in contact by using the integrated email and contacts applications.
– Video Chat: Video chat with friends and family using the forward facing camera
– TV: Play out your favorite HD videos on a large screen TV with the HDMI out connection
– Expandable Storage Expand the storage capacity with the Micro SD card slot (SDHC compatible)
– WiFi (802.11 b/g/n) and Bluetooth connectivity
– Shipping with Android 2.1 (upgradeable to 2.2 end of November)