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Here’s yet another Android tablet to tickle your fancy — the Archos 101Xs comes with a magnetically attached keyboard, modelled above by my glamorous assistant Andy, and is powered by Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
The tablet itself is flat, but docks with the separate keyboard using the magical power of magnets. That attraction isn’t the strongest, but should serve for propping the tablet up to do a little typing.
The display measures 10.1 inches on the diagonal, while inside there’s a dual-core processor powering affairs. That’s not as speedy (on paper at least) as the quad-core chip powering the smaller Google Nexus 7, but we’ve already been hands-on with the 101Xs, and so far it’s proving reasonably powerful.
It’s not the best looking slate we’ve ever had in though, and the angle of the tablet when it’s placed in the dock isn’t ideal — it’s too steep, and it can’t be adjusted.
It’s not too cheap at £300 — pricey compared to the £160 Nexus 7, which sets a new benchmark for Android kit. As such, don’t expect a particularly high score when we publish our full review, which should be live before long.
There is a bit of good news, however. This tablet is running a stock version of Ice Cream Sandwich (mercifully with access to the Google Play store, something that’s been missing from earlier Archos tablets), but will be updated to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean “by November at the latest”.
As such, this could be one of the first tablets in the UK to run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. It’ll go on sale mid-September — check back tomorrow for our full in-depth review.
Are you tempted to buy a tablet with a keyboard dock? Let me know in the comments or on our Facebook wall.
