The Archos 101 XS tablet with magnetic cover board

Here is a an alternative to a tablet or a netbook, it’s the 101 XS from Archos, which is essentially a tablet that offers all of the benefits of being thin and light, but it comes with a magnetic cover board that acts as a dock, stand and more importantly a keyboard. The Archos 101 XS offers a wide range of features, it is powered by Android and ARM Cortex, yet unlike a conventional tablet device the 101 XS offers the user the ability to type using the connected keyboard that doubles up as a cover. The real question now will be, is this the end of the netbook?

The Archos 101 XS has a neat little 10.1 MVA screen with a 1280 x 800 of pixel resolutions and a 720p front web camera, which is great for social media etc. This little machine will be running on the Android 4.0.3 “Ice Cream Sandwich” OS, which will be upgradable to 4.1 in Q4 2012. It will be powered by the Smart multicore OMAP4470 processor 1.5 GHz (ARM Cortex A9) with a PowerVR SGX544 GPU with 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB of Flash Memory + micro SD Slot expandable up to 128 GB.

There is of course Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 connections, as well as the Micro USB 2.0, proprietary USB docking connector, microSD (compatible with 64 GB cards) and the all important mini HDMI output for connecting to a larger screen. The overall size is 273 mm (W) x 170 mm (D) x 8 mm (H) and it weighs in at a very light and manageable 600 grams with the Lithium Polymer battery installed that Archos say will offer the user up ten hours of internet browsing.

Archos will be launching the 101 XS in Europe next month and in the US this November, where it will have a starting price of around $400, this is a competitive price at the moment, but there are other similar new devices on the way!

Source [Liliputing]