We haven’t heard much to back Toshiba’s initial foray into the realm of Herculean 13-inch tablets, but believe it or not, we now have a challenger for the Excite 13. The Archos Arnova FamilyPad is due to be released in “a month or two”, and if size and money matter to you, you should definitely keep an eye on the tablet.
Though today is the first time we’re hearing about the FamilyPad, it is already starring in its first YouTube video, courtesy of ARMDevices, having an almost complete spec sheet attached to its name.
The 13.3-inch display looks massive, as you can imagine, but unfortunately it might not be very great in terms of color reproduction, contrast or viewing angles. And that’s because it only comes with a 1,280 x 800 pixels resolution, which is about to get outdated even for 10-inchers.
However, rumor has it that Archos is planning to launch a FamilyPad with a higher resolution display (1,440 x 900) later, and, while that still sounds far from ideal, it should perform significantly better.
Those of you obsessed with raw speed will probably run for their lives when hearing that the Arnova FamilyPad is powered by a 1GHz Allwinner A10 ARM Cortex-A8 processor (most likely single core), but the 1GB of RAM and Mali-400 MP GPU should save appearances a little.
Android 4.0 ICS should also help the smooth running of the tablet, as you’ll notice in the hands-on video below (though playing Glow Hockey doesn’t really require a very up to date OS or a snappy CPU).
Two USB ports, a mini HDMI connector, and a microSD card slot are comfortably fitted on the FamilyPad’s rather thin sides, while on the front and back there are dual 2MP cameras. 8GB of on-board storage sounds like another compromise the 13-incher will ask you to make, but it’s all for a noble cause – keeping the price down.
Archos is claiming that the battery will hold you for 8 to 10 hours when watching video or for 5-6 hours in web browsing between charges, which doesn’t sound too hot either. As for those of you that might find the tab too heavy or uncomfortable to hold, it seems that the FamilyPad will come with some sort of optional stand.
There’s no official word on pricing just yet, but budget friendliness is kind of Archos’s thing (especially on the Arnova sub-brand), so we would be very surprised to see this real-life Gulliver go for a penny over $300. We could even hope to see the standard version available at $250 with the higher-resolution tablet going for 300 bucks, but let’s not start making plans yet.
Anyone excited about the Archos Arnova FamilyPad? Do you think 13-inch tablets could become a thing?
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