Tablet Review: Archos 80b Platinum Tablet

Touch screens are the way to go these days everyone appears to have one, be it phones, tablets, TV`s or whatever.
Archos 80b Platinum TabletArchos 80b Platinum Tablet
Archos 80b Platinum Tablet

The tablet is probably the most up and coming at the moment and since Apple introduced the ipad a few years back we have seen plenty of ipad wannabes on the market.

One of these is the Archos 80b Platinum tablet a sturdy little item that`s had a bad press lately but for the likes of me who doesn`t use one that often it’s not all bad news.

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The Archos 80b Platinum Tablet is an 8” tablet with a quad core processor running jellybean 4.2 Android operating system, its solid built as you would expect from the likes of archos, yet it seems lacking compared to some of its rivals.

Ok it`s not overly expensive and the 80b is the lower end of the range with less ram and lower screen resolution, yet it does perform well if you use it for basic everyday tasks, don`t expect this to be anything like an ipad because it isn`t.

The Archos 80b Platinum Tablet performs many tasks that you would expect form a tablet with the usual assortment of apps available, storage is limited to 8GB though but you can upgrade it with a mini SD card which are cheap enough ( I found a 32 GB for under £20).

Screen resolution is good 1024x 768 on an 8” IPS screen which is sharp and it looks great.

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Its heavier than most of its rivals but for me that’s more comforting as its less likely to break easily and it does feel sturdy, so there is the weight problem and your wrist will ache after a while, yet this is a basic tablet and the build quality is good so something has to give.

Forget about the front and rear cameras these are awful and with no real way of altering the settings a great deal, this fails miserably unless you use it in a well-lit environment.

The screen works well with the usual Android feel to it and with Bluetooth and WiFi connections available as well, connecting doesn`t seem a problem, now talking of connection I have read other reviewers complain that the metal casing affects the WiFi signal, I personally had no problem with this.

Graphics aren`t too bad it tends to slow on more cpu hungry apps especially games, yet it did handle most things I tried on it very well, battery life is reasonable around 6 hours for casual usage and there is HDMI, Mini USB and SD card slots located on the top edge.

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The keyboard is nice and big which is ideal for those e-mails etc.

Summary

The Archos 80b Platinum Tablet isn`t all that bad really, the problem is that as many of its competitors do offer more for less, the thing I do like about this tablet is the build quality it’s a solid device and apart from the totally useless camera does everything required of it, this is more for a casual user who likes to just surf and message, and being an android tablet there are endless amounts of apps available.

The Archos 80b Platinum Tablet retails for around £160.00 but if you shop around you can find them as low as £124.00 which is the price they should retail at.

The Archos 80b Platinum tablet

8” IPS screen

1 GB of Ram

8 GB Storage

Video/Camera

HDMI, 3.5 Audio Jack

MP3 Player

Android Jellybean 4.2

Price: £124.00 (varies according to retailer)

Usability: 5/5

Comfort: 3.5/5

Value For Money: 3.5/5

Overall: 3.5/5

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