What’s good:
The G9 Turbo had loads of storage space, a decent screen, a kickstand and Android 4.0, round that off with a $399 price tag and you have an awesome mobile media tablet.What’s Bad:
The plastic feel of the tablet does not give it a solid feel. Also the battery life/charging speeds could be better, I found if I wanted a full charge I had to leave the tablet alone the whole time.The short of it:
The G9 Turbo with Android 4.0 is an overall great tablet. Besides my few complaints with the build materials and charging issues, this tablet is a solid performer.
Specs
- 1.2GHz OMAP4 dual core processor
- 1GB of RAM
- 10.1 inch (16:10) 1024×768 capacitive touchscreen,
- Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with Google Mobile Apps Suite including Android Market
- ARCHOS made multimedia apps for extra format and codec support including H.264 HP support
- WiFi 802.11 b/g/n and upgradable to 3G via the ARCHOS G9 3G Stick (sold separately)
Video Review
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP25zBIOw7k&Build Quality
Being the proud owner of a Motorola Xoom it is hard to compare any other tablet to such a quality build. When I first picked up the G9 Turbo it felt completely foreign to me, so I handed it over to my fiance who proceeded to tell me it felt good. Over the next few days I adjusted to the feel, while never feeling quite as solid as the Xoom does, it felt good. The outer shell of the tablet is hard plastic. While the material is easy enough to hold onto and seems durable enough; an extra layer of rubber around the edges would do some good for extra grip, and added protection. Overall the plastic does get the job done but does leave something to be desired.External Ports/Design
This tablet was built with the idea of portable media in mind. This was first obvious to me when I see an HDMI mini port along with a kickstand. Both of these features worked well, especially the kickstand, since I could charge and watch a video at the same time without having to fumble around due to the placement of the charging port. The power button is on the top as expected the but volume rockers on the other hand seemed to be placed in an odd spot, it is on the “bottom”. When I first got my hands on the G9 Turbo I kept on confusing the power button and the volume rocker. I wasn’t familiar with the device and kept pressing the volume rocker to try turn it on. It was not till I tried watching a movie on the tablet that I realized why the audio was placed where it was. When flipped horizantal to watch a movie, the volume rocker on the “bottom” makes much more sense.It isn’t to often that I am happy to see a feature missing while reviewing a device. This was the case when I first noticed that the G9 Turbo did not have a rear camera. Most times we find ourselves using our phones to take pictures in the moment, rarely do we find ourselves scrambling for our tablets. On the other hand if they had omitted a front facing camera I would have been displeased. While the 720p front facing camera is not ground breaking, it is included for good reason (Skype). Everything else is as expected, speaker is on the back, and some Archos logos here and there.
Display/Speakers
As a portable media device, you would expect a decent audio and video experience, this brings us to the display and speaker. First off let me start off by saying that display reminds me a lot of my Xoom, and when set side by side I can see no real difference. The resolution of the screen is 1280 x 800 bringing us in at 150 ppi, now days this is pretty standard for the average tablet. This may leave you wanting when compared to the displays on the Transformer Prime or iPad (see high resolution IPS displays). Overall while watching videos on the G9 Turbo they looked clean, and the colors looked spot on (no over saturation here). Although it may not be the best or newest screen technology, it looks really good and was easy on the eyes.The speaker sounded good as well. Although it is placed in the back it was loud enough that I never really had to strain to hear what was going on. If watching a movie or playing a game, for the most part I could hear what was going on. I would have preferred the speakers on the front, but it seems all to rare that a company actually does this. Fortunately with the kickstand open the sound normally will get reflected back at you. But if the situation calls for it you can always switch over to a Bluetooth headset, or headphones.
Internal Hardware
The internal hardware for the G9 Turbo is pretty standard for the average tablet these days. With a OMAP 4 dual core processor clocked at 1.5 ghz, and 1 gig of ram you shouldn’t have any problem watching movies, or checking your email. The G9 Turbo being based off the OMAP 4 processor ensures that you wont have any problem playing HD video content, something that can be a problem if using a device based off of the Tegra 2. This absolutely is a must being that the G9 Turbo has an HDMI mini port, since its core purpose is streaming movies to HD TV’s. Overall I am completely satisfied with the specs of the G9 Turbo for the price.Software
Often times you find a bunch of unwanted software or a skin installed on your phone or tablet. With the G9 there are some pre-installed apps on the tablet, but they can all be removed. The important thing here is that a few of them are actually useful. The ARCHOS made multimedia apps for extra format and codec support was extremely useful, it will definitely save anyone looking for out of the box movie playback a few bucks.From what I have read (and my experience with my Xoom) is that new life has been found with the introduction of Android 4.0 (ICS). The heart and soul running the G9 Turbo is pretty close to untouched ICS as you can get. As you can see from the video ICS on this run very smooth. I credit this to the fact that ICS was designed from the ground up to run on the OMAP 4 architecture, something that defiantly benefits the G9 Turbo.
