Decent screen, slick looks, expandable memory, 4G
Processor could be better, on the heavy side
The latest addition to French firm Archos's 4G Helium line-up is the 8-inch Archos 80 tablet. It looks slick, but how does it perform?
Chassis & screen
It's a good-looking tablet, with a sleek aluminium casing edged in white rubberised plastic. Curved edges around the back make it seem even slimmer than its svelte 9mm though it feels just a little on the heavy side at 430g.
There's a micro HDMI port so you can connect to your TV and a slot on the back for microSD card (up to 64GB to add to the 8GB already on board) and a 4G SIM card. So potentially you can get broadband-style download and streaming speeds via your network while you're out and about. As the networks' 4G coverage becomes more ubiquitous data prices drop, it's inevitable that we'll all be doing more of this in the near future but it's still a bit of a rarity for tablets.
The built-in voice call app lets you use the Archos 80 as a standard phone (best not to hold it to your ear though) though the dual speakers on the back aren't best placed to get the best sound quality.
The 8-inch IPS screen offers an HD resolution of 1024x768 pixels -- not quite the full HD shilling but still bright and clear enough for most tasks on a screen this size. It's sensitive too, and we never encountered any problems with our brushes and presses.
Software & processor
It's running Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, so not the very latest 4.4 KitKat version, which is a shame. Archos has chosen to run it pretty much unskinned though, so you're getting the raw Android experience (which is often preferable to some of the skimmed versions we've seen) and that should put it closer to the front of the line when new versions are available.
The quad-core 1.2GHz processor is backed by just 1GB RAM, which was a pretty good spec a year or so ago, but now seems a bit so-so.
It doesn't exactly lag, but opening apps and scrolling through menus is leisurely rather than rushed the way it feels on more powerful devices. Our AnTuTu benchmark test gave it a score of 17,224, which puts it well behind EE's budget-priced Eagle tablet, for instance.
Photography
The 5-megapixel camera on the back includes autofocus, but there's no flash. It's fairly basic -- you really only have HDR and panorama modes to play with, though there are quite a few options to manually adjust your light and other settings. Picture quality is surprisingly good however, with realistic colours and a fair level of detail. The 2-megapixel camera on the front includes the same settings so you can look your best in selfies and video calls.
The large 3,500mAh batteries lasted pretty well -- you can certainly expect to get more than a full day's use out of it.
Conclusion
The Archos 80 Helium 4G is a good-looking tablet with the added bonus of 4G for web browsing and calls. It's let down a little by its sub-par performance but if network coverage is essential for you, it's well worth considering.
Software: Android 4.3 Jelly Bean
Processor: Quad-core1.2GHz Cortex A7
Memory slot: Yes
Display: 8in IPS LCD, 1024x768 pixels
Connectivity: Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
Ports: microUSB, 3.5mm headphone jack
Camera: 5 megapixel with autofocus; 2 megapixel front-facing camera
Video playback: H.264 HD (up to 1080p @30fps), MPEG-42 HD (up to 1080p @30fps), extensions: AVI, MP4, MOV, 3GP, MPG, PS, TS, MKV, FLV
Audio playback: MP3, WAV (PCM/ADPCM), AAC3, AAC+ 5.13, OGG Vorbis, FLAC
Radio: Yes
Battery: 3500mAh
Size: 215x155x9mm
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
