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Archos 9 Windows 7 Tablet Review

The Archos 9 is among the very few Windows 7 powered tablets I’ve tried and this unit reminds me of the Viliv line of tablets we tried before, only bigger and cheaper. See our full review of the Archos 9 after the jump.

Again, you will need to read our review of the Archos 5 and the Archos 7 to get a better perspective on this one.

The Archos 9 comes in a just appropriate size of 8.9 inches but feels a bit heavier for it size. That’s because the body is mostly made out of metal or aluminum (net weight of the Archos 9 is 800 grams while the bigger iPad WiFi is only 680 grams). At around 16mm thin, it’s evident Archos did a lot of work to make the build quality the best they can.

The screen on the Archos 9 is just the regular LCD so contract isn’t very good so even if you set it to the highest brightness settings, the display looks a little washed out. It doesn’t also have a very wide viewing angle. Good thing they had a kickstand at the back so you can freely sit it down while watching movies.

The screen resolution of 1024×600 is great for browsing websites but you will need the stylus that came with it to navigate since the Archos 9 uses a resistive screen. On the other hand, using resistive screens on a Windows 7 tablet makes a lot of sense considering the UI and the fact that Microsoft build their OS with a pointing device in mind.

The tablet also comes with a lot of physical buttons and ports. There’s a dedicated button for the virtual on-screen keyboard, buttons for volume control, brightness, WiFi and even an optical trackpad (just like the one you see on the BlackBerry) on the right side of the panel. There’s also a 1.3MP webcam on the upper left corner just in case you need it for video conferencing or chatting.

As with any Windows-based tablets, I could not resist to compare the device with similarly spec-ed netbooks, like Asus Eee PC T91 and the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t.

Archos 9 PC Tablet specs:
8.9″ LED backlight display @ 1024×600 pixels
Intel Atom Z515 1.2GHz
1GB DDR2 RAM
60GB HDD
WiFi 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth 2.1
1.3MP camera
USB 2.0 port
3.5mm audio jack
2400mAh Li-Po battery
Windows 7 Starter

From that perspective, you’d see that the Archos 9 is almost as complete as most netbooks with a few shortcomings in capacity and ports. That justifiable though considering Archos is making the most out of a very small and thin form factor.

The processor used here is a low-power Intel Atom Z515 running at 1.2GHz. This is the first time I’ve seen this CPU since I used the Z530 1.33GHz on the Acer Aspire One 751 a year ago. So here’s what the Windows Experience Index looks like.

Not very impressive when you compare to regular netbooks but if you compare it with other tablets around, it’s already considered near top of the heap.

Obviously, the problem lies with the OS. Running Windows 7 on a 1.2GHz machine with 1GB RAM is barely enough for the OS alone. You will really notice the slow boot time and launch of applications (but hey, that’s Windows for you). I’d be more interested if they had Android running on this one.

Lastly, the battery life of the 2400 mAh battery didn’t quite reach our expectations. The best time I can get from it was just over 3 hours will all settings on power-saving mode. It’s nice that the battery is user-replaceable though.

The Archos 9 seemed like a nice tablet from the outside but the problem really is with the operating system that takes a toll on the hardware. For around Php29,000, it’s by far the most affordable Windows-based tablet we’re tried (compared to the Php50k on the Viliv) but still it’s not an easy sell.

Note: For inquiries or orders, contact the Archos Official Philippines Distributor (Vincent Uy @ 0917.3050828).

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Avatar for Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

19 Responses

  1. Avatar for Ibrahim Mohammed Ibrahim Mohammed says:

    Good day.. My Archos 9 is reboot itself. It feel to display icon on desktop. What do I do now?

  2. Avatar for angela angela says:

    hmmmm…nothings compared to my apple ipad 2 your review of archos 9 doesnt affect me at all

  3. Avatar for james james says:

    i like your review on the archos 9 but mind you i love apple ipad its great too…sorry for the other people who doesn’t ok

  4. Avatar for Belle Balahadia Belle Balahadia says:

    Hi

    Please advise if there is archos service center here in the Philippines we bought one but need to check the LCD.

    Thanks

  5. Avatar for gadgetfreak gadgetfreak says:

    May I ask if the package includes the port replicator or it is sold separately? If thus can you tell me where can I buy one and how much is it as of now. Thank you so much!

  6. Avatar for Cheap flash screen tvs Cheap flash screen tvs says:

    LED TV is very interesting now. Thanks

  7. Avatar for cyd cyd says:

    what do you mean by
    “The Archos 9 seemed like a nice tablet from the outside but the problem really is with the operating system that takes a toll on the hardware”

  8. Avatar for Brandon Balane Brandon Balane says:

    PLEASE email me at narbh****@****.***

  9. Avatar for Brandon Balane Brandon Balane says:

    IS THERE A DISTRIBUTOR IN CEBU CITY?

  10. Avatar for Cyber Cyber says:

    Archos9 is more of a netbook device compare to iPad. Thus, I really can’t compare both. It has its own virtual keyboard and since it runs under Windows 7, you can install flash for facebook games and other apps like an regular netbook. Contact V-Tech Ventures 091730***** as posted by Wekie in Archos 7 Review.

  11. Avatar for Tere Tere says:

    Can you play Facebook games on this thing? Hehehe.

  12. Avatar for kim kim says:

    does it have it’s own virtual keyboard?

  13. Avatar for Jean Paul Jean Paul says:

    I’d rather have a tablet with an Android 2.1 or 2.2. Am waiting eagerly for the Samsung Tab. I hope the price will be reasonable enough.

  14. Avatar for Ving Ving says:

    Great review. Doesn’t look as good in the comparison picture with the iPad. Anyone else agree?

  15. Avatar for jay jay says:

    … where can we see/buy one ???

  16. Avatar for lolipown lolipown says:

    3 hours… meh. But then again at it’s asking price that’s to be expected.

  17. Avatar for Eason Eason says:

    I rather go for the Asus T919 instead of that :)

    Considering the batterylife + processing power.

  18. Avatar for CarloBlogg Online 3.0 CarloBlogg Online 3.0 says:

    this tablet looks good, :D watching movies with this gadget will definitely be cool; parang pinaliit na “Flat screen” TV ang looks nya, nice :)

  19. Avatar for Wakocoke Wakocoke says:

    how’s the build sir? is it good? :)

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