Archos chief takes aim at Apple's iPad with G9 Android tablet

Archos chief executive and founder, Henri Crohas, has claimed that the firm's forthcoming G9 range of tablets will outperform all tablets on the market, including the popular iPad 2.

Crohas noted that the latest range of 8in and 10in tablets will come with an Arm Cortex dual-core 1.5GHz A9 processor, which is 50 per cent faster than other devices on the market, including the popular iPad 2.

The G9 tablets are faster, offer better multimedia performance, higher storage, easily accessible 3G and value for money, Crohas explained at an Archos event in central London today.

"The 80 and 101 Archos tablets offer superior performance to the iPad and will be 30 to 40 per cent cheaper. They will also ship with the latest Android Honeycomb 3.2 operating system," he said.

In an attempt to attract business users, Archos offers a 3G USB dongle that retails for £49 and will allow users to pay for data as and when required.

"Users will only be charged for the data they use. They will be charged £5 for 24 hours of data allowance or £10 for three days of unlimited usage," Crohas said.

Archos aims to undercut all major tablet manufacturers when it ships the G9 range in September.

An 8in device with 16GB of Flash storage will start at £199. Meanwhile, the high-end 10.1in G9 will come with 250GB of HDD storage and will cost £399, the same price as a Wi-Fi-only 16GB iPad.

V3.co.uk will be posting a video demo and hands-on review of the Archos G9 tablets soon.