Archos, known chiefly for its Android tablets, has ventured into new waters with the Archos GamePad, a new kind of tablet with gaming controls. It aims to provide a slightly different slate experience on the go, with a side of ribs and gaming. With it, gamers will have access not only to their games but also to things like e-mail, the internet, apps and more.
In addition to a 7-inch, capacitive touch screen, the GamePad has physical control buttons as well as tiny bumps of analog sticks, a feature resembling the PS Vita‘s own analog stick design. The Google certified device has full access to the Play store and can be used to download the thousands of games available. At the heart of the gaming tablet is a dual core processor running at 1.5 GHz. Archos saw fit to combine this with a dedicated quad core graphics processing unit, and chose the Mali-400 MP.
Strictly speaking, tablet games with their touch controls lack the responsivity that physical controls can provide. The introduction of ICS brought with it compatibility for just this. And because older games might not offer compatibility with these controls, Archos has developed its own mapping and game recognition tool allowing controls to be mapped to the GamePad’s control buttons.
“When Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, was first released they included game controller support within the framework and that is when we decided to build the GamePad,” commented Henri Crohas, Archos Founder and CEO. “Thanks to the mapping and automatic game recognition systems included on the GamePad, we already have over a thousand android games compatible with the Archos GamePad’s physical controls, including back catalog titles that originally didn’t include physical controls.”
The Archos GamePad price and release date details have been revealed. The gaming tablet will be made available beginning at the end of October for less than 150 euros.