Archos 97 Titanium
Price: £200/US$250 (around AU$325)
Score: 3/5
If you've never had a strong physical attraction to an inanimate titanium device, the Archos 97 Titanium will pluck your cherry. It's no coincidence that it has been designed by a French company, they know all too well about seductive design (just take a really close look at the Eiffel Tower).
As the name suggests, it's a square hunk of titanium that looks like it could survive nuclear war and still glisten in the sunlight.
Under the hood, you're getting some reasonable bang for your buck. The 9.7-inch screen has a 1600 x 1200 resolution and a 10-point capacitive multi-touch system - or, in other words, it's pretty darn sharp. It's a genuine pleasure to stare longingly at the tablet's crisp multi-coloured panelled background.
It has the sharpest screen of all the tablets we're reviewing in this list, so it's no surprise that it's also the most expensive.
Running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, one can't help but feel that the dual-core 1.6GHz processor isn't up to scratch when it comes to supporting such a powerful display. There's definitely an issue with lag, and switching between applications is slightly delayed at best.
What's more concerning is that the screen lag is this bad when the device is straight out of the box, so that after some use and app downloads it verges on unusable. One of our major gripes is the lack of response from the menu button - expect to find yourself mashing the screen with every extremity available in a vain attempt to get it to respond.
Quick verdict
This truly is a gorgeous tablet that has some impressive specifications, including an SD card slot, crisp sound playback and front and rear 2MP cameras. It's built to last, and if you're interested in looking the part, this will fit nicely into your repertoire of shiny things that people look at.
But the lag lets the Archos 97 Titanium down, and it will become increasingly frustrating as you load more and more content onto it. At £200 / US$250 (around AU$325), however, you'd be hard-pressed to find a similarly priced 10-inch tablet with these specifications. If your heart is set on a 10-inch tablet but your wallet is looking thin, this is definitely your number one option.
- Read our Hands on: Archos 97 Titanium review
