Archos 80 Titanium review

The main rival to the Archos 80 Titanium is the iPad mini, along with Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 - both of which sell for a great deal more.

That's some tough technical competition and if you look at the Titanium's price bracket it's got an equally tricky challenge with the likes of the Amazon Kindle Fire HD and Google Nexus 7 for company.

While coming with a low price tag, it does miss some key features - so can we really recommend a tablet like this?

We liked

The hard button Home control on the Archos 80 Titanium's side is novel, the overall styling is quite some achievement, and its bountiful connectivity is excellent. It performs all of the core tasks of a tablet efficiently and the build quality is as good as anything on the market.

The mini HDMI-out connection is nice, as is the microSD card expansion slot, while the bundling of the OfficeSuite package and the custom-made Archos Music and Archos Video apps adds to the already scintillating value.

And the price? Well, £150 (US$170) is so low that we're not convinced the Archos 80 Titanium shouldn't be bought in multiples. It certainly earns an extra point on our overall score for its low price alone, especially considering its excellent build quality.

We disliked

Some will detest the 2MP camera and the lack of HD video recording on the tablet, while others will rue the lack of Bluetooth and GPS.

The white-only design won't appeal to all - in fact, it could even restrict the Archos 80 Titanium's mainstream chances and make it a child-centric tablet - and it's much heavier than an iPad mini.

A poor battery and even worse camera will hamper its attractiveness to anyone wanting a tablet on the move, as will the use of a proprietary power cable.

The use of the already past-it Android 4.1 spec might concern some, too, while the occasional freeze-ups and a lack of multitasking during downloads might also annoy.

Final verdict

There are problems, issues, and 'missing' features when you compare the Archos 80 Titanium to an iPad mini, but that costs twice as much.

Besides, despite its lack of GPS, Bluetooth and poor cameras, it does add flexible options like mini HDMI and micro USB connections.

And in many areas the Archos 80 Titanium out-performs its heftily- priced rival to the extent that anyone thinking of purchasing a small tablet should seriously consider whether spending more than this is really necessary.

And that is quite some achievement; bravo to Archos and its great-looking, awesome value 8-inch Titanium tablet.