Archos launches sub-£200 4G-toting tablet

Archos has announced a brand new 4G-toting tablet that's the cheapest of its kind to ship for under the £200 mark. The Archos 80 Helium 4G is a wallet-friendly 8-inch slate with full LTE capability, meaning it'll run speeds up to 150Mbps, assuming your network provider is so generous. This is Archos' first foray into 4G tablets, with the firm looking to capitalise on the growing availability of LTE networks in the UK.

"The Archos 80 Helium 4G represents everything Archos stands for: bringing cutting-edge technology at an affordable price to the mass market," says Loic Poirier, CEO at Archos.
"We are proud to be the first manufacturer to offer affordable 4G to our tablet customers, as we did previously with our 4G smartphones."

The French firm reckons the tablet is perfectly timed for data-hungry tech trends like HD video, augmented reality apps, large Cloud files, and video game streaming. The specs aren't anything to write home about with the Helium, but that's to be expected with the price tag. You're looking at 1.2GHz speeds from a quad-core Qualcomm CPU, 1GB of memory, two cameras at 2 and 5MP respectively, and an 8-inch IPS screen.

The tablet's reasonably svelte at 9.22m and weighs just north of 0.4kg. That puts it at thicker but lighter than the 9.7-in iPad Air, for comparison. Archos' new slate runs on Android so it's got access to the usual Google Play fare, and comes with the Archos Video Player pre-installed. The Helium is kicking off sales at £199 from Archos' website, alongside a host of other UK retailers.

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