The Archos 101 G9 and Archos 80 G9 tablets ship with Google Android 3.2 Honeycomb software, but Archos is already working to bring Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich to its latest tablets.
The two tablets feature TI OMAP4 dual core processors which are more than fast enough to handle Google’s new operating system. Charbax from ARMDevices.net got a chance to preview an early build of ICS on the Archos 101 G9.
Archos hopes to release the software update during the first quarter of 2012. The company is still working to add support for the optional USB 3G stick, home media features which let you stream content from a PC to your tablet, and hardware video acceleration.
Android 4.0 is the first version of Google’s mobile operating system designed to run on both smartphones and tablets — and the G9 line of tablets are the first tablets from Archos to ship with the tablet-friendly Android 3.2 operating system. Up until recently, all of the tablets Archos released came with Android 2.3 or earlier, meaning they were essentially running software designed for phones rather than tablets.
It’s good to know that anyone that forked out some cash on the Archos 80 or Archos 101 G9 will be able to upgrade to Android 4.0 and possibly other versions of Google Android in the future.