Archos is adding two new smartphones to its lineup, and they appear to be mid-range Android handsets at reasonably low prices. The Archos 45 Helium 4G and Archos 50 Helium 4G are coming soon with prices starting at $200 for a contract-free phone.

They’re not bad-looking phones, but Motorola doesn’t have much to worry about — the $179 Moto G still looks like a better value in most areas.

Archos Helium 4G

 

Archos 50 Helium 4G

The larger of the two phones has a 5 inch, 1280 x 720 pixel IPS display, a Qualcomm MSM8926 quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 processor with Adreno 305 graphics, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of storage.

It has an 8MP rear camera and 2MP front-facing camera, WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G and 4G LTE capabilities.

The phone will ship with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, but Archos says it will be upgradeable to Android 4.4 KitKat. The Archos 50 Helium 4G has a 2000mAh battery, and has a price tag of $250.

Archos 45 Helium 4G

Archos also has a model with a 4.5 inch, 854 x 480 pixel IPS display, 4GB of storage, a 5MP rear camera and 0.3MP front-facing camera. The Archos 45 Helium 4G has a 1700mAh battery and a suggested price of $200.

The rest of the specs are pretty much the same as those for the Archos 5 Helium 4G.

If these two phones had come out a few months ago, they might have looked like pretty good devices for the price. But now that you can get a $179  Motorola Moto G with a 4.5 inch, 720p display, 8GB of storage, the latest version of Android, the low-priced smartphone space is a bit more competitive.

The Archos phones do have two key advantage over Motorola’s budget smartphone: The Moto G doesn’t support LTE networks, but the Archos Helium 4G phones do. The Archos handsets also have microSD card slots for extra storage space — something that’s not available on the Moto G.

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11 replies on “Archos introduces Helium 4G smartphones for $200 and up”

  1. “The phone will ship with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, but Archos says it will be upgradeable to Android 4.4 KitKat.”

    If 4.4 is what makes the deal for you, wait till Archos makes 4.4 available. They said the same for Platinum 50 (with 4.2) and almost a year later I’m still stuck with 4.1.

  2. How’s Archos with keeping their devices updated. Especially when it comes to security and bug fixes.

    1. Archos’ support during the product’s market life – excellent.
      Archos’ support after an item is no longer sold – completely and totally nonexistant.

      1. How long are their product’s market life usually? 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, more?

        1. It was a little less than 6 months for the Platinum 50. I’ve been ignored for the most time in the customer support and the last update for the devices was 1 month after the release.

  3. These would be awesome phones if the frequency bands didn’t lock you into the most expensive GSM provider in the US (cough ATT cough). This kind of thing almost makes me wish Sprint would actually buy T-Mobile and add GSM broadcasting to all of their towers so I can get a nice combo of coverage and speed.

  4. i didnnt know the moto g had touchless controls,,i have one but i dont see them

    1. It doesn’t — I was mixing up the G and X in my mind when I wrote that. Maybe the Archos 50 isn’t such a bad deal after all… although I’d probably rather have a 16GB Moto G for $200.

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