French device maker Archos introduced an Android tablet in March that the company said would be available with up to 256GB of storage, giving it several times as much storage space as most high-end Android tablets.
But it looks like the company has scrapped plans to offer an Archos 94 Magnus tablet with 256GB of flash storage, because it would cost too much money.
Instead, Les Numeriques reports Archos will only offer models with 64GB or 128GB of storage.
The tablets will feature 9.4 inch, 1280 x 800 pixel IPS displays, Rockchip RK3288 processors, 1.5GB of RAM, 6400 mAh batteries, and support for microSD cards. It runs Android 4.4 KitKat, features HDMI output, and has front and rear cameras.
In other words, while it has an unusual screen size, most of the specs are rather unremarkable for a low-cost Android tablet. The key thing that sets the Archos 94 Magnum apart from the competition is the amount of built-in storage… and that remains true even without the 256GB model.
Few companies offer Android tablets with more than 32GB or 64GB of storage.
Note that the Archos 94 Mangus product page on the Archos website still refers to the device as a tablet with up to 256GB. So it’s possible that Les Numeriques is wrong… but it’s also just as likely that Archos hasn’t updated its website yet. The tablet isn’t yet available for purchase.
via FrAndroid, and Tablet News
The math doesn’t quite add up, but I wonder if they are referring to the 64GB model with a 200GB microSD card? LG seems to be mentioning a card about that size with the G4.
Could be, Archos can be traced back to the old MP3/Video media player days and for years they’ve offered devices with HDDs to offer more capacity than other mobile device makers… but it’s possible they could be trying another path but if so then that’s up to the user to get the microSD card as Archos also pushes budget range pricing, like they were one of the last hold outs on using resistive touch screens years after most of the industry had already gone capacitive and only switched when it really got cheap, and including that much capacity would force them to raise their pricing too high… but others have done similarly when mentioning “up to” in their device spec descriptions…
Too expensive? Those specs are pretty similar to alot of Chinese tablets around $100-150, with the exception of the 256gb of storage.
But 256gb of eMMC isn’t that expensive. Assuming they have enough room to use 8gb modules, it would cost about $15 more.
But perhaps the extra cost is related to building a board that can house that many eMMC modules. Or maybe the cost is in a controller than can address that much memory?
Typically, Archos utilizes a HDD to provide extra large storage for their devices… Keep in mind it isn’t just about the cost of the hardware because the whole industry leverages drive capacity to provide better profit margins for their products… This is why there is often a $50 price difference between the lowest and next doubling of capacity even if the actual cost increase is only around $8-9… Apple takes it even further and charges a hundred for each doubling of capacity…. So they can’t offer that much capacity with eMMC without bucking the system used by everyone else, at least not without a high premium in pricing, but HDDs aren’t part of the same paradigm… Archos also doesn’t make premium range products and thus would be hard pressed to justify a premium drive capacity unless it was a really cheap and not profit leveraging offering like HDDs… Even Windows… Read more »
I think it’s safe to guess that Archos never planned on using a HDD for this product (if plans existed at all). That makes no sense. The number 256 was a pretty big giveaway.
Not really, they could either have been planning a combo of primary and secondary storage or may have been planning on being one of the first to offer the new SSDs that are to compete with HDD pricing…
You’re suggesting that Archos was planning a 250gb HDD, and a 6gb eMMC combo?
My guess is that it was going to have 256gb of eMMC, or like you said, an SSD.
The eMMC is beyond reasonable possibility, IMO, it’s too heavily part of how the industry leverage profit margins and Archos is primarily a budget device range producer while even premium range products are still only offering up to 128GB… So very unlikely Archos would be the first to go higher…
Thus far more likely either a dual drive solution, or Kay’s microSD card scenario, or just simply a cheap SSD solution…
I’m not sure why you think eMMC is less likely. Why would it be more likely that they would go for a more expensive solution? 256gb of eMMC is less than $20. a 256gb SSD is probably between $60-100 OEM pricing.
I already explained… 1) eMMC is used by the industry to leverage profit margins, so anyone offering more capacity has to charge more than the actual cost or risk going against how everyone else charges and profit margins for the rest of the system are generally too low to allow profitability for most companies that can’t sell as many units… It just won’t happen any time soon and at best Archos would open itself up to lawsuits from the companies that would lose out and even the big companies… 2) Archos is a budget only product maker, when even premium products don’t yet offer more than 128GB then it’s unthinkable that a budget device maker will offer more for a budget range device… 3) Archos, as a budget device maker, can’t really get away with charging premium prices… Put those together and there’s no way it could have been eMMC,… Read more »
i don’t even need “a tablet with 256GB”, just give me something like Asus T100TA with >=4GB RAM and mSATA to insert any SSD i’d like!
oh, you can buy something like that. for >1K€, because that’s a business-device.
Leave it to archos to good up prices with specs. I had one of their mpt’s pre-android. The function was actually fantastic, but the design was terrible.
I swore off of them (personal vendetta) and have only seen them send out overpriced-underpowered devices since.