Archos is one of the most prolific French tech brands over the past years. They’ve been churning out tablets like there’s no tomorrow, even some gaming devices. Today they enter the Smart Display scene, by unleashing two new devices of the sort, ahead of CES 2019.
LG has been the headliner of the week, showcasing displays, projectors, kitchen appliances ready for CES 2019 unveiling. Now Archos comes with the logical next step after the Archos Hello which was launched in February with Google’s Smart Display platform. The new models also get Alexa integration, aside from Google’s services.
The first newcomer is the Archos Mate 5, with a 1.2 GHz quad core processor and a 5 inch Full HD display. It also has dual 3W speakers and feels a bit like an old stereo or boombox, maybe even a bread maker. It’ll retail for $129. Then we have the more stylish Mate 7 below, clocked at 1.3 Ghz and increasing the diagonal to 7 inches.
The speakers are upgraded to 10W units and the price grows to $149. Both models share 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of storage, plus a microSD card slot and a 5 MP camera. There’s also a set of Synaptics microphones with far field processing technology. Archos included a privacy switch that turns off the microphones. The Mate 5 and Mate 7 are portable and have their own batteries of 3000 mAh.
Expect a Q1 2019 debut in stores.
