Archos have released the Gamepad, it is available to buy now. The Gamepad has a selection of hardware buttons, d-pads and sticks so gamers should be happy with the physical controls. Archos have also added some level of control mapping to the buttons as well. Where you should be able to remap onscreen controls to a specific button or stick. I am finding the prosepct of this rather interesting. Onscreen controls have put me off a lot of Android games in the past, so I am going to take one for the team and order one for a mere £129.98 and see how it all works.
The specs are pretty good, Archos have made the interesting choice of not specifying a Tegra 3 Processor and only having 8GB internal memory may hinder how many huge games you can install at once. Here is the full spec list:
Tech Specs
| Display | • 7’’: 1024×600 capacitive 5 points multitouch screen |
| Application Framework | • Android 4.1 Jelly Bean |
| Processor | • ARM CORTEXTM dual-core A9 @ 1.6GHz • GPU quad-core Mali 400 MP • 3D OpenGL (ES 2.0) |
| Capacity | • Flash Memory: 8GB* + microSD Slot (SDHC compatible up to 32GB) |
| RAM | • 1GB RAM |
| Video playback1 | • H.264 HD (up to 1080p@30 fps) • MPEG-42 HD (up to 1080p@30 fps) • With the above codecs, the device can play video files with the following extensions: AVI, MP4, MOV, 3GP, MPG, PS, TS, MKV, FLV |
| Audio Playback1 | • MP3 • WAV (PCM/ADPCM) • AAC3, AAC+ 5.13 • OGG Vorbis • FLAC |
| Photo viewer4 | • JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF |
| Webcam | • Front camera |
| Interfaces | • USB 2.0: Mobile Transfer Protocol (MTP) • microSD (SDHC compatible) • mini HDMI output6(Mini HDMI / HDMI cable sold separately) |
| Wireless technologies | • Wi-Fi |
| Miscellaneous | • Built-in speaker • G-sensor • Built-in Microphone |
| Power source | • Internal: Lithium Polymer battery • External: Power adapter/charger |
| Dimensions & weight | • 229.8 x 118.7mm x 15.4mm (9’’x 4.6’’x 0.6’’) • 330g (11.6 oz) |
The Gamepad has already gone out of stock with the next shipments being the 18th of December, whether you’ll get one in time for Christmas is another matter.
Source – Archos
Via – Android Central