Though the Razer Edge and Nvidia Project Shield took a lot of the portable gaming spotlight this week at CES, Archos showed off its Android handheld, the GamePad. Introduced in August and already available in Europe, the GamePad is an Android 4.1-based device with a 7-inch display and traditional analog thumbpads, action and shoulder buttons, and a d-pad. What's most compelling about the GamePad, however, is its price. When it makes its North American debut in March, the GamePad will be priced at just $169.99, besting the competition in terms of affordability. But can it compete with regards to performance and user experience? I went hands-on at CES to find out.
The first thing I noticed about the GamePad was how remarkably thin and light it is. It measures at just 15.4mm thick and weighs just over 11 ounces, though due to the large 7-inch display, it's fairly wide and tall. Despite its low cost, the display actually looks pretty decent, offering a high viewing angle and rich, vibrant colors, though at 1024 x 600, lacks in pixel density. It also has reasonably processing specs, utilizing dual-core cortex A9 CPU, a Mali 400 quad-core GPU with 1GB of RAM.
Archos has left the Android operating system largely untouched, which means users have full access to the apps and games found in the Google Play store. The only limiting factor is local storage, which is currently limited to 8GB but can be expanded by an additional 64GB via microSD.
The system felt well constructed for a sub-$200 device and the integrated action and shoulder buttons were quick and responsive. The only qualms I had with the design of the controls were the small, low-profile thumbpads, which were somewhat stiff and difficult to make small, incremental adjustments. The system ran games well, though app and game loading seemed a bit slow.
The GamePad's coolest feature, however, is its touchscreen control mapping tool, which allows you to manually associate touchscreen and motion controls to each of the device's buttons. The tool uses a custom overlay and is compatible with thousands of Android games. In other words, GamePad users won't be limited to just games that support it, they can simply map the controls themselves. The only downside is that the even though the controls may be mapped to buttons, the on-screen buttons may still appear.
The GamePad definitely feels like a $170 product in some regards, but in others the performance and quality surprised me. It's unclear whether Android-based gaming handhelds will take off, but the GamePad is so aggressively priced, it may actually become a big seller in the U.S.
For more from CES, stay tuned to IGN.com/CES.
Scott Lowe is IGN's guru of Tech. He enjoys coffee, burritos, and moonlit walks. You can follow him on MyIGN Scott-IGN and on Twitter @ScottLowe. For more of the latest and greatest in technology, follow @IGNTech.
Source : ign[dot]com
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