Updated with Archos FamilyPad tablet video
Updated with Archos Titanium and Platinum tablets video
Updated with Asus VivoTab Smart review video
Updated with eight-inch tablet videos of eFun/Nextbook, Karbonn
Updated with Alcatel eight-inch tablet video
Hands-on with the first quad-core tablets from Archos (video) — this is the key para:
But I kind of found the Archos 80 Platinum to be a little more interesting. While the screen doesn’t look as good [he’s comparing it to a Retina-class display], the tablet offers virtually identical performance to its larger sibling, but in a package that’s close to the size of an iPad mini, which makes it a lot lighter and easier to hold.
It would be a great device for surfing the web from your couch or reading an eBook.
I still say we will see 4:3 eight-inch tablets surpass 16:9 seven-inch tablets this year. Just the screen of an iPad Mini is about as wide as an entire seven-inch tablet. There are those who make the argument that 16:9 is better for video, blah blah blah. Video isn’t the issue; it’s just one thing done on a tablet.
BGR seems to have a case of the vapors here: Polaroid’s Jelly Bean tablets could give Google a run for its money. Price isn’t the only thing to consider when buying something. Brad Linder at Liliputing sums it up correctly: Polaroid launches some more mediocre Android tablets for $129 and up:
When I got a chance to test the tablet, it seemed reasonably fast… but the screen viewing angles were underwhelming.
And ugh, here’s the design of their eight-inch tablet:
Gigabyte tweaks Intel NUC, designs mini-desktop with up to Core i7 CPU — Core i7 + USB 3 = Want!
Archos has finally put out a press release, for their Titanium line (PDF direct, ricght-click). Here’s the lowdown on the eight-inch 80:
The ARCHOS 80 titanium (8 inches), priced at 169€, $169, £149 has been designed to offer similar user experience as the iPad mini, for a fraction of the price.
Why settle for Titanium over Platinum? I don’t know.
Archos also finally posted the Archos 80 xs. Even though it has an eight-inch screen like the others, it’s larger and similar to their Gen 8 and 9 eight-inchers in overall design.
So far, the only thing I’ve seen come out of CES that really interests me is that eight-inch Archos 80 Platinum tablet for US$199.
Any updates will appear here.
Update: Finally, a look at Alcatel’s eight-inch tablet:
Hm, a dual-core CPU while Archos will be offering quad-core in the Platinum 80 for US$199. So this tablet is really a US$149-$169 value, if that.
Update: This is another pair of dual-core CPU tablets. What I like about this video is that the seven-inch and eight-inch tablets are side by side. The eight-inch screen is roomy! Note that my price guess above for the Alcatel matches the MSRP of the eight-inch Nextbook, US$169:
This next video is not from CES, but it’s demonstrating a dual-core eight-inch tablet. Keep in mind the crap performance here before buying any low-end dual-core eight-inch tablet:
Yeah, that is pretty gruesome.
Update: Even though this isn’t from CES, I think it belongs here since Asus has officially debuted it there: ASUS Vivotab Smart Review: Actually More Tempting Than the VivoTab RT (Video). This also has a video that goes into a lot of things and sometimes moves at breakneck speeds:
I was very interested in that tablet until I discovered it charges through the microUSB port. That means the port is unavailable while on AC. So, for example, I couldn’t plug in a pocket hard drive while on AC power. That’s disappointing. But if you have no need for such an extended capability, it’s a very good tablet and especially at that price for full Windows 8.
Update: The brief video finally provides a good overview of the difference between the Archos Titanium and Platinum tablet lines:
So Platinum is quad core and is available only in eight- and nine-point-seven- inch tablet size.
Update: And to throw a monkey wrench into things is Archos again. This time with a thirteen-inch tablet called the FamilyPad. It’s distinguished by a 4:3 screen.
I can’t help wondering what that would be like with magazine PDFs from Google Books…
Previously here:
Mike Cane’s xBlog 
Mike, totally agree about 4:3, as you say video is just one use one makes of a tablet and in my experience the 4:3 aspect ratio is “good enough” in a positive way. If I want to watch big screen movies in 16:9 (an impulse I rarely experience) I use the legacy big TV screen. My wife watches a lot of movies and TV shows, and does more than 90% of that watching on the iPad, even when she could be watching it on a 52″, 16:9 screen in the same room. She tells me she prefers the intimacy of the tablet and the lack of 6,000-button remote controls to bother with.
Aspect ratio for video on tablets is a distraction. The iPad Mini, when it gets retina, might well be the perfect media consumption device (it is damned close now): light and very portable with great battery life.
I don’t understand this craziness about black bars at the top and bottom of video. That was the case with 4:3 analog TV for years. If people want 16:9, there’s that thing video was made for, as you say: the TV.