Archos vs. Cambridge Sciences - which Tablet Manufacturing Brand is More Real?

Richard Fieldhouse (9 December 2011)

Neither of these tablet makers really figures in the marketing war between the many companies making tablets, but both have singled themselves out from the crowd of "white box" manufacturers by producing Honeycomb tablets well before most of the Chinese manufacturers and even before some of the more famous brands.

They have also both held strong positions amongst Amazons top sellers of tablets over a significant period of time and with quite a broad range of products - different sizes, different features and so on.

Archos, who are actually French, also have a significant track record, a recognised logo, a proper website, a call centre of sorts, several other product groups beyond the tablets and a strong presence on the high street (for instance at stores like HMV, PC World, Best Buy etc.). Recently Archos even released a video of one of their Gen 9 series tablets running Ice Cream Sandwich - the latest version of the Android platform - before it has appeared for sale on any tablet in Europe.

Equivalent Models from Archos, Cambridge Science and Alternatives

Screen	Android Version	Big Brand	Archos Model	Cambridge Sciences	White-box Alternative
Capacitive 10"	3 Honeycomb	Asus EeePad Transformer TF101	501870 Gen9 10.1	Not yet available	Not yet available
Capacitive 10"	2.2 Froyo / 2.3Gingerbread	No longer available new	Archos 10.1	Vector-II	WayteQ xTab-100
Capacitive 7" to 8"	3 Honeycomb	Acer Aspire ICONIA TAB A100	501840 80 Gen9 Why?	G7-III	Not yet available
Capacitive 7"	2.2 Froyo / 2.3Gingerbread	Dell Streak 7  Amazon Kindle Fire (USA only)	Archos 70	G7-II	DJC TouchTab2
Resistive 7"	2.1 Eclair / 2.2 Froyo	No longer available new	Archos 7 Home Tablet	Not Available	NATPC - TabTech M009S

To be honest Cambridge Sciences do not do quite so well on these counts. They do have a logo - a kind of digital version of the Conservative Party's Oak tree, but their independent presence on the web or on the high street is not so impressive.

Does it matter? It probably does matter a bit. A company like this does not vouch for their products to the same extent. They are less likely to offer software upgrades or to be prepared to enter into lengthy discussions as to whether or not your tablet is faulty.

But at the right price, perhaps this kind of issue is not that important.