Sections
- Page 1 Archos 97 Titanium HD Review
- Page 2 Cameras, Software and Performance Review
- Page 3 Battery Life and Verdict Review
Archos 97 Titanium HD – Cameras
With a 5-megapixel snapper in the rear and 2-megapixels up front, you’d think the Archos 97 Titanium HD would be able to produce fairly acceptable images.
Of course, it does beg the question as to why anyone would use the camera on a tablet except to make video calls, but if they are included they should be sufficient for taking a few photos.
The rear camera offers auto focus, but unfortunately lacks a flash, so the majority of the photographs are very poor quality, unless the natural light is sufficient.
For the front facing camera, the quality is actually a lot better. In fact, specs wise the 2-megapixel snapper matches up to flagship smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Sony Xperia Z. Actual picture quality isn’t quite of the same level, but it’ adeqaute for video chatting.
It is a shame that it’s situated in the corner of the tablet, though, as it throws off the orientation of the forward-facing shots, making you hold it at a rather awkward angle for video calling.
Archos 97 Titanium HD – Software
Archos has left the Android Jelly Bean OS untouched. This allows full access to the slick Google mobile OS that works very well on the tablet, coming pre-installed with the classic Google apps.
The lack of bloatware means the Archos functions a lot like Google’s own range of Nexus tablets. There’s full access to the Google Play store and its abundance of apps, as well as five fully customisable home screens complete with all the Android widgets.
Archos 97 Titanium HD – Performance
Unfortunately, performance is where the Archos 97 Titanium HD leaves us feeling rather disappointed. It can handle internet browsing and other such tasks fairly capably, but throw anything more complex at it and there is noticeable lag.
The Archos 97 Titanium HD’s 1.6GHz dual-core processor with 512MB of RAM is a little underpowered for such a high resolution screen, and it shows. If you have more than one app running, trying to close them can cause distinct lag problems, as can running high resolution and high-powered apps.
Running the apps themselves often caused the Archos slate to crash, or just refused to run smoothly, which is downright annoying. This bugginess is sporadic though, as often the Archos 97 Titanium HD runs apps for extended periods without issue.
How we test tablets
We test every tablet we review thoroughly. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly and we use the tablet as our main device over the review period. We’ll always tell you what we find and we never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
