Archos confirms G9 Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule
French electronics manufacturer Archos is nearly ready to start rolling out the latest version of the Android operating system for its range of G9 Android tablets.
The company said the upgrade will begin to be sent out over-the-air in the first week of February, and that tablets with Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) pre-installed would begin to go on sale at the end of February. It previously ran the Honeycomb (3.2) version of Android.
As well as updating the on-board software, an Archos spokesman told ZDNet UK that models will begin shipping at the end of February that have upgraded hardware features.
The improved specs include a 1.5GHz dual-core processor on the 'Turbo' model and 1GB RAM. Current Turbo models have a 1.2GHz processor and 512MB RAM. Pricing will remain the same.
The 'Classic' G9 models will keep the same 1GHz processor and RAM configurations.
The G9 series has also been Google certified, meaning it has access to the Android marketplace. Non-Google certified tablets, which are almost always at the lower end of the price scale, are restricted to using app stores such as GetJar.
The Android update brings a number of new features, as well as a significant UI redesign. It also aims to harmonise the platform by being optimised for use on tablets as well as smartphones.
Photo credit: Ben Woods