Archos hasn’t exactly been known as the king of Android tablets, and we haven’t heard much from them as of late. So it’s rather fitting that Archos announced the Elements line of tablets, and the first device in said line, the 97 Carbon. While we are disappointed surprised that Archos is still trying, the 97 Carbon isn’t going to blow anyone away right out of the gate. Or ever, for that matter. Despite the fact that the Carbon looks fairly nice, one look at the specs tells us that we won’t be hearing too much about the device beyond the initial launch. The 97 Carbon will hit stores with:

• 9.7-inch, 1024 x 768 IPS display
• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
• 1GHz single-core ARM Cortex A8 processor
• Full size USB port
• HDMI out port
• 2MP rear camera
• 0.3MP front-facing shooter
• 16GB of internal memory
• MicroSD card slot
• 1GB of RAM
• Fairly light at 21.8 ounces
• 0.45” thick

Archos has yet again released a device with specs that would’ve been impressive three years ago. Of course, the 97 Carbon is part of the new Elements line, so we may see other devices released that actually fit into the year 2012. Archos reportedly has plans to launch 7-inch and 8-inch tablets under the Elements name later this year, so there’s still a slight chance we could be impressed.

As for the 97 Carbon, Archos plans to release the device later this month, with a $230-$250 price tag. Given that Archos isn’t very well known in the U.S., we doubt that we’ll see an extravagant launch. The full press release can be found after the break. More on this as it develops.

So, do you think Archos should hang up its hat in the Android tablet world? Do low-end devices like this have a purpose in today’s market? Drop a comment below!

Show Press Release

Source AndroidPolice