Archos, one of the several smartphone manufacturers in France, unveiled two of its upcoming Android smartphones via a press release – the Archos 45 Helium 4G and 50 Helium 4G. As you might have judged by their names, both devices are LTE-enabled – in fact, they are the company's first 4G smartphones. It is expected that Archos will demonstrate the Helium 45 and 50 at CES 2014.
So, will the French manufacturer actually surprise us with a high-end line of devices in Las Vegas next week? Most probably not.
Both the Archos 45 and 50 Helium 4G are quite mid-range and share the same hardware specs. They both use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 400 SoC. The quad-core Cortex A7 CPUs are clocked at 1.4GHz and the amount of RAM on board is no more or less than 1GB. An Adreno 305 GPU, clocked at 450 MHz, takes care of the graphics. Both devices sport a microSD slot and are compatible with the 800/1800/2100/2600 MHz LTE bands. The Helium 45 and 50 are powered by stock Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, and Archos promises that both devices will be soon updated to Android 4.4.2 KitKat.
The differences between the two mobile phones are actually not so big. The Archos 45 Helium 4G has dimensions of 5.3 x 2.63 x 0.38 inches and sports a 4.5-inch IPS display, which features a resolution of 480 x 854 pixels and has the low pixel density of 217 ppi. The 45 Helium 4G comes with a 1700 mAh battery on board,, a 5MP camera with BSI sensor on the back and a VGA front-facing snapper. The device has 4GB of internal storage space and will cost $199.99.
The $249 Archos 50 Helium 4G is slightly bigger, yet thinner – it has dimensions of 5.7 x 2.81 x 0.35 inches. The reason for the increased size is the 5-inch IPS display, which has a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels and pixel density of 293 ppi. The smartphone comes with 8 gigabytes of internal storage, 8MP back and 2MP front cameras, as well as a 2000 mAh battery.
+- Press Release
Denver – January 2, 2014 – ARCHOS, a pioneer in Android™ devices, unveils the ARCHOS Helium 4G range, the first ARCHOS LTE smartphones powered by Android™ 4.3 “JellyBean” with full access to Google Play™ Store. Starting at under $200, ARCHOS’ new unlocked 4G phones reinforces the company’s commitment to providing feature-rich, consumer-friendly technology at an affordable price.
ARCHOS’ grand entry into the 4G era smartphone market, the ARCHOS 45 Helium 4G features a vivid 4.5-inch screen with IPS technology, blazing fast Quad Core 1.4 GHz processor and is capable of transferring speeds at up to 150 Mbps using a 4G/LTE network. The ARCHOS 50 Helium 4G, a slighter larger offering, comes equipped with the same cutting edge technology but has a 5-inch HD 1280×720 screen, 8 GB of storage and a 8 MP camera.
The launch of the ARCHOS 45 and 50 Helium 4G phones addresses the growth in global 4G network availability and the increasing global demand for affordable mobile technology.
ARCHOS’ new smartphones build on the company’s overwhelming success in the European mobile market and takes advantage of its partnership with Qualcomm, leader in mobile chipsets and processor, to jointly engineer and launch affordable 4G solutions worldwide.
“The smartphone has revolutionized the way consumers access information, giving them the ability to instantly view, connect and share ideas regardless of location and time,” says Loïc Poirier, CEO of ARCHOS. “The ARCHOS Helium 4G smartphones will once again change consumers’ mindsets by making the best possible technology affordable.”
ARCHOS’ newest unlocked 4G smartphones supports Micro SD card for easy memory expansion, has dual cameras with autofocus and LED flash, utilizes Micro USB 2.0 connectors to sync and charge, and can supports a variety of multimedia files including MP3, WAV, JPEG, GIF, PNG and more. The ARCHOS Helium 4G smartphones also give users access to a variety of Google services including Google Play application store, Google Chrome web browser, Google Now voice assistant, Google Apps such as Youtube, Gmail, Hangouts and Calendar and more.
