Archos 80 Titanium

The Archos 80 Titanium is a good budget tablet with strong build quality, but when the more powerful Acer Iconia A1 is just £40 more, comes with the very latest Android 4.2 OS and has much better battery life, the 80 Titanium remains merely average rather than edging into Budget Buy territory.

At first glance the Archos 80 Titanium fits right in with other eight-inch rivals like the iPad mini or Samsung Galaxy 8.0 with its white bezel and gently curving edges. It looks and feels much classier than its price tag suggests, though it's perhaps a little on the heavy side at 440g.

With an anodised aluminium rear and non-widescreen aspect, the Archos 80 Titanium owes a debt to the iPad range. However, where the Archos 97 Platinum is the spitting image of the iPad, this Archos tablet doesn't look exactly like the iPad mini.

Speaking of which, the Archos 80 Titanium comes with either 8GB or 16GB or built-in storage, and is priced at £149.99 (US$169) for the smaller capacity model, putting it up against budget tablets such as the Acer Iconia A1 and Disgo 8400G, and considerably undercutting the 8-inch Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0.

The Archos 80 Titanium gets it right in several key areas, with decent build quality, a reasonable screen and enough performance to enable gaming, browsing and media consumption. Its cut-down specification, poor battery life and awful camera work against it, but it’s a fine option if you need a tablet on a budget.