The Archos 101 Saphir tablet should be both cheap and rugged

Usually, smartphones and tablets that are made to be more rugged than normal also have a higher than normal price tag. Archos seems to be going against the grain with its upcoming budget Android tablet, the 101 Saphir, that can also take a lot of abuse.

The 101 Saphir includes a case that’s made for shock-proofing, with the company claiming it can handle drops of over three feet. It’s also IP54 compliant for dust and water resistance. This should make this tablet perfect for people who want to take it out on the road or even in the great outdoors.

The other hardware parts of the Archos 101 Saphir are unfortunately not as impressive. It has a 10.1-inch display with a low resolution of 1280×800, along with a MediaTek MT8163 quad-core processor running at 1.3GHz. It only has 1GB of RAM and 16GB of onboard storage, although it does include a microSD card slot to add up to 128GB in additional storage. The tablet will run Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box, which is actually a plus.

Some of the other hardware specs include a 5MP rear camera, a 2MP front-facing camera and a 6000mAh battery that will last up to five hours. Another plus is that the tablet comes with its own detachable keyboard, which might make it easier to use for work.

Archos plan to show the 101 Saphir in a few days at the 2017 Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain. The tablet is scheduled for release in June. No price has been announced for the tablet, but considering most of its hardware specs are so low, we expect that the final price will definitely be in the budget range.

Stay tuned as we will be on the ground in Barcelona starting in just a couple of days as we will be reporting all the news from this year’s MWC show.