Archos may not be the first name that comes to mind when thinking about buying a smartphone and yet they persistently seem intent on making their mark on the market. Now in the past Arhcos have generally been known for producing cheaper handsets and devices with the intention of cementing their position purely based on price. For instance it was only a few days ago we noted they were prepping to launch an extremely cheap VR unit which will go on sale in Europe for as little as £25 which equates to roughly $40.
It now seems Archos may be trying to slowly creep up the smartphone ladder by improving the overall quality of their devices but maintaining a lower-end price point. Today at an event in Paris, Archos launched their new Archos 50 Diamond Smartphone. Overall the smartphone is remarkably mid-range although as mentioned Archos typically make much more budget phones and as such for them this is a step up in terms of quality. In terms of what’s on offer, the Archos 50 diamond comes with a 5″ IPS display with a 1920 x 1080 resolution. Inside the device is loaded with 2GB RAM and powered by a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor. This is an octa-core CPU with four of the Cortex-A53 cores clocking at 1.7 GHz and the remaining four Cortex-A53 cores clocking at 1 GHz. If cameras are your thing then the 50 Diamond comes with a 16MP rear facing camera and a rather big 8MP front shooter. The device comes with a standard 16GB internal storage as well as a standard microSD card slot. Lastly the 50 Diamond is LTE compatible, dual-SIM, runs on a 2,700 mAh battery and comes loaded with android 4.4.4
So overall not a bad little smartphone. If you are still not convinced then the final push might be once you know the Archos 50 Diamond is due to retail in Europe at €199.99. At that price and when considering the specs on offer this does seem to be a good little buy. More interested now? Well, the downside is the device wont be available to buy until sometime in 2015. So what do you think? Do you like the specs? Price sound right? Would you be interested in an Archos smartphone?