Budget Android Smartphones To Roll Out At CES 2014

Archos isn’t exactly a headlining outfit at CES 2014, but the company sure looks set on making a memorable impression with the sheer volume of new hardware slated to debut at the Las Vegas tech convention.

Earlier in the week, Archos announced that it would unveil a line of smart home products ranging from a connected video camera to personal weather station. On Thursday, the company said it would roll out two new Android 4G smartphones as well aimed at the budget-conscious crowd.

The Archos 50 Helium 4G and 45 Helium 4G will ship running Android 4.3 Jelly Bean (upgradeable to 4.4.2 KitKat) and will be priced at $250 and $200, respectively.

“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,” siad Loïc Poirier, CEO of ARCHOS in a press statement. “The ARCHOS Helium 4G smartphones will once again change consumers’ mindsets by making the best possible technology affordable.”

While the pricing of the new phones might indicate a lower-end device, the hardware is in fact rather robust. Both the Archos 50 and Archos 45 boast a Qualcomm Quad Core Cortex A7 processor running at 1.4 GHz, as well as 1GB RAM and 4G connectivity. The GPU is an Adreno 305 with 450 MHz.

The primary differences between the two models are screen size, internal storage and camera. The Archos 45 sports a 4.5” display, 4GB of storage and a 5-megapixel camera. An extra $50 buys you twice the storage space, a 5” HD screen and 8-megapixel 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 company said.

We’ll try to get our hands on the new Android smartphones at CES 2014 and will post our impressions provided the company allows some face time.