Archos released its Gamepad earlier this year, an Android tablet with physical buttons explicitly designed for games. The company has decided to release a follow up to the device, appropriately called the Gamepad 2.
The latest version of the Gamepad includes an improved 7-inch 1280×800 IPS display, an unnamed quad-core processor clocked at 1.6Ghz, 2GB of RAM, and options for 8GB or 16GB of internal storage. There’s also a microSD card slot that supports cards up to 64GB, plus HDMI output and a front-facing camera for video calls.
Archos says that the thumbsticks on the Gamepad 2 are more precise, and that the physical buttons now have better feedback. That should lead to a better gaming experience – in theory, anyway. The Game Mapping Tool has made a return too, allowing you to map the physical buttons to onscreen controls found throughout the vast swath of Android games on the Play Store.
The Gamepad 2 will cost £180 in the UK, and should begin shipping at the end of the month. Archos is throwing in two free games as well: Asphalt 8, and Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour.
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