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Apps
The Google Play Store offers the largest number of smartphone apps around. Yep, even more than iOS.
While the average quality level isn't quite as high as on Apple's platform, Google has worked hard to whip its once-maligned app store into shape. It now offers most of the major apps from iOS at competitive prices.
In fact, most of the big hitters are completely free, including Evernote, Pocket, Pinterest, Netflix, Instagram and Flipboard. What's more, the Google Play Store is a simple joy to navigate for the newcomer.
Of course, even if the Google Play Store wasn't so well stocked, you'd still have the best selection of Google apps in the business. These alone should cover most of your productivity needs, and many of them come pre-installed on the Archos 101 Platinum.
Google Maps is the best mobile mapping tool in the business, Google Keep is a charming and lightweight note app, and Google Translate will get you out of any sticky holiday situation with its offline linguistic aid. Gmail, of course, has become the go-to email app for millions of people, and it's provided here as the default option.
Meanwhile, Google+ is like Facebook, Twitter and Flickr rolled into one, and Hangouts is a super-slick instant messaging and video calling service. There are plenty more handy Google apps where they came from, too.
When it comes to games, the Archos 101 Platinum is placed under a little extra strain. It'll handle the vast majority of the Google Play Store's offerings with ease, but some of the more complex 3D titles give it a few problems.
Ambitious console-style games like Real Racing 3, Respawnables and Dead Trigger 2 are all playable on the 101 Platinum, but I wouldn't say that they run perfectly.
The Archos 101 Platinum is fine for a little casual gaming, but it doesn't quite have the hardware chops - both in terms of its mid-range processor and its underwhelming screen - to sate serious gamers.
Camera
I neither expect nor require much from tablet cameras, but the Archos 101 Platinum's 2MP snapper is so bad, I honestly question the purpose of its inclusion other than an extra bullet point on the box.
Never mind the fact that it has the same megapixel count as a modern smartphone's front-facing camera, it's the sheer awfulness of the pictures it captures that really makes us wince.
Pictures lack any hint of sharpness, with an almost webcam-like fuzziness appearing at the edges and in the background of any scene. Colours, too, appear washed out, and any hint of dynamic range causes the camera all manner of problems. Bleached out skies and dull, lifeless foregrounds were common during the test period.
Video is a similarly poor affair, producing distinctly grainy and washed out results in a solitary sub-HD resolution.
In general use, the Archos 101 Platinum's camera is just fine. It utilises the stock Android UI, which is extremely sparse - to the point of feeling unfinished - but intuitive, with clear software buttons and pop-out menus.
I never recommend taking everyday pictures on a tablet, even when that tablet has a half-decent camera. So when I say that the Archos 101 Platinum sits somewhere near the bottom of the pile, I hope you'll get the point.
Battery life
After a full working day of light usage, which involved checking email, watching a couple of video clips, playing several different games for a couple of minutes apiece, and a little light internet browsing, the Archos 101 Platinum used up a little over 20% of a full charge.
That's not bad at all for a tablet. This was backed up by TechRadar's usual battery test, which involves playing a 90 minute-long 720p video, with the screen brightness set to full.
This finished up with an average of 79% power left in the tank, which is pretty much par for the course for a modern Android device.
