I posted this on the blog: http://archosfans.com/2009/11/22/archos ... r-android/

ARM is the processor technology used by Archos for more than 10 years to create all its portable multimedia products. There are more than 4 billion ARM processors shipped in consumer electronics and enterprise products each year. Archos has always worked very closely with leader in ARM processor technologies Texas Instruments, to always implement the newest and latest embedded processing technologies many months if not years ahead of competitors.

With the release of the awesome Archos 5 Internet Tablet with Android, Archos has in fact released a product so far in advance of everyone else, even Google has not yet provided all the tools for a full 800x480 medium density Google Android OS experience on a 4.8" WiFi and Bluetooth Tablet form factor. Google is though delivering this next level of Android experience with the Android 1.6 and 2.0 upgrades, which are also starting to be used by all the third party Android applications developers, who are doing the changes sometimes necessary to optimize the experience of their Android applications to work well on larger screen sizes and higher resolutions. We can expect Archos to release 1.6 and 2.0 updates in the next days, weeks and months.

Until then, ARM is providing the ARM Solution Center for Android, which I believe will be used by Archos and Texas Instruments for achieving some of following features (those are my speculations):

- Optimize Android features and user interfaces for use on the HDTV

- Optimize 1280x720 keyboard/mouse interfaces for Android even before Google does it officially

- Integrating the full Multimedia powers of Archos and Texas Instruments into a special optimized version of Android which I believe could eventually permit Archos to free up RAM memory and stabilize the firmware further. Even to enable Android firmware updates on previous Archos generations Archos 5 Internet Media Tablet (released in 2008), Archos 605 WiFi (released in 2007), Archos 604 WiFi (released in 2006) and even Archos PMA400 (released in 2005).

- Extract the Chrome browser from Chrome OS and use it in Android powered hardware in Archos 5 IT with its HDMI 1280x720 output as well as Laptop/Netbook/Smartbook form factors.

- Provide easy to implement tools for using Android on Picture frames, sub-$100 mp3 players like the Archos 3 Vision form factor, using Android in Archos 4 Vision and Archos 7 Vision.

Eventually, with the work of the ARM Solution Center for Android in parralel with the advancements of the Open Handset Alliance and Google, Archos could release a whole range of Android products with prices from $50 to $500, with screen sizes from 3" to 15", with form factors from Tablets to Laptops and set-top-boxes. Look forward to a lot of awesome firmware upgrades and new Android products coming out of this work.

I just want to see some Android 2.0 on my Archos 5.

OH WOW! YEAHHHHHHHHHHH! thats amazing so all those people who have old archos players can get Android presumably sometime soon.
But I already have Archos 604 wifi and I just ordered Archos 5 IT maybe Ill return it or keep both Archos 604 wifi and Archos 5 IT. The main reason I was buying Archos 5 IT was for the hardware then I realized that my nokia e71 has that all too so the other reason for buying it was the open source Android OS. Apparently if all players including old gen get Android upgrades then pointless to have Archos 5 IT. Any suggestions? BTW does anyone want to buy an Archos 604 wifi 30 GB?

the device is too good to be true....yeah maybe.
archos ideas to A5A is good, but the resources they have on hand to handle issues are insufficient, causing consumers to lose confidence on the product at the initial launched. The current progress is rather promising and i believe this device is archos learning stage to prepare themselves for a sucessor model really soon.

I do think that the integration of Texas Instruments codecs and multimedia features right into Android OS may be more than 6 months away still. So it├©s really not a piece of cake. The idea being that at some point the firmware could include a multimedia-enabled Android OS and no more need to dual-boot with Archos OS for all those multimedia things. Putting Android on previous generations for sure is not a top priority either. But that is just I think the kind of work that could come out of this Solution Center when they all combine their tools and R&D to optimize the Android software.

Look, I've made clear that I am not an archos hater, but Charby for you to hint at Archos creating a scenario for old A5's and even 605's able to run Android is rubbish, crap, and total poppycock.

Archos does not add capabilities to its old units. The most SCREAMING example of this is the fact that if you own a 605 or 705, you STILL have to buy a stupid plug-in to get wifi on the thing. By doing that they would remove any incentive to buy a new A5, if the old ones have Android, the majority of people aren't going to shell out $100 extra for basically the same model.

Don't get me wrong, I love my A5 and am drooling over the prospect of a new Android A5 (especially after playing with Android on my new Moto Droid phone), but your being wayy to optimistic in suggesting this could happen and getting the hopes up of people that would read that and not know better.

Perhaps not, but with the ARM Solution Center for Android, the work all other members are doing and the tools ARM and Texas Instruments are working on to optimize Android, it could be easier for Archos to integrate the Archos multimedia features directly into the Android OS instead of having to boot Archos OS in parallel.

This is not easy to do at all, but eventually this will happen. And that means I think that about half of the I think 256MB RAM memory of the Archos 5 Internet Tablet with Android can be freed up. While the previous generations of Archos players had 128MB RAM and perhaps even 64MB RAM and less.

Adding Texas Instrument DSP and GPU acceleration in Android OS will be very useful for current, future and past products.

For sure, don't think of Android on previous generations will be the priority, far from it. But at one point it may become a possibility, and if Archos will want to recycle their old hardware, as some sort of marketing stunt which I would recommend them to do, at that point it would be possible.