At 15:15 Henri stated (focusing on the 43 as a VOIP phone)



I also found a post from another forum where a 32 user (desertbears) tried one from Tmobile



Are drivers for 3G keys already loaded on Gen8s?

That would be nice, you'd stick one of these free 3G USB sticks on the back of them or use some scotch tape on the back. Might look messy, but that would deal with most 3G and GPS issues (if location can also be taken from the 3G USB stick through 3G-based location approximation, only slightly less precise but much faster than real GPS). Maybe someone should design a leather case with a strap-on pocket to nicely position any 3G USB stick right there behind the device, adding only a little bulge the size of a pack of chewing gums. It turns your $100-300 Archos tablet into mostly the same arguably better than a $600 Dell Streak or a $1000 Samsung Tab.

Let us hope Henri did not get too excited by the moment.

The drivers are built into the Linux kernel. So if the kernel being used is new enough, it should be able to see many USB modems. The issues I see are if Archos created a user interface for configuration of 3G modems and if the tablet can provide enough current to power the modem. I don't know how much power most USB mobile broadband modems use but the A101 tablet is the only one that's said to provide the full 500 mA that the USB 2.0 standard requires. The rest of the gen 8 tablets supposedly only provide 100 mA.

This is a really exciting presentation. They really do a great job illustrating what they have done to stand out and make a better tablet. All those years making similar devices seem to have paid off. It would be great to see them get good retail recognition. I'm posting on my social networks. I'm not convinced the tethering will work as advertised with all US carriers, but I'm pretty sure if there is an issue I can write an app for it. I need to look at the gen 8. I was going to do it with gen 7 but it became less of an issue. The 70 seems to be the device that most fits my needs for transport. By the time the larger tablets are out my phone should have Android 2.2. I'm hoping that works, but not sure it it is ad hoc.

I was thinking Archos may have missed there for a while, but now I'm thinking they are possibly in a position that is very difficult to catch up with. Time will tell, but I think they will do okay with these devices. I have had more people recognize my A5 IT in public than I ever expected.

I just asked myself the same question and ran a few tests the other day with my Desire, using the built in Froyo HotSpot application. Every device I tested was able to connect without any problems (a G1, a Magic, MacMini, Lenovo laptop and of course my A5IT). So it looks like it's not ad-hoc. By having 3 options to connect to your phone (WiFi, BT and cable) I think you should be covered (unless you are some incredibly unlucky guy).

Hey thanks man. You're aces, but then you live in Romania so you have to be awesome. If it works with the A5 IT it's a slam dunk. I used a root app (Barnacle) for this on mine and had to use adb to tweak things every time. Not much use having to take a laptop to tether to your Archos and this was ad hoc so Woo Hoo!