I've posted to http://archosfans.com/2010/09/30/the-ne ... et-tablet/ some quote and my commentary on the latest New York Times Bits Tech Talk episode about Google and its Rivals, for the Archos 32 review, you need to scroll forward below or on their website to the time code 7:55 to start listening to New York Times reporter and high tech reviewer Pedro Rafael Rosado saying that the Archos 32 Internet Tablet is great value.





Finally, a major tech reviewer takes the time to see the obvious that Archos 5 Internet Tablet released October 2009, has had access to the full Google Marketplace since November 2009 and so it only makes sense this Archos 32 Internet Tablet and the whole upcoming Archos Gen8 series of tablets, of course, all will have full Google Marketplace support as well. Even as users may or may not have to do a Google Search for "Google Marketplace on Archos 32" to find the solution, depending on the will of Google to allow Archos users easy 1-click or slightly less easy 3-click installation of the full Google Marketplace experience.



Sounds cool. Now I want to buy some decent Bluetooth headphones too! Imagine just clipping some nice compact Bluetooth headphones to the top of your jacket, and just easily be able to pull them to your ears just when you want. No more tangling around bulky cabled headphones anymore. The fact that Bluetooth support seems to work great, it auto connects to all known Bluetooth peripherals in a second.



The Archos 28 Internet Tablet, at only $99 should be a massive super market super success, first Android device on full ARM Cortex A8 45nm sold below $100 without contracts, as long as they can convince major retailers to put some commercial mechanisms into effect, showcasing the Archos alternative in as many stores as possible and as long as Archos manufacturing planning can keep up with the demand that would then follow.



It is really refreshing to hear from a non Apple fanboy in big American media and blogs review Archos products once in a while! I hope Pedro Rafael Rosado and Bettina Edelstein are ok with me quoting such large parts of their audio podcast review. This could be a start of major tech media embracing Archos new Generation 8 as the best alternative to the world's second biggest company, you know who, which by the way, made it's ginormous fortune, in my opinion, largely by copying and "mainstreaming" what Archos always has been doing first and in my opinion always done best for the past decade.

This episode of NYT Tech Talk podcast was released at: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/29/tech-talk-google-and-its-rivals/

She'll have to tell me how, because I haven't figured that part yet..

I agree that Archos has been doing it longer (apple has a real talent for making other people's innovations seem like their own), but to say that they have always done it better is a little much. I am no apple fan, but you can't deny that if you go way...wayyyyy back, all the way to the A5IMT (which isn't very long ago) it was a disastrously buggy machine until about 6 months of service packs.

Apple products rarely promise something they don't deliver on in spades. Archos is notorious for overstating the capabilities of their products. That just isn't "better" by most people's definitions.

....that sounded much more harsh that it should have, I love my pre-android A5 (but am looking forward to upgrading to the A70), and hate apple, but one has to be honest with oneself.

It'll come once the devices are in stores and enough users start playing with it. A reviewer has to consider how the device performs once people can really buy the device everywhere.

One has to also acknoledge that Apple stole the Mac from Xerox and they stole the iPod/touch/phone/pad (which amounts to more than 60% of Apple revenues/profits today) from Archos and that if it wasn't for them stealing everything that they do, they wouldn't be a $262 Billion dollar company.

Now for sure they steal the ideas first, and then you could argue that they "improve" how those ideas can be productized, how those can be sold to consumers.

That doesn't make them innovator in technology nor inventions, it makes them innovator in design and marketing of stolen ideas.

Even on the A5A it is not the complete Google Marketplace. And even what is available - which is most of it as far as it concerns me (the one app I found missing is not missed by me to the point that I can't recall which it was anymore) - is not bound to work. OK, differences in screen size are non existent on the A32, but then several key-elements to the Google Experience are missing in these devices (GPS, compass), so there are problems bound to be happening.

The praise she sings on the screen there is not understandable to me. The dpi is low, not only compared to SOTA screens, but to older screens, too (my eyes are too bad to buy into this retina display hype). The normal sized letters under icons or in apps are only 1 pixel thick which makes them look bricky and washed out. It's the first display I find it hard to read text on. Increazing fonts size would be no option since then you'd reduce the amount of text on the screen to too less information.

It is pretty reactive. Can't say anything against this.

But color brightness and dpi are much better on the A5A.

If you can hand out the money they want and search for a good mp3-player with added functionality, go for it. But if I wanted this device for more than just to watch a video podcast now and then, and to read a web page saved via ReadItLater per day, and to manage my RTM actions where no mobile is allowed (i.e. my gym) (BTW, RTM is not available sans the market, yet!), and of course listen to audio-files, I'd keep looking elsewhere. And in my usage scenario an A28 could easily still be enough.

TBH I'm still thinking about returning it and ordering an iPod touch instead. If it were not for iTunes (i.e. my pathological dislike for it) the A32 would be already gone.

And my only gripe about the A32 is the screen resolution. And that's from someone who's fine with the 1024x600 10.1" screen he's looking at all the time.

I've actually found other reviews to be quite fair TBH. But its nice to see it get a very positive review.

Personally I like the size of the Archos 32 as a feature-filled mp3 player. I sometime use it to quickly look for something online or I use the mobile version of Google Reader to reed RSS feeds, which make most articles readable on that screen resolution.

Also, I managed to install the Genie Widget (News and Weather) from Google after searching for the APK. You can prefetch/cache the news and weather which is pretty convenient when you're taking the bus like me .

I know your an Archos fanboy but with that statement you acted just as bad as any Apple fanboy. I agree Apple isn't the inventor of all things, but neither is Archos. True Apple did steal the Macintosh from Xerox, but Xerox let them steal it. Apple didn't steal the iPhone from Archos they stole that from other cellphone manufacturers specifically HTC, Sony Ericsson, and LG. Apple didn't steal the iPod from Archos, they stole it from Creative. Creative Labs even sued Apple and won 100 million dollars. If anything Archos copied creative. The iPod Touch was stolen not just from the Archos PMA400 and there Internet Media Tablet Line, but copied also from Nokia Internet Tablet Line. As for the iPad I'm not giving credit to anyone for inventing that.

Yep you have it..

Actually, in a year or two, no one will admit to the iPad as being a tablet out of shame as its just a large Ipod Touch, OH, soz, you could say that Archos copied Apple by having large versions of the small Gen 8's. OH I'm confused!!

What Chabax meant to say is that Archos invented the first commercial PMP, which is absolutely true. Archos came out with the first DAP that could view other forms of medias like photos. Creative made the first commercially successful digital music player, but they weren't the first to release a similar product, or even close to it, but that's just one reason why the patent system is so flawed.

That's a positive sign for Archos that their product is catching media's eye. Just like Apple whenever they launch something News media cover them pretty big. Now archos is also become a symbol of new invention. As a matter of fact and as far as i am concerned Archos is the first device which introduce almost all of the codecs (video & audio) and so many new features like bluetooth tethering, WebTV and Radio no one has until today. Gen 8 looks very promising hopefully it works smooth like iPad interface. Hopefully Archos will not disappoint their target market by not introducing their promised features in their devices.

Actually, as far back as 2001-2003, Creative labs were making 5-10gb hard drive mp3 players... before that it was "KIT" makers who breadboarded MP3 decoding chips onto a hard drive and a battery w/ voltage controller. In 2004ish Creative labs began a patent fight (which they won and subsequently squandered on crappy/fruitless r&d). Archos was a niche player like Cowon for quite a while.. I don't think they had true presence in the USA market until at least 2005sih (unless someone can back up new facts).

BTW, since the Archos 32 is so much like the Ipod Touch, there should be a side-by-side review under android 2.1/2.2 with similar apps to see which is better. I'm still giving Archos (or Creative) til early December to deliver an alternative the 32.... (zen touch 2 / archos 43)

Archos released the first hard drive based mp3 player in 1999, was in the US market since then. Won "Best of Comdex" in 2001 for the JBMM10, first hard drive based DivX color screen video player.

I think Archos is finally getting smart. The Korean makers seem to have given up on competing with Apple. Archos shows up with something in every price category, and each with better features than the similarly priced iPod has. Add a clip to the 28, and throw in a case with belt clip for the 32 and 43. Anyone who thinks the 70 is the perfect size compared to the larger iPad has a device that is as good as anything else (including the Samsung Tab) right now. Anyone who thinks the ipad's size is right can pick up a 101. The second Archos/Android adds some way to print to any wireless printer they'll own the market. They'd better make sure that can produce the devices in millions though. Nothing like generating demand with no capability to satisfy it.

Right now, the only thing holding me back from truly enjoying my Archos 32 is that I have to juryrig a case for it out of ones meant for other devices. To go to a store and see an entire isle devoted to various iTouch/iPod cases is a bit overwhelming, especially when i can't even find one for my little 32, (which I otherwise love).

Accept it or not, the accessory market is a very big part of which PMP/MID/Tablet people choose nowadays.

I'm also surprised that Archos/retailers don't market the Gen8 tablets as also being portable hard drives, and not needing to have iTunes installed just to transfer music/movies onto it. I mean, you connect the USB cable to any modern computer, and it just mounts as a removable drive, ready for you to do whatever you want with it...

Agreed about the accessories. However, this is less about the product's developer and more about the 3rd party companies that produce the accessories responding to consumer demand. Like it or not, Apple own the PMP market and have a loyal following that are willing to buy accessories for their products. Archos is a small company and their tablets unknown quantities WRT how they will sell, so for now accessory producers are in "wait and see" mode.

I think a lot of people will do this. I also predict more manufacturers will start making mp3 players built on Android. It's not really fair to call this little guy a tablet and mp3 player doesn't really do it justice. But i do think Archos essentially killed the traditional mp3 player with this device.

I'm a little disappointed that Archos doesn't even have any cases for the Gen 8 tablets.
https://store.archos.com/cases-ci-27.html Sure there are some universal fit cases, but it's just not the same.

For anyone interested, I did a feature showdown between the Archos 43 and new iPod Touch. The 32 comes close, but looks far better competing against the Nano which sells for the same price.

Showdown Link.
4D