Video Review: Archos 43 Internet Tablet compared to A5IT

[jkajolin]

Well duh, they couldn't promise Froyo since it didn't exist yet. But if Apple can still offer updates for their products that increase functionality and extend that usable
And yet the A5AT is barely a year old and Archos can't get newer versions of Android to run on it?
My plan is to give Archos a chance. If they blow it and the product sucks (in my opinion as an owner when the time comes, of course), it goes back and I move on...

It has nothing to with Archos not getting it to work.

What do you think the Archos board of directors thinks more important ?
The growth to new customers by gen 8 products or satisfy few whining customers that want to see their old hardware to be taking into the next level...

[cghori]

Well duh, they couldn't promise Froyo since it didn't exist yet. But if Apple can still offer updates for their products that increase functionality and extend that usable
And yet the A5AT is barely a year old and Archos can't get newer versions of Android to run on it?
My plan is to give Archos a chance. If they blow it and the product sucks (in my opinion as an owner when the time comes, of course), it goes back and I move on...

It has nothing to with Archos not getting it to work.

What do you think the Archos board of directors thinks more important ?
The growth to new customers by gen 8 products or satisfy few whining customers that want to see their old hardware to be taking into the next level...

You survive by keeping your old whining customers happy.

[bbz_Ghost]

It has nothing to with Archos not getting it to work.

What do you think the Archos board of directors thinks more important ?
The growth to new customers by gen 8 products or satisfy few whining customers that want to see their old hardware to be taking into the next level...

You might actually consider reading my posts in their entirety before commenting out of context.

I'm the guy that's been saying Android 2.1/2.2 will never appear on the A5AT because the Gen 8 hardware is becoming available - you're under the assumption that I'm NOT saying such a thing when in fact that's what I've been saying for a very long time.

It's easier to dump new stuff with what people want - the new Gen 8 hardware - than it apparently seems to be to actually maintain updates on the Gen 7 hardware even in spite of the Gen 7 hardware being technologically compatible on many fronts and levels.

It's just not that hard to get Android 2.1/2.2 working on the A5AT, it just isn't. If Archos isn't up to the task then perhaps they need to go grab some folks over at XDA-Developers and hire them as programmers or designers or something.

If the A5AT - hell if everything Archos makes was more open and flexible, imagine the possibilities: a wide variety of custom ROMs for a wide variety of devices... that's probably why I like this Axim so much. Years after Dell and most everyone else declared it "dead" and obsolete, it still provides functionality that is very close to what even brand new hardware is capable of these days. It's an amazing piece of tech, it truly is, and I'm very happy to own it, but even I get the itch for something new from time to time.

That's why I'm going to give Archos a shot...

[sweetypie]

If the A5AT - hell if everything Archos makes was more open and flexible, imagine the possibilities:

Bloody Hoover washing machine company. I've had the damn thing 5 years, and those idiots at Hoover still haven't come up with an update which will let it make toast, never mind a full meal.

Surely, in this day and age, it must be easy to retrofit a microwave module to my washing machine by now?

And don't get me started on the lack of an ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) INPUT module for my laptop. Surely keyboard input is now stoneage tech.

Jeez, Dinosaurs, or what?

[d00b]

May be "it's not that hard" to provide OS upgrade to previous gens, but as a biz, everything is a cost-benefit decision. How much does the benefit (goodwill of existing users) weigh against the cost (developer assets) to implementing the upgrade, and just as importantly, continuing to support the upgrade, as certainly it will have its new shares of bugs and problems.

People tend to see things only from their personal point-of-view. But it's worthwhile to understand it from the vendor's POV, as then you can anticipate the outcome, and not be disappointed when the chips don't fall your way.

Archos has not been a user-friendly outfit. Its proprietary mindset--the lockdown of its OS and the HDDs in products past--actually is a lot like Apple's. The SDE may be an attempt to reach past that, but I've not seen anything productive (from the end-user's POV) coming out of that effort. It is a negative.

When we buy anything, it's a series of pluses and minuses in the decision-making. Archos' proprietary mindset is a minus. Its hit-or-miss product quality is a minus.

Its abandonment of duff products (A7HT) is a neutral, since it's unlikely the mainstay IT line will get the same treatment. Its decision to not upgrade the previous product cycle is in mind also a neutral in my mind. YMMV of course.

On the plus column, support is good. We have an Archos dev who will take note of problems and get fixes. Peer support is solid. And the two biggies: price points are good, and there is really no other alternative at this point, if you want a reasonably-priced Android tablet w/ no contract at this point, the Archos Gen8 is it.

Another plus is that all Gen8's have the same cores, i.e. the same FW. With 5 different models, that means 5x the potential userbase of any one model. One thing I noted was that there was never much activity in the Open Dev forum. Large userbase = more hackers. So the chance of the Gen8 getting future upgrades from the "community" is a lot brighter than previous gens.

All that adds up to a buy in my POV. The equation certainly will change come next year with new entrants. But for this year, I don't see any factor on the horizon that would significant alter the calculus.

[jkajolin]

It has nothing to with Archos not getting it to work.
You might actually consider reading my posts in their entirety before commenting out of context.

Ok sorry did not read carefully enough.

[withfeeling]

Apple also has a different business model than Archos. Apple continues to make revenue from the installed base by selling apps, music, videos, etc. Moreover, they probably have a continuing revenue stream from AT&T for installed phones and their contract with AT&T may require continuing upgrades of the installed base. The amount of money involved from each customer is an order of magnitude above just buying the device.

[The_Blood_Raven]

May be "it's not that hard" to provide OS upgrade to previous gens, but as a biz, everything is a cost-benefit decision. How much does the benefit (goodwill of existing users) weigh against the cost (developer assets) to implementing the upgrade, and just as importantly, continuing to support the upgrade, as certainly it will have its new shares of bugs and problems.

People tend to see things only from their personal point-of-view. But it's worthwhile to understand it from the vendor's POV, as then you can anticipate the outcome, and not be disappointed when the chips don't fall your way.

Archos has not been a user-friendly outfit. Its proprietary mindset--the lockdown of its OS and the HDDs in products past--actually is a lot like Apple's. The SDE may be an attempt to reach past that, but I've not seen anything productive (from the end-user's POV) coming out of that effort. It is a negative.

When we buy anything, it's a series of pluses and minuses in the decision-making. Archos' proprietary mindset is a minus. Its hit-or-miss product quality is a minus.

Its abandonment of duff products (A7HT) is a neutral, since it's unlikely the mainstay IT line will get the same treatment. Its decision to not upgrade the previous product cycle is in mind also a neutral in my mind. YMMV of course.

On the plus column, support is good. We have an Archos dev who will take note of problems and get fixes. Peer support is solid. And the two biggies: price points are good, and there is really no other alternative at this point, if you want a reasonably-priced Android tablet w/ no contract at this point, the Archos Gen8 is it.

Another plus is that all Gen8's have the same cores, i.e. the same FW. With 5 different models, that means 5x the potential userbase of any one model. One thing I noted was that there was never much activity in the Open Dev forum. Large userbase = more hackers. So the chance of the Gen8 getting future upgrades from the "community" is a lot brighter than previous gens.

All that adds up to a buy in my POV. The equation certainly will change come next year with new entrants. But for this year, I don't see any factor on the horizon that would significant alter the calculus.

Thank you for this post, it is basically everything I wanted to say.

[Agj_h]

That's the point of my posts, I don't see how anyone can really argue that the A5 series of devices is superior just because they're physically larger but with an inferior screen resolution - and apparently because of improvement in the resistive screen quality with respect to the sensitivity of finger control, inferior in that respect as well.

Pretty simple to me.

How about 160 and 500gb option, GPS, ability to record video via dock (not to mention the bigger screen - couldn't see myself going backwards in this respect, higher resolution or not). Froyo is irrelevant to me - I purchased my a5a for it did when I purchased and not what I fervantly hoped it might do in future. Can hardly say Archos has not been active with firmware updates. For all of apples updates I dont recall them being able to play flash either?

[sweetypie]

+1

[paulus3476]

I'm not going to comment on most of the rubbish you're spouting except to ask you how you 'know' that archos has tried and failed to get an updated version of android running - you must be an employee maybe !

[jrvelazz]

hi does anybody knows if there is a dvr station for archos 7 home tablet ( not internet tablet)
it seens that dvr station have the usb on the botton my home tablet has it on the side
please let me know

[butterflygirl]

hi does anybody knows if there is a dvr station for archos 7 home tablet ( not internet tablet)
it seens that dvr station have the usb on the botton my home tablet has it on the side
please let me know

No. The last 7" that could use dvr is the 7 IMT.

[gummybear]

Well, I own and use both the iPhone and Archos 5IT. The 3.5 capacitive screen on the iPhone is far far superior than the 5IT but I am always bothered by the small screen size for reading emails, ebooks and watching videos. The GPS feature on the 5IT is nice but you need to have access to WiFi connection in order to use it. I can live without this feature for the Archos 43.

Even though the 5IT has a bigger screen and display more contents for internet browsing, I am not sure it is better than the iPhone with the multi-touch zooming capability which allow browsing full-sites much easier than browsing on the 5IT. I will definitely get the 43 for ebook reading and video watching. I want something that fits in my pocket.

Cheers

[jkajolin]

Well, I own and use both the iPhone and Archos 5IT. The 3.5 capacitive screen on the iPhone is far far superior than the 5IT but I am always bothered by the small screen size for reading emails, ebooks and watching videos. The GPS feature on the 5IT is nice but you need to have access to WiFi connection in order to use it. I can live without this feature for the Archos 43.

Even though the 5IT has a bigger screen and display more contents for internet browsing, I am not sure it is better than the iPhone with the multi-touch zooming capability which allow browsing full-sites much easier than browsing on the 5IT. I will definitely get the 43 for ebook reading and video watching. I want something that fits in my pocket.

Cheers

Ndrive does not need any wireless connection. You are talking about google maps or something similar ? Ndrive only needs internet connection for the initial activation or may check your license from time to time.

[Theguru]

At the end of the day archos, what ever way you look at it, are looking to cut costs and undertake/overtake the portable media market to do this "they think" they must take a new direction.

I have a archos 5IT and upgraded every year when a new model comes out for the past 5/6 yearsI simply cant believe they havent improved upon what they have got. Instead they have taken away features and loaded the latest android, faster processer, better graphics, BUT taken away GPS, less storage space, no Bluetooth?, smaller screen, display isnt as good?

For me IÔÇÖm keeping my a5IT and not looking to upgrade to gen8 4.3 as to me it seems a downgrade, i like GPS, Bluetooth, and a bigger SCREEN! and IÔÇÖm sure a lot of people are doing the same.

You may attract new customers but the old ones like me may steer clear.

[sweetypie]

Yep, definitely a downgrade in functionality. I've bought another A5IT to keep me going through this new range.

The thing is, the A5IT is now rock solid (for me at least). Just as it finally works as it should, people who always have to have the latest thing, and the people who dumped it months ago due to early faults, will never realise what they're missing.

[Farsquidge]

Yep, definitely a downgrade in functionality. I've bought another A5IT to keep me going through this new range.

The thing is, the A5IT is now rock solid (for me at least). Just as it finally works as it should, people who always have to have the latest thing, and the people who dumped it months ago due to early faults, will never realise what they're missing.

+1
My 500GB HDD version is all I need for carrying around with my HTC HD2 and Canon camera.
Stores all my media for travel, RAW photos from the camera and tethers fine to BT.

The thing that is starting to worry me though is replacement battery availability.

I have bought a Viliv S5 to go with these when away more than 2 weeks, NOT to replace my A5IT but as an addition to my mobile experience as it provides the PC side for business etc., and if anyone says they can do everything with their Archos WITHOUT a PC for example, to transcode/transfer stuff (or even download new firmware sometimes) they are talking out of their derrier! (Pardon the pun ) The S5 downloads anything, and the A5IT plays anything and ALL fits in a travel bag.

Horses for courses really.

[cjmcguinness]

I can't believe it!!!!!

I've had a 605 WiFi for just under 3 years now, and top of my Christmas shopping list for this year was an Archos 5 500GB. Just as I was searching through some online stores trying to find the best price I discover that it has been discontinued, with no upgrade replacement model available - I am in shock.

My 605 has a 160GB hard drive and it is virtually full to capacity at all time, with entire seasons of TV shows and loads of movies, as well as my (ever expanding) 40GB music collection. I was eager to upgrade to the A5, with 500GB capacity, so I wouldn't spend as much time swapping video files on and off the thing. I travel a lot, both for work and pleasure and my 605 goes everywhere with me. It is perfect for watching on planes and in hotel rooms (where I regularly hook it up to the TV).

What am I supposed to do now? By a A43, with a puny 16GB of flash memory? It's insane!!! As far as I can see it looks like my only real option is to go for the A7O, which I have seen advertised with a 250GB drive - but I really did not want to step up to the bigger form-factor, as it makes portability an issue. My 605 fits snugly into the front pocket of my laptop rucksack - it also slips reasonably neatly into virtually any jacket pocket - I can't see that being true of the A7O.

But wait!! None of the Gen 8 models come with any kind of 'on the fly' recording capability through any kind of DVR, or docking station? WTF?
This was the key reason I bought the 605 in the first place. As I am away from home a lot I like to transfer the contents of my SKY+ planner onto the 605 and take it with me. How am I supposed to do that on a Gen 8 device?

Looks like I'll just have to pray that my 605 doesn't fail on me at any time in the near future (I've already replaced the battery once) as I will not be able to buy another similar device from Archos at any time in the (foreseeable) future. This will remain my only means of recording, until I can track down a device from another manufacturer.

If I cannot get a HDD device with massive storage capacity that can record from my satellite box, then I see no reason to buy an Archos. I might as well join the rest of civilization and buy an iPod (something I have refrained from doing for so very, very, very long).

I am, to say the least, very disappointed with the new range - but if previous Archos history is anything to go by, I can't see them listening to their existing customers and re-introducing a product that was unique and different from any competitor product (by that, I mean Apple).
It looks like they've decided that since Apple are not revamping the iPod Classic (at least they still make it and you can still buy it!) and have gone down the solitary route of solid state memory in all their players that this must be the recipe for success. But wait, you can but a 64GB iPod Touch - and common belief is that a 128GB version is not far away, so why only 16GB in the A43?
Archos cannot hope to compete with the likes of Apple by matching their products with a 'similar' style (albeit slightly short of the mark) - I think they've remove the one and only unique, stand-out product from their range and it's going to cost them customers.

Perhaps I am wrong, perhaps the HDD models did not really sell that well and perhaps nobody wants to record from their TV to their Archos any more, in favour of downloading. But for me, it was the key selling point and why I was attracted to Archos in the first place - now there is nothing in their range that I want to own. It, truly sadly, looks like Apple will be getting my business this festive season.

[sweetypie]

They're available in the UK from QVC and Amazon.