archos press conference monday

[smcauley600]

what ae the chances they announce andriod 2.2 for archos 5

[SvenC]

I don't think so... 2.2 is for future gens. ;)

[smcauley600]

there is always sometthing else to buy lol

[djf]

Why have people decided we're not getting 2.2?

If this machine is capable, why not provide it?

[v_c]

If this machine is capable, why not provide it?

Because they're working on gen8 now.

It has long been Archos practice to dump older products as soon as the new ones come around. Just go check the firmware download page, look at the updates for all the older models...usually they dry up towards the launch of the next gen, and then stop completely soon thereafter.

Im not agreeing with the practice, simply pointing out that this is what Archos does.

[robmal]

This article kinda sums up my feelings on my A5A:

http://liliputing.com/2010/08/lousy-and ... trols.html

think I'll have a use for it for a long time yet!

Cheers all

[map002]

The device in the link a lot more like the A7 HT (slow older ARM-based CPU, 128MB of memory, 2GB of storage) than the A5A, so I'll assume you're talking about the app.

And yeah, tablets make good media centre remote controls, whatever else you may or may not do with them. I've used mine as an XBMC controller for a while now. Not exactly my primary usage, but it's great for that.

Michael

[davep1]

It has long been Archos practice to dump older products as soon as the new ones come around. Just go check the firmware download page, look at the updates for all the older models...usually they dry up towards the launch of the next gen, and then stop completely soon thereafter.

Let's be real, it has long been the industry's practice to dump older products. To my mind, Archos has provided better than the industry average support for out of production products.

[robmal]

Oh I'm not one for knocking the A5A and yes its far better than the dog in the link.... yes, it is apps like xbmc that will keep it in daily use here for a long time to come :)

Seems to me that anything one buys is second-best pretty quickly and buying something with the expectation that it will get better is unrealistic. We have been very lucky in the Android world with the explosion of application development and rapid OS upgrades for phones. My G1, if it were left to HTC would still be on 1.6 and its inspired and dedicated work by Cyanogen et al that sees it stable and running the latest and greatest Android ROMs. Archos will invest until it doesnt make business sense and stop right there and move on. I don't expect much more from them.

[shitepoke]

The A5IT is freaking awesome, and I can't wait to see what Gen8 is like on a 5" screen. But I'm one of a handful in the States...

Apple has turned seemingly innocent people into viral-robots who defend everything Apple... at least here in the USA. I mean, I actually get ridiculed on Facebook for having Windows7 on a Core i7 PC... (I could use iAtkos to install Snow Leopard) What is happening in the tech world? All of a sudden, the people who know very little are accusing those who know plenty of being idiots.

This is why Archos will fail in the US. They can market until all the farm animals return to the barn... and people around here will just dismiss everything and ridicule Archos, Google, Verizon and whatever else is better than Apple/AT&T. I know several iPhone users who can't stand dropped calls, sporadic net coverage and high bills... but they MUST have their iPhone! DAMN.

It's too bad, because us Archos users are banished into obscurity. iHope things are better elsewhere on Earth!

[v_c]

Let's be real, it has long been the industry's practice to dump older products. To my mind, Archos has provided better than the industry average support for out of production products.

What industry are you talking about exactly?

The closest device on the market to the Archos 5 is the iPod Touch. Last time I checked, even the very first iPod Touch still gets firmware updates.

The old Zune players have received firmware updates for several years after launch.

It's true that simple MP3 players don't get (or need) long-term product support, but the Archos 5 is not a simple MP3 player. It does a lot, and consequently there is a lot of things that can need updating or bugfixing. A lot of people assumed that the introduction of Android would see the A5A receive longer support than previous models (similar to the iOS model). I guess we will see soon if that is the case or not.

[baxjohnson]

I am the other person in the US that owns an Archos and I have to agree with most of what Shitepoke is saying.

However, whenever I whip it out (my Archos that is) to read a book, watch a movie, listen to music, surf the web, use it as a GPS, play a 3-D game, play a 2-D game, write an email, blog, check Facebook, etc., etc. etc. most people are very impressed with what it does. I am regaled with "What is that?", "How much can it hold?", "The movie looks great...great display", "How much does that cost?", "How do you say the name again?", then inevitably someone will ask, "Is that the new Ipod?"

In every case I happily give a full demonstration on what Arky can do and most of the time people agree that it is superior than an Ipod touch in almost every way. The Iphone people usually fall back on, "It can't make phone calls but other than that it is cool".

We are a very simple society now. Every one wants gadgets they don't have to think about and that doesn't give them too many choices. I can not tell you how many people say, "I like the Ipod because there is only one way to load stuff on it." I just sit there and shake my head ruefully.

If the Gen 8's are fairly bug free and they can beat Ipod on a price point they may have a chance here. Archos would also need to pre-load enough stuff to make non-techies happy. Also, getting them into Walmart or Target wouldn't hurt either.

I can not wait to see the Gen 8's. I know I will probably buy one as soon as they come out although there is no way I can justify another toy.

Bax

I <3 my Archos

[007quick]

I am can say that the same mindless marketing has largely succeed here in Canada also. While far superior products have been available for some time, people love their apple merchandise. Apple sells their products at higher cost then equivalent hardware and lacks features. I have been telling my friends for years that they are getting ripped off. Even my el-cheapo sansa mp3 player has a fm-radio which Ipod's lack.

The market has been changing. Just as desktop computers are fading but will never fade completely due to some people who like to think about their purchases, hardware like archos, cowon, etc will only be considered by the few who 'think about their purchases'

I'm just lucky that I'm one of those people :)

[map002]

What industry are you talking about exactly?

The closest device on the market to the Archos 5 is the iPod Touch. Last time I checked, even the very first iPod Touch still gets firmware updates.

The old Zune players have received firmware updates for several years after launch.

Yup, and by selecting for your comparison two of the three largest corporate monoliths on the planet (the three being Apple, Google and M$), afloat in giant reserves of coding talent and tens of billions of reserve cash, and therefore unlike any of the dozens of players that make up the entirety of the rest of the industry (even Sony doesn't come close to comparing any more), I think you're using the exceptions to create the rule.

But while I don't concede your (Apple+M$ = industry) reasoning there, I do believe you're making an important point in that Apple is creating expectations others can't easily compete with in a number of ways (and yes, It's Apple. M$ just imitates what Apple does in their own fractionated and usually tone-deaf and very occasionally brilliant way). This is becoming more and more of a market where only the 800-pound gorillas are going to be able to fulfil those expectations.

Many of the players looked to the third gorilla, Google to rescue them from this situation with Android, but the multiple OS release debacle of Q1-Q2 have left many manufacturer's initial Android forays a logistical and public-relations disaster and set their dev departments into chaos. I've talked with some of these folks and it has been a nightmare at a number of companies trying desperately to put a brave face on things. Only the huge market share gains for Android have prevented some of them from jumping ship over this. But even the most short-sighted management can't ignore those trends.

Google's trying to counter this by cleaning up the Android OS upgrade mess starting with Android 3.0 and OTA incremental OS upgrades and a predetermined release structure after that might be a fix for that going on into 2011, with Google and the OHA becoming responsible for most of the ongoing OS upgrade support rather than each individual manufacturer but that's not much help for all of the existing Android devices (or their owners).

I'm curious to see how this works out.

Michael

[v_c]

Yup, and by selecting for your comparison two of the three largest corporate monoliths on the planet (the three being Apple, Google and M$), afloat in giant reserves of coding talent and tens of billions of reserve cash, and therefore unlike any of the dozens of players that make up the entirety of the rest of the industry (even Sony doesn't come close to comparing any more), I think you're using the exceptions to create the rule.

But while I don't concede your (Apple+M$ = industry) reasoning there, I do believe you're making an important point in that Apple is creating expectations others can't easily compete with in a number of ways. This is becoming more and more of a market where only the 800-pound gorillas are going to be able to fulfil those expectations.

My post was a counter-argument to another post. And actually it already addresses most of your points above.

I don't claim that Apple+MS=industry, however they very first thing I did ask was just what industry you want to refer to. Because if we accept that we are talking about a wi-fi capable, multi-function device, then that narrows the definition considerably. Just because a MP3-only player doesnt need firmware updates doesnt mean it is acceptable to apply the same logic to a device like the A5A. Although already I am retreading points I already made so perhaps you didn't read my post fully before replying.

[Crlrhxphn]

The A5IT is freaking awesome, and I can't wait to see what Gen8 is like on a 5" screen. But I'm one of a handful in the States...

Apple has turned seemingly innocent people into viral-robots who defend everything Apple... at least here in the USA. I mean, I actually get ridiculed on Facebook for having Windows7 on a Core i7 PC... (I could use iAtkos to install Snow Leopard) What is happening in the tech world? All of a sudden, the people who know very little are accusing those who know plenty of being idiots.

This is why Archos will fail in the US. They can market until all the farm animals return to the barn... and people around here will just dismiss everything and ridicule Archos, Google, Verizon and whatever else is better than Apple/AT&T. I know several iPhone users who can't stand dropped calls, sporadic net coverage and high bills... but they MUST have their iPhone! DAMN.

It's too bad, because us Archos users are banished into obscurity. iHope things are better elsewhere on Earth!

I dont know about all the apple stuff but archos does not market anything. I have been buying archos pmps for six years and I have never seen a single ad or commercial or anything I don't even remember how I found out about archos. Also they release there products so messed up that when sites and magazines like cnet reviews them it totally screws up the scores and there are massive complaints, like how it crashed 3 to 4 times a day just from playing music, and how amazon had to stop selling them for a while because so many people complained about this.

I think that Archos banished itself into obscurity because they release products not ready for the market.

[sweetypie]

Agreed. Their marketing is abysmal. I stumbled acroess them on QVC Uk a few years ago, when I bought my A605. Nobody I know has heard of Archos.

[jkajolin]

Let's be real, it has long been the industry's practice to dump older products. To my mind, Archos has provided better than the industry average support for out of production products.

What industry are you talking about exactly?

The closest device on the market to the Archos 5 is the iPod Touch. Last time I checked, even the very first iPod Touch still gets firmware updates.

The old Zune players have received firmware updates for several years after launch.

It's true that simple MP3 players don't get (or need) long-term product support, but the Archos 5 is not a simple MP3 player. It does a lot, and consequently there is a lot of things that can need updating or bugfixing. A lot of people assumed that the introduction of Android would see the A5A receive longer support than previous models (similar to the iOS model). I guess we will see soon if that is the case or not.

There is a reason why Apple can keep their OS upgades on their first generation devices.
Their hardware components change very little between generations.

Its not like the A5IT has hardware button, camera, compass etch with most likely will be on the 8 gen devices.

I work at sofware company (has been last 15 years) our products have max live span of 2 years. This forces the customers to upgrade their software to a newer version if needed (this also removes the need to support old versions). Thats how the industry works, you need to have momentum otherway you could get stuck using the old technology.

[Farsquidge]

It's generally known as Marketing...

If you don't bring out a new model periodically, you die.
I love to hear the usual "I paid a fortune for this XXX and they are making it obsolete", well, look at the automobile industry... They change models EVERY year on a multi-thousand dollar piece of equipment, but we still always want the latest and greatest.

Why else would you have that device in your hand now and not a cassette playing walkman? :-)

[uczmeg]

Obviously Archos has to keep moving hardware forward to compete in the market, and I understand there can only be so many firmware updates before things move on.

I can live with that as I always want the latest and greatest anyway.

My real problem with Archos is that when they release a new piece of hardware the firmware is usually rubbish and it takes most of the year to get the product to what we thought we were buying in the first place! Then just as we get that the updates die off. So rather than having a year of increasing the functionality and getting new features it always feels like we spend the year being beta testers...

Oddly I still seem to keep buying a new one each year though!

Whether I go to Gen8 will be a trickier decision. I still want a 5" to 7" tablet, but with my iPhone 4 and iPad I'm a lot happier with my mobile tech than I was when I bought my first Archos five years ago...