Getting my A70 today looking for Tips for Day 1

[dancnpete]

Finally after order cancellations and camping on the archos order page I'm finally getting my a70 today. any advice, besides immediately killing the battery playing angry birds till sun up. What's the consensus on Froyo, seems like it doesn't bring much to the party until we get perm root or a more stable release? any killer apps I should be looking at first?

Thanks in advance glad to join the club.

[riki1kenobi]

My tips would be as follows;

DONT update to froyo UNTIL they have released the latest update.
DONT use it til it is fully charged.
DONT let it die before charging it (charge before it gets to 25% for at least a few charges so that you can be sure the battery is calibrated correctly and that it is holding a decent charge).
Reduce the screen brightness to 25% to increase the battery life.

Apps wise, really depends on what you want to use it for.

For writing thoughts down I use Ultra Mate, for book reading Aldiko or Laputa, for news Buzzbox, internet it has to be Dolphin (for DolphinHD you need Froyo not sure about Dolphin Mini as my A70 is RMA due to dying less than a week after delivery )

Google Sky is a good app for skygazers. Estrongs File explorer for getting into the system/sd files.

Realcalc is a good scientific calculator.

Out of milk for shopping apps!

Thats a good start for you

[noob]

My tips would be as follows;

DONT update to froyo UNTIL they have released the latest update.
DONT use it til it is fully charged.
DONT let it die before charging it (charge before it gets to 25% for at least a few charges so that you can be sure the battery is calibrated correctly and that it is holding a decent charge).
Reduce the screen brightness to 25% to increase the battery life.

Apps wise, really depends on what you want to use it for.

For writing thoughts down I use Ultra Mate, for book reading Aldiko or Laputa, for news Buzzbox, internet it has to be Dolphin (for DolphinHD you need Froyo not sure about Dolphin Mini as my A70 is RMA due to dying less than a week after delivery )

Google Sky is a good app for skygazers. Estrongs File explorer for getting into the system/sd files.

Realcalc is a good scientific calculator.

Out of milk for shopping apps!

Thats a good start for you

+1

[pcm2a]

I disagree with most of that:
- I updated to Froyo the day it came out, I have had no problems. Things are snappier now, with or without the z4root and setcpu.
- Updating to Froyo fixed the problems I had with playing various .avi videos.
- I started using my tablet immediately, but I had it plugged in the whole time until it was finished charging.
- I leave my brightness at 40% and use it around an hour a day. I charge it every 2-3 days for fun.

Do's
- Use Dolphin HD browser
- Install hte google apps with the market

Dont's
- Don't drop it face down in the gravel?

[pcm2a]

Sorry, double post. Not sure what happened.

[yankee]

i also agree with the update now, before you get files to erase..I think that you have to watch which version of the gapps that you install...one of the blurbs has video's..version 2 . I used that one and it went excellently.. It took a second reboot after installing gapps . it burped acouple of times the first day... no problems since.

[noob]

i also agree with the update now, before you get files to erase..I think that you have to watch which version of the gapps that you install...one of the blurbs has video's..version 2 . I used that one and it went excellently.. It took a second reboot after installing gapps . it burped acouple of times the first day... no problems since.

I say take a long read around this forum and decide before jumping as you can never ever go back. Sure some have it working just fine and some don't. But you are the only one that can take the risk with your investment.

I am tempted but not enough to never get back to what I have now( and I love what I have now).

I am waiting til patches come forward from Archos like they said are coming and the official approved flash comes in before I risk it.

Good Luck!

[Jabzap]

I'm with ya, noob!

[luckyxero]

Agree with the battery thing. Saw some people having issues because they used the device too quickly.

Charge to 100%, unplug, use, wait until its about 15% until recharging. Repeat about 4 times for the first week. Getting about 7.5 to 10 hours on my battery.

[JunBringer]

There is no good reason to discharge the battery all the way on these types of batteries. Lithium Ion batteries don't work the same as the old Nickel-Cadmium (sp?) batteries. They don't have memory. I'm told you do need to charge them all the way the first few times though.

[dlarkin_dc]

Depends on what you want the A70 to be used for. Me it was reader, movies and games.

Got mine yesterday evening, so I'm technically on day2.

Despite the mood and risk about it I updated to Froyo and got the Gapps market up and running. Before that I was feeling very underwhelmed by the inluded apps and the ApplsLib market.

I'm having a blast watching mpegs from my media server (PlayOn) and have all my books downloaded with the Kindle reader.

Coming next Angry Birds, chess and few other time wasters for long plane flights.

I did get a 8GB Class 4 Sandisc card at the RatShack for $20, works great and has a full warranty.

[noob]

i also agree with the update now, before you get files to erase..I think that you have to watch which version of the gapps that you install...one of the blurbs has video's..version 2 . I used that one and it went excellently.. It took a second reboot after installing gapps . it burped acouple of times the first day... no problems since.

I say take a long read around this forum and decide before jumping as you can never ever go back. Sure some have it working just fine and some don't. But you are the only one that can take the risk with your investment.

I am tempted but not enough to never get back to what I have now( and I love what I have now).

I am waiting til patches come forward from Archos like they said are coming and the official approved flash comes in before I risk it.

Good Luck!

Thanks to Jocky we seem to have the ability to go back to 2.1 now.
Read it here: http://forum.archosfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=74&t=43419
I am tempted even more now!

[riki1kenobi]

There is no good reason to discharge the battery all the way on these types of batteries. Lithium Ion batteries don't work the same as the old Nickel-Cadmium (sp?) batteries. They don't have memory. I'm told you do need to charge them all the way the first few times though.

Its not because of the battery memory, IF the battery drops all the way the device can go into Deep Sleep and it may not come back out of it

So DONT let it run out of juice or you might have issues. IF it is getting low on juice my advice would be to switch it off!

[viking]

There is no good reason to discharge the battery all the way on these types of batteries.

The deep discharge is not needed for the battery, but for training the battery charge controller. But since it starts off pretty dumb, maybe don't discharge so deep, as going to empty is fatal. A well trained controller is needed to preserve battery life AFAIK