On to my review of the new firmware, and some tricks and tips for the device.
Thanks to Matt and the guys at the google group, and which has now been superseded by a new site
http://slatedroid.blitzwerks.co.uk/ , for a lot of useful information.
Maybe it is a coincidence, or maybe the battery needed to be completely drained a couple times to work better, but since the firmware update I am seeing a longer battery life with the wifi off than I did initially. Wifi still drains the battery very quickly, however. So my advice is to only turn it on when necessary.
Speaking of the Wifi the firmware update did a great job fixing the Wifi connection issues. I was able to use the device at Starbucks, McD's, throughout my home, and at my parent's, with no connection issues.
In my initial review I mentioned no microphone port. The specs indicated there would be a microphone port, I now believe that to have been a mistranslation. There is a very small almost unnoticeable built in mic next to the headphone port. Quality is pretty meh, but it IS there, and somewhat usable.
I mentioned picture viewing on the device, and one thing I wanted to note that I've since learned, using a single directory for a large number of images is not a great idea. Better to break them down into smaller groups in subdirectories. Also, the default picture viewer has stability issues. I'm going to look for some better options for that over the weekend.
The device itself is very noticeably more responsive after the update.
Thanks to Matt, I found a few replacements for the home screen, and settled on Home+++. dxtop was another that was quite nice. Both were more responsive than the default also, and made the device easier and nicer to use.
Still having problems with Movie playback, I've resigned myself to this device not being any use in this area. And I'm ok with that.
I highly recommend a stylus. A lot of the frustration from this device is from the touch screen, and the stylus makes it much less frustration.
I recommend a Task Manager of some sort, such as Advanced Task Manager, so you can kill off background apps that are still running and not needed, and thus help conserve battery power when in use.
Also, there are quite a few better battery widgets and apps out there than one in the device. The one in the device doesn't give very accurate information on the battery status. I am using Battery Indicator, and it is working quite well and providing accurate battery status information. Matt recommended another one, but I wasn't able to locate it yet to try it out.
I was able to get the official google Voice app to run, which enabled me to be able to send SMS messages via Google voice over the WiFi. Also got Dropbox mobile to work to access personal files I keep stored on their service.
Still no luck installing the official marketplace using the apk from the Android 5 device. And still very excited about the Archos 7 HT shipping next week.
All said I'm more up on this device than I was a few days ago. I've since completed reading a couple books, and used it around the home and on the road. Even without some of the potential things I see coming from the guys at the slatedroid site, and with its current limitations, I think it is a good value at the price.
I do recommend finding some sorta of carry case or sleeve for it. And a proper screen protector film would be nice. I found a leather dayplanner case at Officemax for under $10 that fit it nicely for holding it, and may fashion some sort of custom velcro straps for it to hold it in place, but for now it serves as a decent carry case for it and for a stylus.