Archos 5 review

[Nate the great]

I just posted the first part of a review over on my blog. Here is an excerpt:

So I got an Archos 5 internet tablet last night, and I'm planning to review it as an ebook reader. I got the basic model, and it has a 4.8" screen, 8GB flash, Wifi, and a microSD card slot. It's easy to hold it in one hand in portrait mode; my thumb is positioned over the volume buttons (which act as page turn buttons).

Using the Archos 5 has refined my opinion of Android, and I'll post that elsewhere.
...
Impressions

I'm quite please with the hardware. The button placement is just about perfect for a one handed grip, and swiping the screen with my thumb is easy. But I'm not happy with the amount of trouble I had in trying to read ebooks. Someone somewhere screwed up. I don't know if its the app developers, Archos, or the Android OS itself. I would only get the Archos 5 if you are a masochist or you are content with eReader.

I'm going to bring the Archos 5 with me to both conferences I'm attending in the next few weeks: O'Rielly TOC and Digital Book World.If you're going to be at one of the conferences and want to see it, just let me know.

P.S. If there is some software that you'd like me to try, please ask. I'd love to.

[Trilby]

A year or so ago, I was thinking about getting an Archos. Then, I read a review which said that it cost another $200 at least to go online with the device. When I first looked into getting one, I swear I read or was told, that it was set to go right out of the box. Does it cost extra to use this device?

Thanks

[mollybo]

I've had an Archos 9 for a couple of weeks now. I love it to death for the form factor, despite its lightweight specs. I most certainly wouldn't purchase it as an ereader, however. It's a bit too heavy (though light for a computer - 800 grams) to hold for long periods of time. I find the screen too bright to look at constantly, though that can be adjusted.

As a computer on which to casually read a little, perhaps. To read a lot, probably not.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by Trilby

A year or so ago, I was thinking about getting an Archos. Then, I read a review which said that it cost another $200 at least to go online with the device. When I first looked into getting one, I swear I read or was told, that it was set to go right out of the box. Does it cost extra to use this device?

Thanks

No, that was one of Archos's older devices. Back before Archos released the internet tablets, they developed several generations of media players that used ArchOS, their proprietary OS. I still have my Archos 705 somewhere. It's not all that great as a media player, and it's a disappointment as a web browser.

The Archos 5 runs Android, which is considerably more open than ArchOS.

[junkyardwillie]

I hope they got better at their hardware, I had their 605Wifi and after less than a year the harddrive crapped out on me. About every 2 weeks I would have to reset the device so it was a constant headache and after a month I hardly used it because it was so aggregating to use. Hopefully you have better luck with your device, I wouldn't buy from them again for sure.

I bought an Archos 5 IT on Thursday and returned it on Friday. I'm not familiar with Android, but I think the Archos 5 IT uses a hybrid OS. I agree that it was a headache to use. The File Manager was horrible and did not automatically update when new folders and files were added and so they were not visible when connected to a PC. I tried FBReader and Aldilko, but had a difficult time getting my books transferred where they could be opened in them. I finally got that accomplished but found both eBook readers to be poorly written and greatly lacking in features. I use FBReader on my Windows 7 Asus T91MT netbook tablet and really like it, but the Android version is horrible. Aldiko was better, but it is still no where near the level that it should be. I definitely think the Archos 5 IT could have been a good sized tablet for ereading if the OS was much better and the ereader software was much better. But it failed for me. I was also dissatisfied with the browser and most of the other apps. It is not worth the $300 USD price tag. The Archos 5 IT menu system is difficult to ue as far as locating settings. The one thing it did pretty well at is viewing PDFs. I have a 2G iPod touch which I use on occasion for reading, and it does a decent job, but the Archos 5 IT's larger screen would have been much better had the OS and software been more usable.

Bottomline is I think the hardware form factor would be great for ereading, but the Archos 5 IT's implementation is terrible. Put a decent OS on it and it will be a great device.

I found this page on the Archos website that discusses how to set up the Archos 5 IT for dual boot with Ångström Linux. I think perhaps even Archos knows how bad their OS is!

http://www.archos.com/products/imt/a...try=us&lang=en

[wpeace]

I've got both the Archos 5IT and a EzReader Pocket Pro.

I love both of these devices although I've found the AIT does not excel at as a book reader so I don't use it as such. Where it does excel is as a "Internet Tablet" and it is approaching replacing my Windows Mobile Pocket PC (which also does not excel at a book reader).

That is not to say you can't read on this device. You can, but the android implementations of the popular ebook readers are not up to par, yet.

[Charbax]

Originally Posted by jswinden

I bought an Archos 5 IT on Thursday and returned it on Friday.

Did you upgrade to the latest firmware while you had it? And did you do that by re-initializing Android when upgrading the Android 1.6?

Early firmwares, that may still be pre-installed on Archos units sold in stores were buggy. But Archos is releasing new firmwares every couple of weeks and have reached pretty decently stable firmware status for the last couple of months.

Originally Posted by jswinden

It is not worth the $300 USD price tag.

It's $249 at Radio Shack http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=3843254

I think just as a media player and web browser experience it is so much better value than anything apple or microsoft does on the market just because of the superior screen size and resolution for price. All the Android features, the alternative OS firmware features (Angstrom and later Maemo, Ubuntu etc), all the MicroSD card expansion, Bluetooth tethering, Bluetooth and USB host keyboard/mouse input, HDMI output through docks, ext4 file format and fat32 formattable, DivX, Mpeg2, H264 High profile all up to 720p playback, Ogg Vorbis and Flac audio codecs, all this I think makes it absolutely a great value.

Originally Posted by jswinden

Put a decent OS on it and it will be a great device.

Android is the worlds best OS and the one with the most promise. Sure though a few features are still under construction and under optimization in Android, things such as multi-tasking, e-reading, VOIP, 3D acceleration, all those things are still being worked on by Google and others in the open handset alliance. Though Google releases new versions of Android every 3 months, I am sure they are going to have everything working perfectly pretty soon.

[stustaff]

Originally Posted by Charbax

Did you upgrade to the latest firmware while you had it? And did you do that by re-initializing Android when upgrading the Android 1.6?

Early firmwares, that may still be pre-installed on Archos units sold in stores were buggy. But Archos is releasing new firmwares every couple of weeks and have reached pretty decently stable firmware status for the last couple of months.



It's $249 at Radio Shack http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=3843254

I think just as a media player and web browser experience it is so much better value than anything apple or microsoft does on the market just because of the superior screen size and resolution for price. All the Android features, the alternative OS firmware features (Angstrom and later Maemo, Ubuntu etc), all the MicroSD card expansion, Bluetooth tethering, Bluetooth and USB host keyboard/mouse input, HDMI output through docks, ext4 file format and fat32 formattable, DivX, Mpeg2, H264 High profile all up to 720p playback, Ogg Vorbis and Flac audio codecs, all this I think makes it absolutely a great value.



Android is the worlds best OS and the one with the most promise. Sure though a few features are still under construction and under optimization in Android, things such as multi-tasking, e-reading, VOIP, 3D acceleration, all those things are still being worked on by Google and others in the open handset alliance. Though Google releases new versions of Android every 3 months, I am sure they are going to have everything working perfectly pretty soon.

Worlds best OS no chance!

potential to become the best OS? yes in the next 2-3 years.

It came with 1.6 on it.

I agree with stustaff: No way Android is the wold's best OS. IMHO it is garbage. Even Windows Mobile was a lot easier to work with and a lot more powerful. I've used PalmOS, WinCE, WM, Apple iPhone OS, and several proprietary ones on handheld devices over the past 15+ years. I would rank Android at the bottom of the list, at least as it is implemented on the Archos 5IT.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by jswinden

It came with 1.6 on it.

I agree with stustaff: No way Android is the wold's best OS. IMHO it is garbage. Even Windows Mobile was a lot easier to work with and a lot more powerful. I've used PalmOS, WinCE, WM, Apple iPhone OS, and several proprietary ones on handheld devices over the past 15+ years. I would rank Android at the bottom of the list, at least as it is implemented on the Archos 5IT.

agreed

[angryvegan]

I agree with stustaff: No way Android is the wold's best OS. IMHO it is garbage.

I would say it's far from being garbage, it is a powerful modern OS built on a very stable Linux kernel.. it is absolutely the best SmartPhone OS out there (at least from my perspective as a SmartPhone developer working with BB, WinMo and Android), in no small part because Google had the luxury of starting from scratch with no legacy support issues. Whether it is the currently best tablet OS is another question entirely, Android is very specifically a SmartPhone OS, it may develop in other directions later but for now it has various built-in limitations (single app UI, aggressive task/memory management) which are perfectly reasonable on a phone but may be less so on a tablet..

[afv011]

Originally Posted by angryvegan

I would say it's far from being garbage, it is a powerful modern OS built on a very stable Linux kernel.. it is absolutely the best SmartPhone OS out there (at least from my perspective as a SmartPhone developer working with BB, WinMo and Android), in no small part because Google had the luxury of starting from scratch with no legacy support issues. Whether it is the currently best tablet OS is another question entirely, Android is very specifically a SmartPhone OS, it may develop in other directions later but for now it has various built-in limitations (single app UI, aggressive task/memory management) which are perfectly reasonable on a phone but may be less so on a tablet..

As a low-level Android Developer, I agree. It has some rough edges, but it is amazing what these people have done in the short span since Android came out (little more than a year). Android is here to stay, and it's getting better by the day.

[angelad]

Looking forward to a throrough review. Unit looks interesting.