MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Archos 70 Android Tablet Arrived Yesterday

ebusinesstutor · 04-14-2011, 03:11 PM

Just received my Archos 70. Picked it up from the mail, but was on my way to speak at my mentorship group - so denied the opportunity to play with it until late last night.

An initial hiccup - seemed to freeze while installing 3rd party apps and I couldn't figure out how to reset it. Pushing the power button repeatedly didn't help. Finally checked out the Archos Fan Forums who said I needed to hold the power button down for 10 seconds.

That did the trick and I told it not to install the third party this time. Worked like a charm and had no problem finding and accessing my network.

Android Market isn't installed. It uses AppsLib instead. Once again, the forums helped and told me to install the ArcTools app form AppsLib with installed the full Android Market.

Installed Cool Reader as one of my first options as one of my main uses will be as an ebook reader.

My first impresssions?

1. Size and Weight
-------------------
Very light - great size for ebooks. The 10.1" would have been too big and heavy in my opinion to hold one handed and read. I chose the 8GB option instead of the 250GB one as I wanted it as light as possible But the 250GB option was a great deal for only a few dollars more.

2. Responsiveness
-------------------
Seems very fast and responsive. I haven't used other Android tablets, but I am an iPhone user. The tablet is much faster on reading my news sites.

3. Screen
-----------
Screen is very clear. Enjoying reading my news on a larger device than the iPhone.

4. Media
----------
Watched a couple of YouTube videos. Looked great and the sound was excellent (the Archos has front facing speakers), better than I expected.

5. App Choice
--------------
I am a star gazer and I was worried that the Android Marketplace may not have as many astronomy apps as I am used to for the iPhone. I was pleasantly surprised. There are quite a few astronomy apps in the Android Marketplace.

That is all for my first impressions. But for $270 it seems to me to be an excellent choice so far and about 1/2 the cost of a comparable iPad.

I think I will have to sneak out to a coffee shop tonight and spend some "quality time" getting to know my tablet.

04-14-2011, 03:11 PM	#1
ebusinesstutor Star Gawker Posts: 526 Karma: 6944314 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Spruce Grove, AB Canada Device: Kindle Paperwhite	Archos 70 Android Tablet Arrived Yesterday Just received my Archos 70. Picked it up from the mail, but was on my way to speak at my mentorship group - so denied the opportunity to play with it until late last night. An initial hiccup - seemed to freeze while installing 3rd party apps and I couldn't figure out how to reset it. Pushing the power button repeatedly didn't help. Finally checked out the Archos Fan Forums who said I needed to hold the power button down for 10 seconds. That did the trick and I told it not to install the third party this time. Worked like a charm and had no problem finding and accessing my network. Android Market isn't installed. It uses AppsLib instead. Once again, the forums helped and told me to install the ArcTools app form AppsLib with installed the full Android Market. Installed Cool Reader as one of my first options as one of my main uses will be as an ebook reader. My first impresssions? 1. Size and Weight ------------------- Very light - great size for ebooks. The 10.1" would have been too big and heavy in my opinion to hold one handed and read. I chose the 8GB option instead of the 250GB one as I wanted it as light as possible But the 250GB option was a great deal for only a few dollars more. 2. Responsiveness ------------------- Seems very fast and responsive. I haven't used other Android tablets, but I am an iPhone user. The tablet is much faster on reading my news sites. 3. Screen ----------- Screen is very clear. Enjoying reading my news on a larger device than the iPhone. 4. Media ---------- Watched a couple of YouTube videos. Looked great and the sound was excellent (the Archos has front facing speakers), better than I expected. 5. App Choice -------------- I am a star gazer and I was worried that the Android Marketplace may not have as many astronomy apps as I am used to for the iPhone. I was pleasantly surprised. There are quite a few astronomy apps in the Android Marketplace. That is all for my first impressions. But for $270 it seems to me to be an excellent choice so far and about 1/2 the cost of a comparable iPad. I think I will have to sneak out to a coffee shop tonight and spend some "quality time" getting to know my tablet.