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.