I applaud them for being the first to market, and for making a compelling device. I've however played with it, and I agree with you Brad that the kinks aren't completely out of it. Sadly playing with one at Best Buy doesn't give me at least a feel for the full media capabilities of the device…

I'm going to hold off. I really have my eye on ARM A9 based devices, like the OMAP4 and Tegra 2… Having two out of order processor cores, clocked at a higher rate, with what looks like more sophisticated SOC components around them sounds like a winning combo to me.

What was startling to me was that the 5″ screen on this was so useful. I was expecting to have a much harder time using it than I did. It gives me hope for devices like the Dell Mini 5, and I may take another look at devices in this category when the rest of the market starts to fill in, and I can get some sense of what Archos's competitors are doing and whether or not this really would be worth my money.

This is just such an odd time for tablet devices. There is so much promise, and so few devices actually OUT, that it makes the entire concept of actually spending money on one absurd to my way of thinking… Which is sad because now is when I both have a little spare money, and a need for something kind of like this.

Anyway thanks for the excellent review. As always I enjoy reading them.

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I am testing the Archos 5IT as a potential data collection device for observational field research. I did a battery test with the screen at 25% brightness (and always on), Twidroid and Email running in the background, and the Pandora app (from Google Market, not AppsLib) streaming audio over the external speaker. There were probably a few other background processes running as well. I got 8 hours out of it before I finally had to leave work. I think that's pretty impressive.

Archos has the edge being the first one to market with an Android tablet. I really hope they continue to improve their product line to keep competitive with Dell, Notion Ink, Apple, etc.

You can buy an Archos 5 Internet Tablet with 8G of flash storage for $250 from Archos. It’s also available with 16GB or 32GB of flash storage, or a 160GB of 500GB hard drive

I have the 500GB version of this and it really is a nice device.

But there are a few things that hold this back from being a daily high use device.

The first is the buggy system. Yes, the latest firmware is more stable but I average at least a lock up or crash a day. This stretches to the wireless management as well. Often you have to switch off and on the wireless several times before it registers that their is a signal. Bluetooth tethering is dreadful and interestingly some people can get it to work and others can't with the same phones. I got it working with my iphone 3GS (with the latest firmware) in the end but not without having to download the android SDK and enable root access to edit certain ini files (not the best solution). You also have to hack the system to enable the google marketplace.

Another issue is the resistive touch screen. It really is the best resistive touch screen I have used…. but….. it's just no way near the same league as the iphone capacitive touch. Missed keyboard taps, flaky scrolls. This type of screen should not be on a finger touch based device.

Also, no mac support whatsoever. The only easy way to connect to it from my mac is using ftp (not exactly user friendly). Couple of other freeware programs can emulate MTP connections, but again a bit crappy. While nerdy people may like the 5 or so different options for how it connects via usb, most users will just be confused and frustrated.

I also consider the lack of service contract to be an issue as well, from the perspective if they went that route then it might have integrated 3G. The wifi only approach and crap tethering makes this an indoors only device. I have it working with my mifi now, but again takes an average of 3 on/offs with the wifi button to detect it.

As I said at the start though it is a great device. But it has already fallen into the 'expensive toy' category and not the really useful one because of it's issues.

Perhaps if Archos issue an android 2.1 update then it might help with some of the bugginess (it currently runs 1.6).

Stu

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Just bought the Archos 5. Has great potentials but the bugs are killing me. For one I have to agree with Stulowe. Connecting via wifi can be frustrating. Don't usually get connected till after multiple attemps (thankfully web access is not the main reason for buying this product). I also noticed that the menue button in the upper right hand corner is almost always non responsive when surfing the web.

This Archos 5 Internet tablet media player offers a large and high-resolution touch-screen display with Wi-Fi,music playback, photos, Flash video and game compatibility which also enables use of bluetooth, e-mail, a Web browser, a built-in speaker, an integrated kickstand, GPS, and support for a limited selection of Android applications.
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sorry to say tht I had to return my archos 5 IT back and get a gateway netbook with 250gb & atom 1.66ghz n450 processor with win7, for additional 60bucks…totally worth it. Archos really need to make a stable product so they can be a competitive player in todays market. Even having 800mhz seems just ok when android is tht buggy. I might check out the dell streak if it does not burn a hole in my pocket.

sorry to say tht I had to return my archos 5 IT back and get a gateway netbook with 250gb & atom 1.66ghz n450 processor with win7, for additional 60bucks…totally worth it. Archos really need to make a stable product so they can be a competitive player in todays market. Even having 800mhz seems just ok when android is tht buggy. I might check out the dell streak if it does not burn a hole in my pocket.

This one is such a great review.This internet tablet is really a nice I am happy about this things.This review is useful to me to purchase this internet Tablet.
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I heard about The new ARCHOS 5 internet tablet which is combining all the know-how and renowned expertise of multimedia with the hot new environment which developed by Google, the Android platform. In that the OS scales up pretty nicely to 800 x 480, which is a big relief because the touchscreen keyboard is a bit of a chore with the 5's resistive touchscreen.

Great item! I was a little nervous because I did not know much about it but reading some reviews online I gave it a chance and I did not post dissapoointed. Archos 5 do everything it said it, I would recommend to everyone is not.

once out, they should update it to android 2.2 (up to 450% faster, included flash 10.1 and almost bug free)

plus there are over 60,000 apps now, quite a jump!

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I got my Archos 5 500GB a few days ago, and my first experiences with Android have been positive. Archos has done a excellent job of adapting Android to the larger screen, and integrating functions such as WebRadio, music and so on. it's truly a shame that Android-on-tablets won't take off until later this year at the earliest (c'mooonnnn Ink Adam!). It's not to say that the A5 is without it's flaws, though – the Music player occasionally makes the touchscreen unresponsive and i can't tell for the life of me why.

Wi-fi connection for me was simple…

I think the no 3G and only Wi-fi support is great. Adding 3G would make tablets more expensive when there actually no need of 3G. Well now i'm actually talking from my point of view, cause in Sweden we have free public Wi-fi access everywhere, from subways, buses, malls, streets, bars and parks. There is like 20-30 minutes window a day when i don't have access to free public Wi-fi. The Archos 5 have been great, even though the interface can be sluggish at times.

The Archos 5 IT is perfect for watching downloaded videos or ripped DVDs, very good battery life, I use it for my toddler and it helps on long flights!

I compared the Archos to zune hd, ipod touch, psp go, psp 3000, but the screen resolution of the others is just 480 pixels, the Archos is much better with 800 pixels.

Then the Archos has actual built-in speakers, very good sound, if a toddler is not using headphones yet, this is a must and the zune HD has no speakers!

It also plays avi/divx out of the box, psp doesn't.

I am happy with it and the Battery dock gives an extra battery plus you can connect the Archos to the TV and put on the videos on a big TV for your child anywhere as well.

Well I've had the internet tablet two days now and can't ge it to work bloody properly at all – ive connected it to wi-fi but then it just won't load up any pages even though it says it's connected. I also tried registering the product online and all i get is…. a blank screen so I can't update the firmware or anything. I am etremely furstrated with it at the moment and can't se ehow I'm going to get it to work at the moment – yes the mp3 side is lovely but to be honest, I could have got just a £100 mp3 player instead of forking out £250 on something whose features I can't access. Very disappointed.

This sounds extraodinary and how I see here responses to this article this archos 5 seems to be one great piece of technology.

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Stu, Has the Archos improved with new firmware since your review of 2/26/10?

Thanks,
Ronnie

Stu, Has the Archos improved with new firmware since your review of 2/26/10?

Thanks,
Ronnie

Wait till you have it for about 3 months, everything starts messing up, mine has gone completely retarded and I kept excellent care of it. I would wait a few years if you want a media tablet, most of the kinks should be gone by then