Archos 5 Android - Well worth the upgrade!

My older Archos 5 Internet Tablet had gone two years with only a few hiccups but in the last heat wave and high humidity I got the white screen of death and ordered the new Archos 5 Android Internet Tablet with a 500g hard drive. Of course the old bird came back to life about an hour after I placed the order but, heck, go figure - I wanted more hard drive space anyway!

The package I got included the battery dock, screen protector and leather case. On first boot the device sets itself up. You will need to charge the battery before doing file transfers and as with previous Archos 5 IMTs the battery dock is the fastest way to do this. In fact, I ran the battery down to the point of the unit shutting down even though it was plugged into a USB port! So much for the 5 volt trickle charge - it just won't support a lot of hard drive activity while trying to charge.

The Android O/S takes longer to boot but delivers smoother performance and overall the device is feature-rich. I didn't need plugins to watch videos or surf the net. The display is self correcting when changing from horizontal to vertical mode.

I'm not an expert user but I do appreciate the changes Archos has made on this model. First, the power switch activates the unit more quickly than before and is used to bring the screen up after it has been shut off by the unit during music play back. Second, the power switch and volume controls have been moved to the top left corner of the unit, making them much more convenient for right handed people and if you put the unit in a pocket or briefcase you can adjust volume more easily. Third, there is now an equilizer available to adjust sound settings. Fourth, the same battery dock is used, allowing those of us who seem to be collecting Archos devices to have a charging station at work and another at home - very convenient.

It is important to note that the units with smaller hard drives come with a SDHC port but you won't find it on the 500 gig units - one has to wonder why. The standard description from Archos is vague on this point so decide up front if you really want that SDHC slot or if the 500 gig hard drive will be enough.

The leather case that comes with the unit is very well made and smells wonderful! It includes a stand as part of the case instead of allowing access to the metal stand on the back of the unit - a nice touch!

Achos has changed the way the unit shuts down. You can now choose a sleep mode that saves you the long boot but at the cost of some drain on the battery or a complete power off that preserves the battery state. This will be convenient when you want to be able to go back to listening, watching or surfing after a short delay.

Overall my impression is very much like test driving a new car - everything works better, faster and a lot of bugs have been worked out. This unit allows sharing with files on your desktop and USB hosting so I'll be trying them out soon. If you are looking for a high capacity, high functioning multimedia player that knows how to work and play with shared media files, TVs and even HD then you're in good hands.

This Item is good

Good sides: high-quality display, the android is updating, ssd, light, fast, no shortage of software, pocket, portable, touch sensitive, the Micro SDHC support, WiFi, Bluetooth, battery life, design, quality materials
Bad sides: the box is too weak, the weak sensitivity of the screen image horizontally straight back, the battery charging time is too long, Headphone volume low, very low speaker volume

ARCHOS 5 ANDROID

This device (with android and the new Marketplace software installed) is a wonder and far outpaces iPod Touch, Zune and other Audio/Video/App players.

The Archos company support, accessibiity to the hard drive and software as well as the incredible choices for APPS make it a player that is hard to beat.

My favorite is the new Amazon Kindle App.

OK But doesn't do what Archos says to buy it for (record HD TV).

Not particularly happy with this Archos device. It is a bit slow, locks up a bit, is difficult to do things as simple as turn on or off. There are lots of multi-layered menus containing all sorts of things you will NEVER use, such as record from some sort of over the air/cable TV service (??) which doesn't actually exist. I suppose the WiFi feature might be nice but I haven't figured out how to input anything such as a URL into it (or even delete or rename files from the device itself, - all those multi-layered menus!)

But the worst aspect revolves around expectations. I called Archos to ask which of their devices I can use as a TV DVR in HD. They said buy the Archos 5 but I must also buy the Cinema PlugIn. Only when I received it did I notice that it can't record HD TV and that the plugin only lets you play or record Blu-Ray DVDs.

In addition, as others have noticed, it touts itself as having all sorts of record capabilities which everyone's VHS VCR has had since the early 1970s (in my case, a Philips 1500). Such as time shifting, cutting out ads & the endless trailers you see on American TV when the network can't sell enough ad space, and even just recording while you aren't there. The Archos 5 mysteriously wont do ANY of these things and will ONLY let you record while you are there to press the record button when the program, DVD or VHS starts and the OFF button at the end of the recording. Possibly even more annoyingly, it doesn't display while you are recording. If you try to record (which you can ONLY do with the DVR station, which admittedly is a bit sophisticated but which can cost as much as the unit), the display goes off after a few seconds. Meaning you have to go continuously to the device and touch the screen to see whether the REAL TIME (!) recording has finished yet!!

If you know all of this before you buy, I suppose this unit is quite good. I now use it to convert all my VHSs to digital files which my kids can watch on a long trip etc etc. I can then chuck away all those gigantic VHSs. I also suppose I may use it to record TV but as it doesnt have a tuner, I wont be able to output anything from my cable/satellite etc box to record while I am watching something else

Great potential, will it live up to it?

I've only had the tablet a short period of time but so far I like it. Massive hard drive size was the main selling point. I am not familiar with the Android OS and still have not figured out how to get new apps on the device but that will come once I spend more time with it. Web surfing is okay, no better or worse than my iPhone. No glowing review yet but I think that it has the potential to turn into a nice device and will fill a niche for me.