Archos 5 160 GB Internet Tablet with Android

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1. Alan E. Moore says:

   July 5, 2010 at 6:04 pm

   Review by Alan E. Moore for Archos 5 160 GB Internet Tablet with Android
   Rating:
   I just got my new Android 5 500GB direct from Archos yesterday and its quite a beauty. I’m upgrading from my old Archos 5 250GB, so that will be my primary point of comparison. I also have the following to compare to: iPod Touch 64GB, Archos 605, Walkman X, Samsung P2, and a host of other MP3 players large and small.

   Given that my iPod Touch upgrade this year was less than astounding, I pretty much figured that this upgrade for Archos would be similarly understated. Mainly I just wanted the extra hard drive so I could backup all my laptops onto my music player. I was wrong! The new Android version seems to have a whole new feel both in form factor and the new software. I had heard that Archos was having problems with the software, but they seem to have ironed most of them out as of 1.1 firmware release. I did update my firmware immediately, and the process was quite smooth.

   I’m going to rate this player on my absolute scale. I will also be making notes on the value of the upgrade from my old Archos 5. Note: I mostly use this as a media center to play music and video; secondarily as a backup drive.

   Let’s get to it then, these are the things I love about my new Android:

   1) 500GB — totally awesome amount of disk, I can now put just about every digital file I own on the Archos.
   
   2) Android interface — the overall feel of the software interface has definitively improved with the integration of Android. Effects are crisper, the esthetics are cleaner, things seem to happen faster. I especially like how easy it is to access the most recently played song or video from the main screen, pops up with a little thumbnail that you tap on and voila, resumes right where you left off!
   
   3) Apps — with Android we now have access to some serious app selection. Of course, nobody compares to the Apple App Store, but this comes the closest.
   
   4) Weight — this actually feels lighter to me than my 250GB.
   
   5) Dock/DVR — this popped right into my old 5 DVR and started playing right away. I still think this is the best DVR/Player combination available of all the MP3 players.
   
   6) Video/Hi Def — of the players I have owned, this has the best, biggest, and highest resolution screen.
   
   7) Portrait/Landscape — Archos has borrowed the iPhone trick of rotating the display according to orientation. I guess they have an accelerometer in there now, I dunno. Still, its fun to see this feature on an Archos. Its a lot easier to navigate playlists in portrait mode.
   
   Easy and regular firmware updates — with a WiFi connection, the firmware updates are easily performed on the unit itself. That’s the easiest system I’ve seen of all my players. One thing I’ve learned about Archos over the years, they will put out a steady stream of firmware updates.
   
   9) WMV/MTP mode– very smooth interface to Windows for either Media Monkey or Windows Media Player.
   
   10) Dedicated volume button — power and volume buttons have been conveniently located onto the top edge. This is actually much easier to use when it is docked on the DVR (which is where mine spends most of its life!).
   
   11) Sound quality is pretty good, sounds great through my Klipsch speakers and seems to have more oomph than my other players.
   
   12) WiFi/Browser — has a good browser and WiFi connection has worked well for me. I think the keyboard is better than the Touch’s, although Safari is probably the slightly superior browser. The bigger screen also helps for browsing. Overall I’m inclined to give the Archos the top ranking for browsers.
   
   13) I just discovered Twidroid, one of many apps pre-loaded, allows me to check my Twitter in a really nice format — love it!
   
   14) Portability — well there’s only so much portability that can be expected with a screen and hard drive this large. This new design is smoother and rounder so its a little more comfortable in a pocket. It is very easy to carry around as a handheld device, fits nicely in my hand as I stroll about the house trying out all of the Android Apps! In any case, this is not as portable as a Touch but I think its pretty good for a small computer — which is basically what this is.
   
   15) No extra plug ins needed (so far!). Always in the past I’ve laid out another $40 for additional Archos plugins to play iPod format music and other video formats. So far I haven’t had to do that — thank you Archos
   
   16) Archos will stand behind their product. I’ve had to send in a couple of Archos units over the years and they have always been happy to either repair or replace the unit without quibbling about it, as long as its under warranty. Note: it did take two weeks to get my unit back!
   
   17) Multi threading: now I show my engineer/geek side. This baby can do a bunch of different stuff at the same time, unlike the iPhone/Touch which can really only do one thing at a time. The Android can be doing other stuff while you are listening music. I love the little bar on the top that you can pull down and switch to any other task that is running.
   
   18) Built-in kickstand, very nice feature.
   
   19) Stylus friendly touch screen — sometimes you just get tired of trying to type a touchscreen keyboard with fat fingers! In general, this is one of my favorite touch screens. Most of the other touch screens, including iPod/iPhone, are capacitance which means stylus won’t work
   
   20) Micro USB cable plug-in: finally a standardized USB plug and you can have it resting on its kickstand while plugged in

   Given that the Archos tops the class in several categories, and continues to be the best 500GB 5 inch screen player available I give it about a 4.7 stars out of 5 (round to 5). There are a few things I’m less than thrilled about:

   1) Update: I believe you can now format your drive in a Windows friendly format on 1.7.96 version of firmware. External hard drive EXT3 — as I understand it, Archos changed to the EXT3 hard drive format for reasons of speed and reliability. The result for me is that I can no longer simply select hard drive MSC mode, plug the Archos into a Windows machine and expect to access the drive. You have to install an Ext3 driver such as EXT2 IFS on your Windows PC. Once I did that I was able to access the hard drive and backup files to my hearts content.
   
   2) The playlist interface didn’t get much of an upgrade and its still kind of clunky. I want to simply tap my playlist and it starts playing. Often times I have to do a couple of extra taps to get the thing playing.
   
   3) We lost the dedicated play button and removable battery a while back — but I still miss them both! None of my favorite touch screen players has either of these features. I’m also missing the brown metallic color and the rubbery backside.
   
   4) Finding a case for this baby is no easy trick. You’re not going to find one at the local Best Buy I’m afraid. In the past I’ve resorted to ordering my Archos cases from European companies like I-nique and Noreve. This is generally true of any player that is not an iPod or a Zune.
   
   5) As always with Archos, you must remember that you are dealing with a French based company. This means that they don’t always provide the best support/service/upgrades to us Americans.
   
   6) Lets face it, Archos is always playing catch up. Some of the new features aren’t fully functional yet. I do have faith that Archos will fix all the little glitches with things like GPS over the course of the next 6 months. The Apps available are currently a bit limited. I expect this will improve over the coming months.
   
   7) Keep in mind that this is not a unit for the faint of heart. This is more for the hobbyist who wants a cutting edge experience that may take some messing around to get it just the way you want it. If you want something easy that requires minimum effort then iPods are going to be more your cup of tea.

   For me this is still the best player of its class — that class being large hard drive, big screen PMP players with other fun features. Android makes for some fun possibilities, and overall I’m impressed with this as an upgrade. Once again, if you don’t mind a smaller screen and you love apps I suggest you get an iPod Touch. If what you care about most is sound quality you may want to get a Walkman X. For me those are your top 3 touch screen players, it just depends on what you care about the most.

   Note: 10-23-2009; I upgraded to firmware version 1.2.03 which fixes some App, Browser, and YouTube issues. Apps do seem happier now, upgrade process was very smooth. Still happily listening to tunes for about 8 hours a day with no problems

   Update 11-7-2009: I’ve been running version 1.2.15 with a host of bug fixes and the unit does seem more stable in general now. Wifi is working better and USB connection seems more reliable.

   Update 11-23-2009: Upgrade to firmware v 1.3.07 — a long list of bug fixes including a few improvements that I had hoped for to control the scanning of multimedia files/ ArcLibrary. Got an AppsLib update which seems to work more reliably. There seem to be a lot more apps available now (300 ish) in AppsLib. Just keeps getting better and better! Still is playing music day in and day out with no problems and I’m backing up 2 laptops worth of files onto my 5 IT.

   Update 12-18-2009: I’ve been on firmware 1.4.16 for over a week now. Lots of little fixes, seems even more stable now.

   Update 2-11-2010: Firmware 1.7.33 (Android Donut) upgrade. The upgrade was a bit of work, I ended up reformatting the drive and starting anew. However, power saving seems to work a lot better and I haven’t seen it reset itself for quite a while now. This seems to be the most solid release yet!

   Update 4-8-2010: Firmware 1.7.96: just keeps getting better! Several annoying bugs fixed, Deep Sleep and Windows hard drive modes have been added as helpful new features among other things. This seems even more stable than previous versions. This is still my main car and home music player of choice.
2. Sean Pasell says:

   July 5, 2010 at 6:40 pm

   Review by Sean Pasell for Archos 5 160 GB Internet Tablet with Android
   Rating:
   I have to say that I went against my gut when purchasing this device, as it looked really nice, and really, I wanted it for watching movies, listening to music and checking the internet quickly when I am on the run in airports.

   The movie portion worked really well. For that, I give this device 5 STARS…I actually downloaded movies to my Amazon Unbox, then hooked up the Archos and bam, instantly on my new Archos 5 (well, after the movie downloaded to my unbox in 1.5 hours).

   The music portion also works flawlessly. Not really any hiccups there, and the sound was good, but could be better. For that, I would give it 4 stars…

   SO FAR SO GOOD RIGHT?

   WRONG

   First, I had the reset this device 5 times in 2 days because it just plain froze up. I would get multiple error messages when I was connected to internet, dropping the connection frequently (and yeah, I’m pretty skilled at making that work). TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE.

   And I don’t want to hear how a simple patch or download will fix this issue. If it doesn’t work out of the box, than DON’T SHIP IT!! I’ve been reading that apparently, Archos is getting slammed with this stuff after only a week.

   FOR THAT, it gets 1 STAR and should get ZERO stars!!

   Second, the Appslib was never installed on this device. I called customer service, was talking to someone in 5 minutes, who then put me on hold for 45 MINUTES!! After 45 minutes (I only stayed on hold that long cause I was watching NFL game so I had nothing else to really attend to at the time), the phone rang for 10 more minutes, and then, line went dead. PATHETIC!!!!

   I am reading that some software update added actually might have been the reason for the Appslib to never appear, and if you look at Amazon site, they pulled the 160GB version.

   For that, I give it NEGATIVE STARS…TERRIBLE service and TERRIBLE that this device did not come preloaded as advertised.

   I am sending it back and will use my Toshiba Netbook to watch movies on the plane rides for now. I’m really disappointed. The device itself was really nice and sleek looking. The interface was nice.

   The resistive keyboard was kind of annoying as it took a pretty good finger press to make it respond, but worked well enough. I learned to type pretty well on it in 2 days.

   I’m ANNOYED!!!

   I would have bought the ZuneHD but the screen is too small for movies, as well as the Ipod touch..

   I’m now considering the Viliv ex70 as I’ve heard great things and it’s gotten favorable reviews.

   I’ve read Archos history but wanted this device to work…The Android platform has a lot of potential and anything google touches pretty much works as advertised.

   Now, I’ll have to shop around a little.

   I can tell you one thing…unless people start giving this device 4-5 stars when the bugs are worked out, I’ll never buy another thing from this company.

   EDIT TO REVIEW:

   I have downloaded a new firmware update and the device is no longer needing to be reset constantly. It also does not lag any longer and seems a little more snappy and responsive. I’m going to hold on to it for now and see how this plays out over the next 3 weeks. I’m actually flying to CA for a sales meeting next week and so it’ll be tested well. If I find it is just needing more debugging it’s going back and I’ll also update again.

   I have 2 movies that I just loaded to it from Unbox. Wolverine and The Dark Knight…Both look very good, although I’d love to get my hands on a HD version of these movies to push to the device.

   I’m nervous, however, to buy the HD plugin because I’ve read somewhere that it does not work or does not read that you have purchased it.

   One last thing:

   I also just read now that on the Viliv you can actually run Windows 7. It has a camera, and if that is the case, you can snap photos and then ink on them which I do when I’m on job sites taking photos and marking up buildings and plans. That seems practical to me. However, it’s expensive (around $800-$900) and this device would be GREAT if these bugs go away.

   Let me also so, GET THE 32GB NOT THE 160GB model. The 32GB runs SSD and it very snappy. It’s also half the weight and thin.

   I’d say it’s as thin as my wife’s iphone and as heavy as holding a large starbucks coffee. It’s light and thin.

   I have yet to try the GPS software but plan on downloading it from the disk provided to get the 7 day trial out of it. I’d LOVE that to work. Has a lot of potential when the 3D maps are available for the US in 2nd quarter of 2010.

   BEWARE, not matter how much you want something…BEWARE

   UPDATE #2: Done with it. It is going back NOW. I did the firmware update and it did NOTHING to help this machine. At first it appeared to make the system work faster, but then, it has frozen up 2 more times. Furthermore, I tried to install the GPS 7 day trial using the disk and the device again froze up. Sorry, but I cannot believe that these people would let these go out the door KNOWING it has issues. How the hell can they NOT know? If everyone here but one person has given this thing pretty poor marks, are they only using fully functional and perfectly tested devices?

   Literally, look at the reviews and you will see what I am talking about. It’s amazing to me that a company would do this. Yes, large companies have devices that periodically are returned defective. But at the rate that these people are getting complaints, you have to wonder how this could go on for the period of time that it has.

   So, Archos will never get another dime from me, unless of course they come out with a fully functional non brick like device that people are raving about. I believe my next device will be a Viliv. I have read review after review on those devices and they are almost all positive. The machines perform the way they were intended to, unlike this one.

   And it’s too bad…this is such a nice looking and feeling device. The screen is nice, it feels really easy to use in the hand…It’s a shame it just does not perform.
3. Mezo says:

   July 5, 2010 at 7:03 pm

   Review by Mezo for Archos 5 160 GB Internet Tablet with Android
   Rating:
   This is a great device with a few minor interface issues and bugs. im not going to write a thesis on this, so ill just boil it down. just to let you know, ive previously owned an archos 604wifi and an archos av420.

   the pros:
   
   - the interface is very slick, it takes some getting used to but once you do it is great! its MUCH tighter than any apple product in the way the interface works seamlessly throughout the entire experience despite what application you are using.

   - set up was very simple, streaming from either web radio, pandora, or my personal network (all via wifi) was amazing. surprisingly the battery life doesnt seem terrible either. i havent done any strenuous tests yet, but i used the device last night constantly streaming web radio via wifi, connected to bluetooth devices, and with the screen on and active while i was browsing the net a bit (looking thru applications to add) for 2 or 3 consecutive hours last night, and only seemed to use 1/3 of the battery.

   - its more intelligent than previous versions, letting me know why certain files i have wont play on this during the transfer process. it offered to still let me copy them across for storage, but said i wouldnt be able to play them with the device. previously it would copy them, let me add them into the playlist, then bail-out of playback whenever it came across it, which was very annoying since i tend to make big playlists and use shuffle.

   - built in fm transmitter! FINALLY! ive been waiting for them to put this into (or at least attached to) the device themselves for a long time – basically since i bought the fm receiver for the av420 /thinking/ it was a transmitter. sadly i havent figured out how to get this working just yet, but i havent had alot of time to play with it in the car (thats my after-work project today).

   i havent had the chance to play with the GPS yet, but making this all inclusive like that is a great idea, i hope its executed well (however i havent heard good things about teleatlas).

   the cons:
   
   - its ALOT thicker than it appears on the web – probably dictated by hard drive size, but its basically as thick as my 604wifi. the web image was very misleading, i was expecting something much thinner.

   i dont get why all the applications use the accelerometer to change orientation, but the home menu’s dont? seems like a silly oversight.

   - it seems a little laggy, and its hung a number of times to the point that ive had to force-reboot it. im really hoping for a system update to fix this stability issue.

   - text entry boxes are a little odd, you cant easily click and drag to highlight parts of text to delete or edit. hoping a system update fixes this.

   - im pretty good with tech toys, but i have not been able to get this thing to “tether” to my phone yet. it seems to pair with phone, but my phone says there are no available services on the archos that its interested in so it never “connects”. not quite sure whats going on here.

   - not a real con but since i am a previous owner it was a little hard to get used to: you cant choose to add an entire folder of songs to a playlist when creating them on the device anymore. at first i thought they were forcing me to add one song at a time, but its not as bad as that: what they do is make you enter the directory you want to add, choose any song and click to add it to the playlist from the menu. once you do it opens another small menu asking if you want to add just that track or all the tracks in that directory. its mildly annoying b/c it requires a few extra steps for something that seems really basic: they could have just let me add the directory and automated that functionality. im really hoping a system update fixes this as well.

   - booting up doesnt seem to be any better than it had been on the 604 (which was noticably longer than the 420 had been). however it does have a “stand-by” mode that appears to use no battery life and boots up in seconds. not quite sure if this really is a con since they seem to have provided a solution that is great, which is why its last.

   Summary:
   
   great device, some bugs but very small and easy to overlook so far, and they should be easily fixed (hopefully quickly). im REALLY excited for this product and hope to see archos throwing its continued support behind it.

   sorry, i guess that was alot longer than i hoped or expected.
4. ViBu says:

   July 5, 2010 at 7:57 pm

   Review by ViBu for Archos 5 160 GB Internet Tablet with Android
   Rating:
   First let me start off by saying I’ve used every version of Android extensively and I know ways around faulty apps with free alternative apps in the marketplace. Please keep this in mind while reading this review. Also, I used a friend’s Archos 5 for 3 days before I bought my own Archos 5 8GB from Radioshack (The Shack?) for $[...] I fully reconfigured and updated his device with Google apps support and Google sync. More on that below.

   Pros – beautiful build quality, beautiful screen, nice size that’s bigger than a smartphone but small enough to fit in a large pocket, Access to the entire Android Marketplace after enabling Google apps, Google apps support and Google Sync on the Archos after enabling them. SD card slot for easy storage upgrades

   Cons – Touch screen works but isn’t as responsive as it should be, device can lag at times (but this isn’t all that unusual with Android devices in general) Some apps didn’t work as advertised. icons don’t always use space in the best way resulting in large gaps between icons

   For anyone that wants to truly see what the Archos 5 Android can do, they should install the Google apps after updating to the latest firmware. I understand this should not be necessary for a device such as this but under the circumstances, it’s highly recommended, only take a few minutes and is easy to do. The Android Marketplace alone gives the device so much extra firepower and flexibility that it cannot and should not be ignored. GPS default app isn’t working right? Use Google Navigation. Can’t get Pandora to run in the browser? Use the free Android Pandora app. Hate the default Archos 5 browser? Get Opera, Xscope or Dolphin browser in the Marketplace. It’s that simple.

   I will keep this as brief as possible. Archos did screw up big time by releasing a device that has potential but shipped flawed, buggy and gimp. I wouldn’t be surprised if lawsuits are being prepared for false advertising considering some of the default apps don’t work. But despite this, I still liked the device because as I mentioned above, after installing the Google apps and marketplace, I was able to fully customize the Archos 5 Android to run like I needed it to run with the exception of the touchscreen. I didn’t use Archos’s software to playback video. I used Astro, Xscope or the Android Gallery. I didn’t use the default music player either. I used the default 1.6 Android player and “3″. I even switch the home launcher with DXtop and custom skins and icons. I tried to get the Archos to run similar to my Nexus One as best I could and the results were impressive. Also considering added storage through SD card is a welcome addition as well as the bluetooth tethering support. Speaking of which, I used the Bluetooth File Transfer app from the marketplace to transfer files from my Nexus One to the Archos 5 Android and it worked without any problems. That’s my constant theme for this review. If you are familiar with the Android Marketplace, you can find apps that function better than many of the default apps that ship with the Archos, It made my life less stressful for sure. Video playback is great, music playback is great even though the speaker is good but not the best I’ve heard on a portable device. I had no stalls, freezes or crashes in the 3 days that I’ve ran the Archos and I ran it pretty hard.

   The problems I did have all revolved around the touchscreen. Archos really should have known better and simply put a capacitive screen on the device. What’s the point in having a touchscreen if it isn’t going to be as responsive as it should be? Really. This was almost a deal breaker for me until I came to grips with it. It’s still not as good as my Nexus One, not by a long shot but it’s doable for the tablet. If lack of screen responsiveness can be addressed through software, then Archos should make that priority one. The stability issues are being dealt with as I just used the device with the latest firmware and it was very stable. But Archos should keep at it to ensure that the Archos 5 Android becomes a monster that will almost never fail.

   Summary, if you’re an experienced user of Android and can deal with a resistive touchscreen then I’d say the Archos 5 may be for you. Android Marketplace will provide so many apps that will add so much functionality to the Archos, that is almost worth the price of admission alone. Audio and Video playback are great with Android apps, there are a number of good browsers to use for the web allowing you to download Youtube videos…almost any video you find actually and run it direct from the unit. I had no problems with Wifi as I’m running a Linksys WRT54G router. My only other gripe is that my PS3 will not recognize the Archos as a mass storage device.

   If you want overall ease of use without the hassles of constant firmware updates, if you want a more responsive touch screen and a “it just works, out of the box” experience, then buy Apple and never look back.

   I’ll update this review as I spend more time adding apps and files to the device to see if it holds up over longer periods of intense use.
   
   ——————————————————————————————————
   
   UPDATE: 4-10-10 I’ve spent the last few days really putting this device through it’s paces and I’ve learned quite a bit. First and foremost, after calibrating the touchscreen, I can say that it’s definitely functional with finger use. No stlyus needed. But it’s not as good as a capacitive screen and rightfully so considering the Archos 5 Android has a resistive screen. With that in mind, I can navigate the Archos fine with my fingers and type fairly well on the virtual keyboard. Calibrating the screen is key and it very easy to do considering you’re prompted to calibrate the device on the first power on. Not sure why my friend didn’t do this with his Archos 5 Android. The unit has been very stable as well and only crashed on me once when I had two browsers open, one having multiple tabs and trying to run video at the same time while running two other apps in the background. (I’d like to see a 1GHz Archos 5 Android with 512mbs of DDR3 instead of the 128mbs that’s used now.)

   I’ve thrown quite a few video formats at it, Xvid, Divx, Mp3 and Mp4 videos etc and they’ve all worked with the exception of two that needed a codec that Archos offers for a price. That sucked and I passed on it. The only other format that I have to try is .FLV which I fully expect to not work but I’ll be happy to be proven wrong. Transferring files from my PS3, Nexus One and PC to the Archos was very easy once I put a 16GB microSD card in the unit. The PS3 and PC wouldn’t play nice with the Archos until then.

   The unit is very stable after installing the Android 1.6 update. But I decided to not put the Google Marketplace on my unit as the Archos Marketplace has quite a few apps in it and I realized without a constant internet connection, Google sync wouldn’t be worth the install. Any apps I needed I just bluetooth pushed them from my Nexus One to the Archos using the free Bluetooth Transfer app in both marketplaces.

   Also, I was wrong about the video playback being better in Android apps as opposed to Archos’s own apps. I’ve found that once you use a Android Launcher (Home Alternative app, DXtop, Open Home, Panda Home etc) on the Archos, you lose the Archos icons for music, video, photo playback that’s part of the Archo’s software that runs within Android. You need those apps and can have them on your desktop as widgets if you get them from the Archos marketplace under Multimedia. They’re free too. What this does is allows you to run Android apps as much as you want but also have the more robust Archos video app and the far superior codec support as customizable widgets without missing a beat.

   I did have problems with the playlist creation with the Archos music player. Although I like the layout of it once songs start to play. But at this time, it’s just easier for me to make playlists using the default Android app.

   The photo gallery is a matter of preference. Archo’s Gallery is superb and images look fantastic on the screen along with a larger sized thumbnails for easy viewing. The Android Gallery is good and images quality still looks great but the thumbnail view isn’t as big and doesn’t look as slick especially after seeing the excellent Android 2.1 gallery.

   I believe that the Archos 5 Android tablet is a great device with some negatives that can be fixed with software updates and/or revisions. I didn’t buy the larger 500GB, 320GB or other sizes because I wanted the slimmer form factor of the 8GB version. It offers a lot of flexibility and power for such a small device and isn’t sold at a premium. Having the ability to run Android .apk files regardless of the lack of Google Marketplace support means users can still get access to the huge catalog of Android apps available and run them on their devices. If potential buyers are already running Android smartphones then they’re ahead of the curve. It could benefit from more RAM in future versions as the device lag at times but the lag was no where near as bad as some people have made it out to be. It’s not G1 or Mytouch 3G bad where the device locks up for minutes at a time. If Google wouldn’t make this a “Google Experience” device then they must have something truly special in the pipeline but as it stands, even at a much cheaper price for the 8GB version, Archos 5 Android does quite a few things that a Ipad can not.

   4-20-10 UPDATE

   This will be my final update for the Archos5 Android as I’ve put it through it’s paces pretty good since I’ve started using it.
   
   I found out that the device will play flash movie files (.flv files) native without having to encode the video for playback in a different format. A Archos rep recommended saving videos to the archos one by one as opposed to bulk saving because bulk saves can damage the files en route. I bulk transferred a number of .flv files and all were corrupted but I can confirm that doing as the archos rep suggested works. I decided to put the Google Experience apps on my Archos because, quite simply, the process is so ridiculously easy and fast there was no reason not to. This device has great potential but there are still some things that could have been better.

   Battery life. The Archos 5 Android’s battery drains incredibly fast while playing media. I’m not sure which battery is used but a higher capacity battery than the one present would have been a godsend. I can use the resistive screen for a good experience but a capacitive screen would have made navigating the Archos 5 Android a great experience. The device needs more RAM. Period. Overall stability. I’m a geek at heart and tooling around with the Archos is great fun for me. I’ve loved it because I know how to get around or solve some of the problems other users are having. But the average consumer isn’t going to be as patient or even as tech savvy enough to do the same. The initial bugs with the Archos simply should not be. Yes, firmware updates have solved stability issues and bugs in some key areas but the reality is, when you’re asked to pay hundreds of dollars for a device, it should just work. Period. With that being said, I stand by my 4* review. The Archos 5 Android shows what a internet tablet should be (when the full range of Google services added) even if it’s currently geared towards the power user (Android/Linux power user really) as opposed to Joe Everyday. -1* for the need to update as soon as you take it out of the box.
5. Pamela K. Gitta says:

   July 5, 2010 at 8:03 pm

   Review by Pamela K. Gitta for Archos 5 160 GB Internet Tablet with Android
   Rating:
   There is one sure fire way you can guarantee to reduce your technology options, and that is to irresponsibly slam everything that’s not an Apple product. There are companies out there, (like Archos), that are trying to give you options. It’s not easy to do. It takes a lot of money, and there will inevitably be hiccups and bugs. But people are so spoiled and impatient these days, they are willing to sell their souls to one company for a few pieces of MAC crack. Their loss.

   Now to the Archos: I purchased the original Archos 5 a couple weeks ago, and while I found that device intriguing, the fact it used a hard drive (250GB) for storage, and made unsettling clicks and pops from time to time, made me paranoid enough to return it and order the FLASH Memory 32GB Android version instead. Also, the Opera browser on the older unit did reset often while surfing for no apparent reason. But it did work, and in full screen mode…and I could play my videos FROM my computer which my wife’s Itouch couldn’t…well, touch. It did everything her’s did, just not as well. In fact, using it as a book reader was pretty much a joke. The biggest shortfall was the way fonts were rendered in every application. They just looked cruddy compared to the Itouch.

   Well, I scoured reviews from all over the web to see if I could find a comparison between the old and new Archos from someone who owned both. I couldn’t really, and what little I did find in comparison went pretty much like, “The new Android is OK, but not so much different from the first version in the end”

   Now I know there are those like me out there that want to know if the upgrade is worth it.

   Listen up. This is like the jump from a Yugo to a Cadillac. This device rocks! If I were to rate the original, I’d give it a “3″…this one gets an “8″

   The web browsing experience is probably the most shocking. I have never seen a full sized computer load and display web pages faster. The rendering is beautiful. Ever bit as crisp and lovely as the Ipod. All in full screen spender! The scroll is not quite as fluid as the Ipod, but Archos is almost there. The sheer amount of additional real estate makes up for anything else.

   Bottom line: Archos brought the web browser light years ahead from the previous model.

   Media: (Video, Music, Photos) are all pretty much unchanged and for good reason: They were fine the way they were.

   Bottom line: Media experience is the same as it was. Nice music player, nice photo viewer, and by far the most awesome video playback no one, not Apple, not Microsoft, not anyone can match.

   Touch Screen: Many people seem to have a lot of complaints about the resistive touch screen. Yes, it takes a little more pressure than the Ipod’s capacitive screen, but I know people that have complained of those screens getting less responsive over time. The Archos screen is fine after you learn how to use it (and really, even before) Women will love it because it works especially well and is perfectly suited to using a fingernail where capcitive may not work as well via that method.

   Applications: This is where Archos with Android is I guarantee you making Apple very nervous. Are they there yet? No. Are they gaining fast? You bet. Every day more apps appear.

   Bottom line: There’s a new kid in town. A bigger, better looking, and soon to be better all around, kid.

   Other features like FM receiver (Pod don’t got it) FM transmitter (Pod don’t got it) GPS! (guess what? Pod don’t got it) and I could go on and on about what my wife’s Ipod CANT do that the Archos can.

   Darn, but it hangs occasionally, or maybe a screen will freeze once in a while. Get the torches!!! Burn them out!!!! Archos must die!!!! We demand PERFECTION!!!!

   If I had a nickle for every time EVERY ONE of you people’s computers hung or froze or what not. Why aren’t you throwing THEM in the trash? Huh?

   I am not in love with Archos, nor do I hate Apple. The Itouch is a very classy machine that does what it does just about as well as it can be done. But it is not without it’s faults. You don’t really own it, Apple does. Why can’t you see it like a hard drive? Why do I have to have their software on my computer to use it? Why have they banned Flash? Why do they mess with your legally purchased music and lock it down like it’s in Fort Knox?

   I feel like Archos sold me their device and by doing so signed ownership over to me. They don’t restrict what I can do with it. They don’t tell me to load anything on my computer to use it. They offer an infinitely more versatile device. Yes, with that sort of versatility and complexity there are bound to be snags. They are working on them.

   Archos 5 was the crude foundation.

   Archos 5 Android is the real deal.