In a few hours, I’ll be down in the studio playing around with the Archos 9 that is on it’s way from the DHL depot. I won’t be too interactive as I want to record an unboxing video
…and some testing in preparation for the real live session with JKK (one of our Friday night, bring-your-own-bottle sessions) on Friday evening starting at 2130 CET. (Check your time here)
Live sessions take place in the LIVE page which is always available (and open for chat via IRC)
I’m back to using the N82 as my smartphone. This amazing device that I bought in Jan 2008 is locking me in like no other device has ever done in the past. I was close to buying a Motorola Milestone and after upgrading my Omnia Pro B7610 I though I might stick with that but no, the Xenon flash captures moments and the Ovi Maps guides me to moments that no other device is able to. And it’s small!
One of my big issues with high-end smartphones is their size and price. You don’t buy a Ferrari to go to work in a town office because it’s not practical. You don’t (or shouldn’t) use a 4×4 either. It’s a waste of space, uses too much fuel and is difficult to park. I feel the same way about phones. They need to be phone sized, economical and good value. I need to be able to park them in my pocket. I need them to have fuel to get me home. The N82 is a great, practical smartphone.
Around the house I use the Archos 5 Internet Tablet. It’s like a quad bike. Useless forpublic roads but great for some jobs around the locality. Fast web, long battery life, big screen, great social communications apps and entertainment in a very small package. I published a big review of it the Archos 5 IT this week which highlights how multi-faceted it is.
Away from the house I’m using two devices. The U820 (AKA Loox U/50) is my short-term productivity device. My UMPC. It’s the device I carry with me if I don’t have any work planned. I’m able to use it almost anywhere and it’s been a fast, reliable, ultra-mobile solution. It sits on it’s docking station ready for action. I’m not sure how I could improve this device right now. The Mifi 2352 usually charges alongside the U820 and comes with me everywhere the U820 does.
I’ll usually take the U820 to work away from home too but mostly I would be using my Gigabyte T1028M. It’s a modded 10” touchscreen netbook that has fantastic 3G reception, a rugged and fast runcore SSD drive and an extended battery. It’s a device that I’m looking to upgrade. I need to keep the same features but advances in technology and falling prices mean that I think I can now get all of this with more processing power and a bigger screen for a smaller size. I’ve been looking at sub 1.5kg 12” devices to replace it and actually, there aren’t many in the market yet. The Sony Vaio X11 is offering a lot of what I want and I’m itching to test one out. Saving 600gm (40%) in weight would be amazing but is it worth 1400 Euro? Over 2-years of increased productivity I think I could justify it but i’ll wait until I’ve done some more testing on the Viliv S10 first. If Viliv make a 2.0Ghz, SSD, 3G version of that available for under 1000 Euro, I’m in!
Check out this cool video which shows just how easy it is to turn the Archos 5 into a capable terminal for remotely accessing full fledged computers:
Look at how simple the Bluetooth integration is. I didn’t know that Android would even provide a mouse cursor given a Bluetooth mouse — very cool. This is pretty impressive when you consider how small the entire kit is. It is also remarkably similar to the Archos 9 slim blogging kit that I’m planning, the difference being that the Archos 9 will be the full computer, and won’t need to remotely connect to anything!
My mobile tech interest feels reinvigorated, thanks in part to the recent efforts of Archos. You may recall my recent article about Apple causing me to lose my faith in other tech companies. But after seeing all of the recent fun that Chippy seems to be having with the Android based Archos 5 [Portal page], I must say that thinks are looking up in my mind.
Simply put, the Archos 5 looks like a substantial contribution to the MID field, rather than another stab in the dark from a clueless tech company that seems to churn out experiments rather than real, usable products. It will be devices like the Archos 5 (once it comes down a bit in price) that introduces less tech-savvy consumers to the MID – a device which acts as a mobile companion rather than just a phone, or just a media player.
Beyond the Archos 5, I’m also looking toward the Archos 9 [Portal page] with much anticipation (and it looks like I’m not the only one, the Archos 9 is currently topping the Portal charts). While a keyboard-less device without even a capacitive OSK would normally worry me, I’m happy to see that the Archos 9 is reportedly coming to market for a reasonable $499, and I’m hoping to augment the device with one of my favorite Bluetooth accessories, the iGo foldable BT keyboard. We’ll see how that goes once the Archos 9 actually rolls out.
Thanks Archos, you’ve helped me get over a mobile tech depression, and given me something exciting to look forward to!
I met Hubert from Ubergizmo at IDF last week and the one thing I forgot to do was to steal his Archos Android Tablet for an overnight hands on. Luckily he’s put up his full review and based on that I’m impressed and inquisitive enough to have ordered one this evening. Yes, Android Tablet live session and review coming soon on UMPCPortal!
The ubergizmo review is generally very positive about audio, video and web along with the overall style of the device, the screen clarity and user interface. The review isn’t so positive about the early, built-in app store which only covers Archos specific apps. Fortunately, standard Android applications can be installed individually and I’m sure we’ll see someone create a generic application store ‘application’ before long.
Most interesting to me is the detail on the browser. Note that it doesn’t support flash (Flash 10 is expected in Q1 2010 with the release of V2.0), isn’t as smooth as the iPhone 3GS but it still ‘good.’ I understand that YouTube videos play through the built-in video player which, based on what I use on my Archos 605 Wifi, is a much smoother way to play back videos. The 4.8” screen at 800×480 is an ideal web size/pixel ratio and so I’ll be interested to see how it compares in usability to the Nokia N900 when I test it at the Maemo summit next week. Ubergizmo posted this video of the browsing experience.
Check out the full review at Ubergizmo and the new Archos 5 Internet Tablet information page in the product portal. I’m expecting the Archos to arrive here next Monday so stay tuned for another live session!
‘Faster over fuller’ is the expression Jenn uses to describe how consumers want their browsing experience and I tend to agree. Personally I want Firefox 3+add-ons for my browser as it’s long my most important piece of software but I’m not most consumers. A consumer MID doesn’t need to be 100% FIE for most people but it does need to be close.
The browser on the Archos 5 is, relative to existing consumer and smartphone-based browsers, a big step forward in the eyes of most people that have tested it so it’s nice to confirm it with some stats. Jenn has lined-up the Archos 5, the iPhone 3G and the Nokia N810 in a browser speed test and overall, you’re seeing page load times 1.5 times faster than an iPhone 3G and about 1.8 times faster than a Nokia N810. But is it fast enough? MIDs and low-end UMPCs are likely to beat these times and return more accurate results but does the difference really matter?
What we’re seeing here is proof of, not just a fast new Archos device, but how the ARM Cortex core could improve the Internet experience. In this case, the ARM core is sitting on the Ti OMAP platform but Ti aren’t the only people using it. Intel really do need to watch their backs in this territory now because they’re not fighting against relatively small companies like AMD and VIA here, they’re fighting against the huge ARM ecosystem and they certainly know a thing or two about mobile hardware and software.
