UMPCPortal is where we take mobile devices and hold them up against a template of productivity, technology, battery life and engineering. We try and look deep into the technology to not only see what’s possible today, but what’s possible tomorrow and how it can fit into pro-sumer and productivity scenarios.

If you’re looking for a more consumer-focused ride though, that’s what we do over at Carrypad. There we take mobile devices and focus on the things that are important to the casual user. Price, features, ease of use, style and user interfaces play a huge part her because not everyone needs the Full Internet Experience when lazing around on the couch catching a little YouTube in the advertising breaks on TV.

We’ve Got an iPad on the Way, and You Can Too

In the last week we’ve invested in an iPad. Ben is going to take the reigns on it and see if he can work out where the device fits now and to track it as applications start feeding through. It seems strange to be following Apple into this new segment at such a low price but it looks like they really will have the first 3G-enabled consumer-focused tablet on the market beating the Dell Mini 5, the JooJoo and the IDC ultra by a long margin.

The Top Consumer Internet Devices.

The database has been running for a while now and we’re seeing an interesting Top 5 battle. Consistently at the top is the Dell Mini 5. This 5” Android-based handheld tablet promises to trump the already-popular Archos 5 in two ways. It will not only contain a full 3G and voice radio but it will also be one of the first MIDs (i.e. a device targeted at Internet use as it’s primary function) with a full suite of Google applications. That means marketplace which means a whole new opportunity for developers to work with a huge 800×480 screen.

Also knocking around at the top are the ICD Ultra which should be available later this year. The Notion Ink Adam is a similar device and if they get the promised Pixel-Q1 screen in there it will be a great device for outdoor use.

More significant, I think, it the Archos 7 Home Tablet. This isn’t a powerful device but at $179, it should offer excellent value for the round-the-house experience. It’s claimed to offer a smooth video playback experience at near 720p quality along with a reasonable browsing experience and a good set of Android applications. Archos will be following-up with a whole range of Android-based devices later this year too so they are clearly putting their bets on the Android OS. If Google allows them to use their marketplace, the whole range of Archos devices will get a huge boost.

Of course, the iPad is going to be important but it’s not rising as high in the ‘charts’ as I expected. Maybe that’s still to come!

There’s a lot more news out there in the world of consumer devices but we’re going to be honest; you won’t find everything at Carrypad. There’s a lot of hype out there and a lot of products that just won’t get past stage one – a showing at an exhibition. We’ll be focusing on the cream of the crop and only bringing you the news that you need to hear.

Check out more at Carrypad where you’ll also find the RSS feed and the ability to sign up for the daily email.

Meet:Mobility Podcast 45 is now available. Streamed live (meetmobility.com/live) on 12th March 2010 with special guest Charbax (Twitter, ARMDevices.net)

In the podcast we talk about the mobile computing highlights of CeBIT including the Archos 7, four convertible netbooks, the new Atom processors and ION GPU options and much more.

Full show notes and links to download/listen are at Meet:Mobility

Update: Archos 7 Home Tablet information now being tracked in the database.
Slightly disappointing for us this morning is the news that Archos have launched two new tablets but only with basic, very low power CPUs. The Archos 7 Home Tablet and Archos 8, a photo frame will run Android on a basic ARM9 CPU meaning you won’t get anything like a fast web experience. One can assume that they’ve got video playback working and are using their offline YouTube playback technology to get that side of things sorted out but don’t expect to be playgin flash games or having a fast UI experience. At 149 Euro though, this is gift-pricing and I can see a ton of people getting one of these for Christmas.

The good news is that Archos have said that a new range of tablets based on ARM Cortex at up to 1Ghz will be coming in the summer with a range of screen sizes from 3 to 10”. Excellent news! Let’s hope that 3G is in the mix somewhere.

German PR announcement. (translation)

Home Tablet ARCHOS 7

The slim “ARCHOS 7 Home Tablet” features a 7-inch touch screen and is only 12 mm thin. With a weight of about 350 grams, the “Home Tablet ARCHOS 7 is” extremely portable, and thus finds the whole house use.

Thanks to the integrated Wi-Fi can be the “Home Tablet ARCHOS 7″ easily connect to your home network, while the USB connection provides for fast data transfer from PC, digital camera or other digital devices.

The “Home Tablet ARCHOS 7″ has a low power consumption and therefore provides a battery life of 7 hours for video playback and 44 hours of music playback.

From April 2010 the “Archos will be 7 Home Tablet” in memory sizes of 2 GB and 8 GB for a suggested retail price of 149 euros or 179 euros available.

ARCHOS 8 Home Tablet ARCHOS 8 Home Tablet

With a large 8-inch touch screen makes the “ARCHOS 8 Home Tablet” primarily for surfing the Internet for web services and video playback.

With only 12 mm in height and less than 400 grams of weight, is the “ARCHOS 8″ a product that can be used as a digital picture frame and as a mobile video player or Internet browser.

The “ARCHOS 8 Home Tablet” will be available from May 2010 with 4 GB to a suggested retail price of 149 euros.

2009 was, again,  a tough year for designing, building and selling UMPCs. Windows Vista continued to drag down performance and the economic situation meant that many UMPCs didn’t reach the market. Despite that, the advances we’ve seen in 2009 have been some of the best ever. Performance was boosted with the availability of high-speed SSD drives. Battery life was improved through the use of the Intel Menlow platform and market pressure meant that the price/performance ratio took a huge step forward. In one of our videos this year I talked about ‘double the battery life, for half the price.’ That’s how far we’ve come since 2006 but into that equation go more features like GPS, 3G, haptic feedback, better designs, silent operation and lighter weight. Only last week, Fujitsu launched the UH900 which makes it, if our database serves us correctly, the first 5.6” UMPC to break the 500gm barrier. Amazing.

In this article we would like to highlight four products that we think deserve ‘Best of 2009’ status.

Best UMPC of 2009.

Viliv X70 EX, SSD.

We’ve chosen the Viliv X70 EX SSD because of it’s focus on quality and it’s flexible form factor. Battery life, build quality and disk speed help to make this a solid and reliable device and a good part of an ultra mobile setup that can go from sofa to car to desktop. The SSD helps to make the X70 EX rugged too which is very important. 3G, Car mount, quality casing solution and even voice capability are options if you want them.

Viliv have proven that many of the most important elements for quality ultra-mobile computing can be put into a device at a very reasonable price. A huge step forward.

We also considered.

• Viliv S7. Another very solid and reliable device with amazing battery life. The S7 is focused on ultra-portability though and is best used on a table-top.
• Fujitsu U820/U2010/Loox U. A device from 2008 that is still able to offer excellent all-round UMPC qualities.

Best Mobile Accessory of 2009

This was an easy one. First tipped as accessory of the year in March, it proved itself during the rest of the year. The Novatel Mifi 2352 (GSM/UMTS) version is simple, reliable and performs very well as a bridge between a single 3G data connection and a WifI hotspot that up to 5 devices can ride on. With a built-in web server and router firmware it’s exciting to imagine how this access box could turn into a content delivery platform. We predict many variants and versions of this popping up in 2010.

We also considered:

• Nothing else came close.

Stay tuned here and at Carrypad.com for details about how you can WIN A MIFI 2352 over the next week.

Best Mobile Software of 2009

2009 was the year that the mobile application market took off in a very very big way. There are thousands of mobile applications to choose from but the one application that continues to help mobile computing users more than any other is Mozilla Firefox. Version 3.5 saw a much faster javascript engine being introduced and it’s plugin ability allows mobile and small-screen users to tailor their web experience in ways that bring huge productivity and efficiency advantages. Notable plug-ins include the ever-useful Grab and Drag, No Script and of course, Mozillas own Weave plugin which is a bookmark, password and tab syncing software that can save a lot of time and keypresses.

We also considered.

• Google Chrome for it’s CPU and javascript efficiency.
• Tweetdeck
• Amazon Kindle for PC
• PDF Annotator
• Favorite applications from the Wakoopa UMPC team

2009 ‘Showcase’ award.

We simply have to give an award to the Archos 5 Internet Tablet. This isn’t a UMPC, isn’t a 3G-capable mobile internet device and is still in need of a lot of firmware work but the technology, operating system and price are a huge step forward for ARM-based devices. The web experience is good (although far from perfect) and the battery life puts all UMPCs to shame. As for sizing, we’ve never seen so much internet-connected capability is such a small device. The Archos 5 Internet Tablet shows us what could be possible in 2010. Full review here.

Biggest Disappointment of 2009

While deciding this award, the team discussed the Crunchpad/JooJoo. We also wanted to list the ASUS R50A too but the first hasn’t been launched yet and the latter was a 2008 device.

In the end we settled on the Always Innovating Touchbook as the biggest disappointment of 2009.

We first reported about it in May and were excited to see what Linux and an ARM cortex processing engine could bring to the sector. The design, a modular slate/netbook design was interesting too. We were so excited, we ordered one. Fortunately for us we weren’t part of the early set of customers and after we read the early reports, we withdrew our order. Users reported stability issues in the software and even stability issues in the device itself; it had a tendency to tip. Battery life was unimpressive, the firmware poor and all-in-all, it looked like customers were being asked to pay to join a beta-testing program. The story hasn’t changed much since then. Always Innovating have released a ‘fix’ for the early balance problems; “a small plastic part that customers can glue at the back of the keyboard part” and there have been a number of firmware updates but core hardware updates need to be done before this is a real product that can serve duty in the ‘pro-mobile’ sector.

It highlights a very important point because the Archos 5 and Always Innovating Touchbook are based on similar hardware and software platforms. Specifications are only half the story.

Top Articles of the year.

Here are the most popular articles of the year. Thanks to Ben for two articles that went viral and crashed the server!

• Wearable Computer Setup powered by Sony UX UMPC
• Gigabyte Touchnote Test.
• Modded Sony VAIO UX does everything – and then some. Is this the fastest, most versatile UMPC in the world?
• UMID Mbook M1 Full Review
• Viliv S5 UMPC. Detailed First impressions.

Top searches of the year. (from search engines)

• Viliv S5
• Viliv S7
• Asus T101H
• UMID M1
• vgn-p limited edition

Also see the keyword analysis article here.

Predictions for 2010

We’ll be posting a UMPC predictions article very shortly so stay with us.

Let’s be clear; the Archos 5 is neither a pro or mobile internet device. There’s no 3G, the web experience isn’t complete and the stability of the device means you probably shouldn’t be doing anything important on it.

Having said that, the Archos 5 is quite an amazing multi-faceted handheld web device that sets a new standard for an ARM-based web experience and pushes the entry level pricing down to consumer levels. Battery life is great and the video performance beats anything you’ll get on a UMPC.

If you could cherry-pick for the perfect UMPC, I’m sure you’d be picking a lot of features from the Archos 5.

I’ve written a full review of the Archos 5 Internet Tablet and published it at Carrypad.com, our consumer-focused sister website.

The Archos 9 has had the #1 spot in the Portal for some time now, it’s pretty clear that people are excited for it, despite the fact that it may be a slate.

Unfortunately for everyone out there looking forward to the Archos 9, you’ll have to wait a little bit longer. We had been expecting the Archos 9 to be released on October 22nd as we had heard at IDF 09, but we’ve watched that date come and go and been scratching our heads since.

I’ve recently contacted Archos about availability of the Archos 9, and was told that pre-orders made through www.archos.com should be shipping in “early December”. Retail store availability (Amazon, Walmart, etc.) is expected in Q1. That’s all we’ve got to go on for now; sorry for the folks that have been holding out, but hopefully you’ll get your hand on this device before something else comes along and catches your eye!

What a hectic few hours!  I’ve had DHL at the door with the Archos 5 Mini Dock, a tweet from Pocketables alerting me that the new firmware is available and the whole lot has been captured in a video. I’ll say no more than this:

• Mini-dock = Bargain!
• YouTube HD on TV = Fantastic!
• IR RF keyboard and mouse = Total TV laziness.
• Mini keyboard and mouse = Mini ‘Web’ PC under 500gm and 300 Euro!

It looks like some hard drives with no external power won’t work but I tested a few USB SD-card adaptors and it worked fine. Questions remain over 3G sticks.

As for the firmware, there are a lot of improvements. Check the updates page for details.

More images in the gallery.

More information about the Archos 5 Internet Tablet here.

Update: TV interference is purely due to trying to record a CRT. For a better look at TV-out put using an HDMI dock, Check out Charbax’s video here.

Help your UMPCPortal! Buy the Archos 5 Mini-Dock through our affiliates.

• ARCHOS Mini Dock für ARCHOS 5 / 5g und ARCHOS 7
• Archos Germany ordering page for 8GB (not in stock – see selection boxes on page.)
• ARCHOS Mini Dock for ARCHOS 5 & ARCHOS 7
• Mini Dock at Amazon US (Not available at present)

For of all, thanks to Jeff Hill of Misticaudio for sending over this case for review. They’ve stepped in at just the right time with a leather case for the Archos 5IT that fits well, doesn’t impact on the usability of the device and looks great at a very acceptable cost. $28 is a good price although you’ll need to consider taxes and customs costs if you’re importing it.

More images in the gallery.

As you can see from the images, the case is a wallet design with an access window, cut-outs for ports, buttons and the speaker and an integrated stand. There are also two slots for credit cards and, in the fold, a slot for a stylus. Stitching is neat and the clips seem good enough. The stand is relatively solid and there’s some padding and strengthening in the screen flap. A few corners of the device are left exposed so there’s still a chance of a nasty knock if you’re very unlucky and the chance for dust and dust to get into the connectors but to be fair, this is a case that is designed to allow you to use the device and its connectors. I haven’t tested a docking station yet but that should arrive soon and I’ll update this post when I’ve tested it out.

The Archos 5 IT doesn’t ship with any sort of case or cover and although the plastics and screen seem strong, I’d still recommend buying a case for it if you’re planning to use it while mobile. The Misticaudio case is tidy, stylish option.

The Misticaudio case for the Archos 5 Internet Tablet is currently available at Sensory Candy

Jkk has spotted that the Archos 9 has been dissected over at the FCC. Unfortunately you won’t find unicorns or magic inside, but just your everyday Atom guts and computer components. Swapping out the 1.8” HDD which (jkk identified to be PATA with a ZIF connector) shouldn’t be hard if you don’t mind cracking the case on your Archos 9 [Portal page] – as jkk said, it’s fun to see what they look like inside. And in case anyone was unsure, SIM slot has been verified via these images so 3G is a-go for the US version.

A word on availability: Archos seemed fairly adamant about the quoted October 22nd launch, but we haven’t seen the Archos 9 appear in stores yet. However, all indicators are pointing to soon – hopefully before we leave the month of November.

I want to update you all on the devices I’ve been testing recently. It’s a super range of advanced devices that represent the best in the smartphone, MID and UMPC market. All four are advanced, fun and productive mobile devices.

Nokia N900

Possibly the most advanced device of the four is the N900. It runs one of the newest and most powerful ARM-based platforms out there with one of the newest mobile operating systems. From what I’ve seen, the Maemo teams have done a great job in preparing an operating system for today’s web-focused user. Nokia have also done a a great job in tying it together with some amazing hardware. Camera, keyboard, screen, GPS, accelerometer, FM TX/RX, consumer IR, keyboard, speakers, Wifi, BT, 3G, voice along with strong quality materials and an attractive, if slightly understand, design.

Users considering the N900 need to consider the following important points.

• Battery life. With all that power, it’s easy to end up with a device that can’t do anything after 2pm!
• Applications. While the developer community is active and passionate, there’s relatively few people out there. Android, iPhone and Windows Mobile will provide you with a better application suite at the moment.
• Despite the lack of applications, much of what you need is already built in to the N900. From exchange support to Skype and of-course a full desktop-standard web browser with full Flash 9 support.
• Price. The N900 is up there with the Droid, iPhone 3GS and HTC HD2. (See my post about WVGA phones for more information)
• One-handed use. The N900 is a two-handed device because most of the user interface only supports landscape mode. This can affect use in ultra-mobile situations.

Unfortunately the backlight has stopped working on my test device now but I’ve managed to get together enough material and make enough notes that I can answer most of your questions on it now. Don’t forget to check out my previous articles and videos on it before you fire-away with queries though.

All N900 articles from UMPCPortal including overview, unboxing, real-world testing notes, video performance and more.

Samsung Omnia Pro (B7610)

The global roll-out of the Omnia Pro B7610, a WVGA slider smartphone running on Windows Mobile 6.1 with an 800Mhz ARM11 CPU has been a very staggered, uncoordinated affair, typical of the way Samsung works independently in its different regions.  The only reason I’ve got it is because it was one of the best sliders available when I decided it was time to start watching the high-end smartphone sector very closely. The HTC Touch Pro2 was available but as the Omnia Pro was new in the market (I’m still one of the only people to have written detailed English-language posts on it) so I went for it. Despite talk of the Droid, the HD2 and the N900, It’s still one of the best WVGA sliders available right now and with a recent price drop, represents excellent value but it’s disappointing that the Windows Phone upgrade has delayed the launch in most areas. I’m actually waiting for the Windows Phone upgrade before I do my full review on it but I can tell you that the screen is stunning, the keyboards (hard and soft) are great, the camera and camera software is amazing (i’ve tested it in detail against my current camera favorite, the Nokia N82) and Samsung have done a great job with the Touch-Wiz software. It extends wide and deep into Windows Mobile and is not just a user interface, it’s a subsystem and front-end application suite too. As a day-to-day phone (rather than MID) the Omnia Pro is actually better than the N900. It has longer battery life, is cheaper, has nearly all the end-user features of the N900, has more software and the correct focus on voice calling for most people. It is much slower all round and the browser quality is a big step down from the class-leading one you’ll find on the N900 but for 390 Euros (lowest current price in Europe) it is better value than the N900 for most people.

I’ve been focusing heavily on the Omnia Pro in a side project called ‘MyOmniaPro‘ If the B7610 slider interests you, there’s no better resource than the one I’ve created over there!

Viliv S7

The Viliv S7 has been an extremely hard device to review. My wife is simply in love with it and has even nicknamed it ‘Willy’ (That’s Villy in  her German accent!)  The result is that I can’t prise it out of her hands for long enough to be able to write about it. Fortunately, Ben, the co-editor here at UMPCPortal, did an excellent full review for our friends at Pocketables.net and has covered everything I could have ever said about it. I will be writing up an article which focuses on the unique features of the S7 (power/weight/battery life ratio, 3G, convertible touchscreen) but for the time being, take it from me that the Viliv is a solid device, has amazing battery life, great return-from-standby speeds, reaches the usual build-quality standard that we’ve come to expect from Viliv and is a lot of fun to use. Out of the box it’s a much faster device than the U820 and I’d argue that it’s more productive than the Sony Vaio P-Series. Viliv needs to know that the white finish isn’t getting many fans from the male-sector of our readership and as that makes up the most of our readership, maybe they should think about toughening up the looks a bit. The white-leather case just makes the matter worse!

One last note on the S7: Speaker quality and volume…WOW!

Archos 5 IT

If there’s one device that’s proven to me recently that there IS a market out there for dedicated MIDs and that my 3.5 year-old Carrypad idea still has legs, it’s the Archos 5 IT. It also highlights something else that I believe and that’s that ARM-based devices will have the upper-hand in the MID market during 2009. That will carry through until Moorestown finds its feet in late 2010.

Combining a great browsing experience, high-quality YouTube experience, one of my favorite mobile Twitter applications (Twidroid,) good media playback, 32GB storage, WiFi and Bluetooth on an interesting mobile operating system with some interesting applications it shows how the ARM platform has really come of age in the ‘full web experience’ market.

I wouldn’t recommend this as a pro or business-level product to anyone but for those looking for social and entertainment activities at home, in the car, on holiday and in the coffee-shop, I don’t think there’s a better device out there. Only gaming is missing from the line-up of web, music, video, navigation (could do better) and social internet capabilities. At 230 Euros for the 8GB version with Wifi and Bluetooth it sets a new pricing level for MIDs and I’m excited to see what follows. The Dell Streak certainly looks like it could be a better device (keyboard, camera) but the price is still unknown.

When you read about the Motorola Droid/Milestone and the great web experience on that, remember that the Archos is faster and more comfortable due to its bigger screen. It also plays YouTube videos like no other device in the smartphone, MID, netbook or even low-end laptop category. I haven’t bought the TV docking station for this but I’m very close. The DVB-T adaptor is on my list too.

Not a converged, voice-capable or 100% stable device but if you’re into mobile gadgets, this is probably the best Christmas present you could give yourself this year. Go for a low-end SSD version and drop a 16GB Micro-SDHC card in for the best value.

Coming up soon.

We’re looking at the Eking S515 (review unit secured. arrival in the next week), the Viliv S10 (review unit probable. Timescale unknown), Wits A81 (we’re 50:50 on this one as we need to buy it to review it), UMID M2 (need to chase a few people about that one) and Evi Group Pad (contact made. Review unit likely at end of November) and praying for the Dell Streak to just turn up at the door here! We’re also working on the HTC HD2, Motorola Milestone and KAX-15 and as always, waiting for a iPod Plus.

I’ve just had a press release from Archos in Germany which reminds me that the Archos 9 is going to be available from tomorrow.

In the press event at IDF last month we learned that the Archos 9 would launch in the U.S. for $499 but it but we couldn’t confirm EU availability and price. The press release today confirms that it will be available in the Archos online shop [German version] from tomorrow for 499 Euro.

Two additional ‘supermodel’ versions will also be available. The first will have a DVB-T receiver built-in and the second, a 3.5G module. No pricing has been released for these.

The Archos 9 has been one of the top products in the portal since we reviewed it at IDF last month so clearly there’s a lot of interest in it. We’re trying to get hold of a review model from U.S. and E.U. offices and hope to bring you a live session / review very soon. In the meantime, have a look at my overview video and check out the full specifications along with other Archos 9 content on the product page.

Press release

I’ll be back to work on Wednesday but until then I’m taking a break with my family over in sunny (really!) England. Thanks to Three UK I’ve got 3G connectivity both on the smartphone and via my Mifi and it has given me the ability to really test the Nokia N900 [info] and Archos 5 Internet Tablet [info] in real-world mobile and home scenarios that have ranged from a night out with the lads to car-navigation, photography, Skype, sofa and bed-surfing, presence and day-to-day email and website management duties.

Read the full story

You might have seen me mention a thin blogging kit in a few other posts recently; well this one is here so that I can get my plan in order, and show you what the idea is. Let’s call it the TBK for now! The goal of the TBK is obviously to keep things thin & light! The result will hopefully be a super-light weight, and fully capable blogging platform.

The TBK will include the following:

• Archos 9 (800g)
• iGo stowaway Bluetooth keyboard (158g)
• MoGo Bluetooth Mouse (41g)
• iPhone 3GS (133g) [for pictures/videos and data tethering]

As you can see, the entire kit is just under 1000 grams [2.202 pounds] (excluding the iPhone because that is always with me regardless). And the thickest that anything in the kit gets is the iGo BT keyboard (when closed) at just 17mm. Check out the relative sizes, and a comparison to an Asus Eee 1000HE [Portal page]:The pieces of the TBK will allow me to do pretty much anything I need to. The Archos 9 as you know is a full x86 computer with touchscreen which will be running Windows 7, meaning that I’ll be able to access my blogging software (Windows Live Writer) and do anything else that works best on a computer running a full OS, like media editing. The Mogo BT mouse and iGo BT keyboard up the ante on input for the Archos 9, providing essentially a full input experience, and everything is wireless.

If you’ve looked at the Mogo BT mouse, you’ll notice that it is actually designed to store and charge in a notebook’s express card slot. The Archos 9, as well as most small computers, don’t have an express card slot, but luckily Mogo also makes a USB express card adapter to charge the Mogo mouse if your computer happens to lack said slot, so I’ll be able to charge anywhere that USB is available. And while the Mogo mouse won’t be able to stow away in the Archos 9, I think it is plenty thin to fit the case with the iGo BT keyboard.

In addition to having high quality input through the mouse and keyboard, the iPhone will be able to provide important functions, such as video, geo-tagged content, and data tethering when WiFi is not available.

Have any suggestions for must-have thin accessories that might be great for the TBK? Let me know in the comments, but keep it thin!

Edit: Response to comments – Hey guys, good points about the netbook. Trust me, I didn’t overlook the whole category, in fact, I have an HP Mini 1000 already!

The TBK is just an Archos 9/slate experiment, I guess I should have made that clear. I haven’t used a pure slate, especially down at this size (I have a convertible tablet), so I’m not exactly sure how useful the Archos 9 will be. While a netbook is definitely a good solution, I must say, notebooks are boring!

I really just want to see how thin I can keep the entire kit. This doesn’t have any special practicality, but I’m wondering how compact I’ll be able to carry this setup. There is also increased flexibility. This doesn’t apply as much as this screen size, but on smaller devices, it is generally useful to be able to put the keyboard away and be able to have just the screen out for particular scenarios, like viewing media. With this TBK I’ll be able to selectively use one or more parts as I need them. So If I’m on the bus and I want to watch a show, I can essentially have just the ’screen’. Again, this is just an experiment to see how a slate can be used, as we’re seeing many pop up in recent months.

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’m no expert on e-book reading but I’m a big e-reader. What I mean by that is that I read electronic content all day long but I don’t read many books. I’ve been working my way through the Adventures of Tom Sawyer on the SmartQ7 and have tried to continue on the Archos 5 but I don’t get very far before I’m distracted by an email or twitter notification and then I’m off into one of those enjoyable but never-ending web journeys.

Based on my experience with the Archos 5, its form factor, hours of using Google Reader (Android formatted) and the web browser I’d say that the form factor lends itself perfectly to 1hr reading sessions and that due to the weight (smartphone weight) and screen characteristics (200 ppi and well-aliased fonts and adjustable back-lighting) many people will end up doing more. What effect that has on your eyes is unknown to me but it certainly feels more comfortable than smaller screens I’ve tried.

I can’t really show you the quality of the screen on a video but you might get an idea of how you might use this device to read e-book content in the video I’ve prepared for you below. You’ll see FbreaderJ with a mobipocket-formatted e-book and Aldiko and an epub-formatted book with online download. One thing missing is commercial content. It is possible to convert encrypted and even DRM-protected content but I’d like to be able to link directly into books from commercial stores like Amazon and Mobipocket without all that hassle.

Don’t forget to watch in full-screen and hit the ‘HQ’ button for the higher quality version.

I’ve shown you Social Messaging, HD video playback and now Ebook reading on the Archos 5 IT but there are at least two other usage scenarios that I want to show you. Next week i’ll be highlighting the Web browsing experience and the navigation experience and that will probably round-up the Archos 5 IT coverage for a while.

If you have experience with dedicated e-book readers, let us know how you feel about this LCD reading experience. How would you feel if the Amazon Kindle software was ported to the Archos Tablet?

P.S. Anyone know if there are commercial audiobook apps for Android? An Audible app would be awesome!

More info on the Archos 5 Internet Tablet here.

Before we start on the topic of video performance I have to highlight how complex the subject is and how difficult it is to present performance figures. Digital video is a complex matrix of multiple wrappers for multiple encoding types (video, multi-track audio and multiple subtitles) with different encoding profiles, options, resolutions and bitrates. Format conversion, phsycovisual optimization, buffering and on-the-fly resizing is another set of complex topics. Speak to anyone in the video streaming business and they will take pleasure in telling you how extremely complex it is. For example, at IDF I spoke  Envivio, a company that specialises in video streaming.  Because of the complexities and ever-changing capabilities of client devices they’ve chosen to do all their encoding in software on general purpose X86 CPU’s rather than in dedicated silicon.

As consumers, we tend to use a number of benchmarks. YouTube streaming, DVD and camcorder files.  YouTube quality is determined by how smooth LQ, HQ and HD versions are in windowed and full-screen mode. DVD is a tighter standard based on MPEG-2. Camcorder files have already reached high bitrates and there are even 1080p (1920×1080 resolution) consumer cameras out there. I tend to talk in terms of codecs and bitrates rather than 720p/1080p because those expressions are often used incorrectly but for online video, the simplest way to do it is just to demonstrate it using what most web-based customers are moving to. HD-quality YouTube.

YouTube HD quality is based on MPEG-4 Part 10/AVC  (H.264) and offers 720p resolutions (1280×720) at an average bitrate of 2Mbps. (See good Wikipedia entry here for more info) Netbooks and UMPCs running XP can not play this file format but by installing the Adobe Flash player, you get access to this format via YouTube and their embedded Flash content. Unfortunately, the Adobe Flash player is heavy on CPU usage so on these low powered devices the quality is terrible.  There are ways to improve this. YouTube download tools allow you to play content in a separate video player which works in an efficient way. I’m able to play downloaded YouTube HD files on my netbook right here. In the near future, the Flash 10.1 player will be able to access hardware video decoders (not currently on most netbooks although the next generation of netbooks will be able to support this) making it even easier for consumers but there are already a few devices out there that can give you the YouTube HD experience out of the box.

I’ve been testing one of those devices. The Archos5 Internet Media Tablet running Android and many people have been asking me about the video performance so I thought I would answer most of the questions by way of a video demo. Some of the details get a bit technical and of course, the video is not representative of the actually quality of video playback on the Archos 5 but the demo gives you a good idea of what you can expect.

Just one note, this was shot in VGA using M-JPEG encoding at about 15Mbps, converted to 1.5mbps WMV  and you’re watching it via the flash decoder after conversion by YouTube to the H.264 (or Sorenson) codec. See what I mean!

Break out into a full-screen window and hit the ‘HQ’ button for the best quality possible. The original WMV version is available at Blip.tv.

For completeness and attribution, here’s the original video on YouTube.  Hit the ‘HD’ button and see how it streams on your device.