I’m nicknaming the Archos 43 the ‘pocket rocket’. Its a great little device that probably shouldn’t be part of the Carrypad product list because its focus is media playback. Sure, it runs Android but thinking of the Archos 43 as an Android device would be the wrong thing to do because it conjures up images of contracts, email, calendars and 3G data. The Archos 43 is a $199 PIMP. That’s a Portable Internet and Media Player!

Check out the fun 3D gaming test we did.

Full gallery here.

Full specifications, videos, links etc. are shown in our product database.

Android brings a comfortable ui and, if you’re able, access to some ‘sideloaded’ applications such as ebook readers and entertainment programs, it grows well to cover some new ground. If you’re thinking of getting an Archos 43 because you want Android though it’s probably the wrong choice.

What I like about the Archos 43 is that it is priced so that you can ‘gift’ it to yourself easily and that we’ll see a great community spring up around it.

The screen, although resistive, is one of the lightest (touch) I’ve ever used and could be mistaken for a capacitive screen quite easily. The colour and brightness didn’t appear to be as good as the Archos 5 Internet Tablet but it’s not bad either. It’s glossy though. Audio quality from the single speaker is surprisingly good and on par with the Archos 5.

I tested the Archos 43 with Android 2.1 which, due to the lack of Cortex optimizations and the lack of JIT compiler, makes the UI less than smooth (the same applies to the 70 and 101) but having experienced the difference between 2.1 and 2.2 on a Cortex core I expect this problem to go away with the promised upgrade. Timescales for the upgrade range from ‘at launch’ to ‘soon after launch.’ Web page load speeds were reasonable on the tested device but again, this will speed up quite a bit with the 2.2 upgrade. There’s some great potential there with the Ti OMAP 3 processing platform running at 1Ghz.

It’s missing the PVR capability and dock/remote as found on the Archos 5, multi-touch and the complete Google application suite but it includes USB host (we assume for mass storage and perhaps keyboard and mouse) and an HDMI-out port via an adaptor cable (not supplied in retail packaging.) It also promises ‘720p’ video via 2MP cam. This would need a lot of testing to determine what sort of quality and features are available so I’m not commenting on that here.

All in all it’s a great PIMP and a should make an impressive demo when connected to a huge HD screen!

Will I buy? No. It’s too close in functionality to the smartphones I’m using and I’m still a little bruised from the early Archos 5 experience I had. The Archos 70 might be the better gift for someone who already has an Android smartphone.

Update: I’m not sure if it features the tethering feature that was useful on the Archos 5.

Full specifications are shown in our product database.

There are two videos below. The first gives you an overview of the device and the second shows a little detail on the audio player.

I’ve had a lot of hands-on with the Archos 43 [specifications] today and I’m impressed. Somehow that small form factor and low price makes the speed and capability all that more impressive. I’m working on a few other videos but I wanted to show you this one first.

Update: Hands-on thoughts, gallery, videos now available.

IF (and it’s a big IF) you’re able to side-load applications and IF they work on the Archos firmware, you’ve got yourself a great value little entertainment device.

Two more videos coming up soon.

10” consumer tablets don’t seem to make much sense to me. I can’t think of any scenarios that need that much space apart from newspaper and magazine typesetting. Sure, a netbook running a multi-windowing OS could use a whole lot more space but when I look at Android tablets that show one window at a time through apps that were created for a maximum 5” screen I have a problem. Having said that, there’s a special feeling one gets when touching and moving huge web pages smoothly across such an area when the screen is only 50cm from your face. Video becomes more immersive too, especially when it’s good quality. The challenge is to create a large screen at a very low weight. A low price always helps too!

The Archos 101 [specifications and details] does 10” in 480gm. That’s an impressive size/weight ratio and when you add in a price of just $300 you have to agree that Archos have set out in the right direction with the 101.

Its almost no surprise that the Archos 101 doesn’t include Google Applications but there’s a lot more to get excited about. A full range of codec support, USB host (with full-size USB port) and a good level of processing power. It looks good too which is important when you’re aiming for as many coffee tables as possible.

Personally I still think that 7” makes more sense for a single-window experience but if you’re looking for an impressive gift for yourself, big is always better right?

Full specifications are in the database, a Chippy hands-on is shown below and we hope to be testing this out further as soon as we can. Note that the test devices at IFA were all running Android 2.1 Android 2.2 will, without a doubt, speed this up to very acceptable levels.

Most of you will have heard about the Archos 70, part of the new range of tablet devices being launched over the next few months. Archos have stripped away their recording software and docking station, bumped up the processor, improved the operating system and hit a very competitive pricing point. Add features like HDMI, USB host, capacitive multitouch, multiple video format support and you’ve almost got a full Android Tablet specification list. It’s not complete though. While 800×480 might be acceptable as a resolution, the lack of Google applications isn’t. No Gmail. No free Google Navigation, No Contacts sync and of course, no Google Market. We’ve experienced it on the Archos 5 and it really is noticeable.

Having said that, if you consider the Archos 70 as a sofa tablet, car tablet, holiday tablet and bedside tablet, you’ve got a video and audio player that returns a great browsing experience and offers a stylish way to view photos and ebooks. If you’ve got a way to ‘sideload’ some Android applications you’ll also benefit from some really great applications for entertainment and communications.

Pricing is $275 and it’s coming in Sept or Oct. Note that it might ship with 2.1 but 2.2 will, apparently, follow-up very quickly.

We’ve had some hands-on at IFA and this is how it went…

Not quite as far down the line as some of the other Android tablets we’ve seen at IFA is this, the Interpad from E-Noa. [specifications] It’s a 10” capacitive touch device based on a Tegra 2 platform and will launch without 3G, camera and Google applications towards the end of this year at 399 Euros. That’s not quite up to the Archos 101 offering on the tablet right now but with 1024MB of RAM and the Tegra 2 platform, this is certainly a good one for hackers to think about! Android 2.2 is promised.

E-Noa will produce a ‘street’ version with the necessary specs for Google Market in early 2011. Price and full details unknown but we’re told it will have GPS and 3G. That would put it in the 450-500 Euro space.

Full gallery here or click on any of the images below for larger versions.

In our meeting with Samsung today they came clean about pricing. We also heard about the CPU, some Samsung Market information and got a look at the accessory pack.

Pricing is indeed 799 Euro. This is, however, ‘u.v.p’ which is the same as ‘recommended retail price.’ What this means is that Samsung have built in a big pricing buffer that their customers (the carriers and resellers) can play with. We’re expecting street prices to be way lower than this and we saw a few nods when we mentioned 500 Euros. I get the impression we’re going to see early pricing hit 700 immediately and then a decline to the 600 mark over the next 3 months. Yes, the Galaxy Tab is expensive, but not as expensive as we first thought. Note: German pricing includes 19% tax. 670 Euros is the pre-tax price.

If we’re lucky, Viewsonic will get that truly comparable, although not as sweet, Viewpad 7 out for 399 Euro and make Samsung think twice! 400 certainly seems the right price point for a full 3G, GPS, compass, capacitive touch equipped consumer Android tablet.

Note about the O2 price mentioned in the video (via Twitter) – beware, it could be a contract for the hardware only. O2 Germany usually offer all their mobile devices in separate hardware / call / data contracts. That would bring the cost of the device to 759 Euros – not the cheap deal it might seem.

On the Samsung Market: It sits alongside the Google Market and offers developers a channel for Galaxy specific apps to be built for the device. Samsung will launch a promo campaign for this shortly.

Anyway, on to the video….

We’ve just come from a meeting with Samsung where they pulled out a rather nice keyboard accessory…

Full gallery here.

This was a prototype. Pricing not known but we’re guessing it will be well over 50 Euros.

Video coming very shortly.

Chatting to people around IFA today we’re all agreeing that the Viewsonic Viewpad is another ‘complete’ Android Tablet product. Apart from the latest Ghz-class CPU, and lets not forget that a 600Mhz Cortex A8-class CPU isn’t actually that bad, it has everything needed for the full Android experience. From camera to 3G. From GPS to Market. From capacative touch to good build quality. You can even use this for voice calls.

The price is 399 Euro (maximum) which we think is very competitive indeed.

In the video below we go over the device and run a few tests, including the voice call!

Correction: IN the video I talked about a 1024×600 screen. We’re checking this. At the moment the general opinion is that it’s an 800×480 screen. That does make some difference for web browsing it will be difficult to detect any downside when using it in apps that are all designed for smaller resolutions anyway.