Gaming
There are two sides to gaming on the Archos 5. Firstly, you’ve got access to applications via the AppsLib applications library. Currently the selection is rather poor and without and monetisation capability it’s unlikely that many advanced titles will appear. If Archos enhance the Appslib with some form of monetisation or switch to the official Google Android marketplace then things will change.
The second type of gaming supported is through a standalone flash player application. Instead of running games in the browser you download them (usually by grabbing them from a web page using something like the ‘page info’ feature in Firefox which allows you to view and download any media in a web page.) and save them to the Archos in a folder called ‘Flash.’ When you start the flash application the games or applications appear and can be started.
Not that many games wont work and many are slow. When you find a good one though, it’s fun! There are many thousands of Flash games out there and it’s touch to find them without getting bombarded by ads and pop-ups but on a quick search for ‘top 5 flash games’ I found a reasonable selection quite easily. In the video below you can see the problems though.
[youtube]_1PYEttp71c[/youtube]
Web
One of the highlights of the Archos 5 Internet Tablet is the web experience. The large screen, high resolution and relatively high-power processor make browsing websites a very comfortable experience. Page load times are some of the fastest that you’ll currently find on any ARM-based platform and among current Android devices, the Archos is the most powerful. There’s no inline Adobe Flash support so some websites built around that technology won’t work On the plus-side though, many flash-based ads don’t work either which can make the browsing experience smoother and more enjoyable.
The browser is a standard Android Webkit-based browser with finger panning and zoom buttons. There is no double-tap-to-zoom feature (on this Android V1.5 based firmware) but the zoom buttons work well. The browser can be set up to present itself as a mobile browser or desktop browser giving the user the option to see full or mobile-optimised websites. History, bookmarks, multiple windows, text select, find, downloads and page sharing (through resigstered applications like Twidroid and email) work well. There’s a pop-up blocker, cookie controls, password storage and Google Gears support. [ Note: We’re not sure that Gears support is working as it should. More testing is needed here.]
One of the surprising features is the speed of javascript decoding. The full, desktop version of Google Reader loads very quickly. Google Mail too. This is one of the first handheld devices based on a smartphone platform that could be used for web applications which makes it a very interesting development.
Auto-rotate and finger scrolling are quick and smooth when web pages are fully loaded.
Unfortunately, due to the lack of Android hardware buttons there’s a permanent need for on-screen control buttons which take up a noticeable percentage of the screen, especially in landscape mode. There must be a way to auto-hide these in the style that is used by Opera Mobile browser products and we hope that Archos find a way to implement this, soon.
Here are some examples of website loading times over a wifi hotpspot located in another room about 10m away. 10Mb broadband-connected. Cache cleared. First number indicates time to view/scroll page. Second number indicates time until the page is completely loaded.
- Carrypad 12/14
- Google News 2/5
- CNN.com 8/17
- Facebook.com 3/5
- UK.yahoo.com 3/8
- Techmeme.com 3/5
- Mail.google.com (Full javascript version) 12/16 Error: No scrolling available.
- Mail.google.com (Android-optimised site) 3 / 5
- Engadget.com (full) 7 / 15
In summary you have a very fast handheld browser that is a huge step forward from the sort of browsing speeds we are seeing on mainstream smartphones and ARM11-based web devices. Remember that with 800×480 on a 4.8 inch screen, many web pages show as full width and text can be read without having to zoom. This adds an extra speed element to Web browsing.
Note: The Web browser and Adoind networking subsystem does not appear to support proxy servers.
Ebook Reading.
We understand that back-lit LCD screens are not everyone’s favorite long-term reading solution but there are a lot of positive things that can be said about the Archos 5 with respect to Ebook reading.
Size/Weight/FormFactor.
In portrait mode we’ve found this to be one of the most comfortable device designs we’ve tried. It’s one-handed, lightweight, silent and doesn’t get warm. We’ve tested 7 inch form-factor pads but in portrait mode they required two hands. The 5 inch screen seems to be the best trade-off between large screen size and hand-held comfort.
Ereader Software.
There a now 3 significant ebook reading software packages for the Archos. Two are available in the AppsLib store. FBReaderJ is a Java version of the popular FBReader application. It supports many open formats. Aldiko takes it one step further by supporting an online store for copyright-free books. The most interesting solution we’ve found though has been the commercial Ereader.com package which allows you to purchase commericial books. This solution wasn’t available when we made the video below but in it, you’ll see FBReader and Aldiko deomnstrated.
[youtube]ykmGNnKq0_g[/youtube]
Online reading.
There are millions of websites and millions of RSS feeds. The online, Android-optimised Google Reader web application is a very comfortable way to read feeds. One disadvantage is that Google Gears doesn’t seem to work and there’s only a limited amount of offline reading possible. There are many offline RSS readers out there thoughand our test with ‘NewsRob’ , a free application from the AppsLib store worked well. It syncronised with Google Read to provide a nice offline experience.
Background audio, Wikipedia, Storage
You may like to have audio and internet available while you read, others don’t. If you need it, it’s there in high quality.
Negative point: Battery life.
Offline reading at medium to low brightness settings (OK for indoor use) is going to bring you about 8-10 hours reading time. Overnight standby won’t affect the battery life much either so for most people there’s more than enough battery life for a weekend’s reading but for those that are used to a week or more battery life, the Archos can not deliver. We feel that overnight charging is something you’re going to do anyway but the battery life point needs to be made. Speaking of which…
Great review as always, Chippy. I’ve had my Archos 5 IT for a little over 3 weeks, and I’m really liking it a lot for web browsing (very fast), ebook reading, and video/music playing. It will also do in a pinch for email and other uses. The re-flowing text on webpages makes it really easy to read and navigate.
I agree with almost all of what you have to say about the device and, like you, I hope Archos focuses future updates on stability. The Android market would be nice (I haven’t done the hack yet), but it’s a pretty capable device as is when everything works as it should.
Note: I’m still running on firmware 1.3.07, because I’d heard 1.4.?? wasn’t as stable and that there were more problems with YouTube. Have you found that to be the case?
Thanks for all your good work and for the detailed review.
I’m waiting for 8GB version, hopefully around 200 EUR.
It should be a great home information device for internet access, reading and some video.
Of course I can do all that more or less on my HTC Advantage already, but it’s slow (especially web browsing), video is not particularly good and built in HD makes it not as rugged.
If my Nokia n800 ever died I would totally get the archos 5. Right now I am in the market for a 7″ device and I can’t seem to make up my mind.
:(
I can agree with Chippy that the Archos 5 is becoming a more usable device as Firmwares are released. Nice to hear that Archos will be releasing a update to Android 1.6 and hopefully include the Android Market App. I have the hacked Android Market on mine now and also Google Maps. Maybe with Android 1.6 we can get Google Navigation hacked like on the Motorola Droid. I have installed the Dolphin Browser that James at Jkontherun mention and works very great with the Archos. It has a lot of more features. The Volume becomes a page up or down using the Dolphin Browser. See the video I did of it here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fJ6mCbT7ek
HG,
I also installed the Dolphin browser after seeing your video on jkontherun. I thought the stock browser was pretty decent, but Dolphin is better. The volume as page up/down is a great feature, the tabs are easier to work with, and the gestures can come in handy as well. I wish I could get some themes installed but the market is the only way to get those it seems.
gmich, have you installed the hack to have the Android Market on your Archos 5? Yes I agree the Dolphin Browser is great and the more you use it you can find better ways of using it and have a great browsing experience on the A5. From what I have read, Archos should be releasing Android 1.6 around the 17th of this month. This is going to be great, but we will have to wait and see if will allow the full Android Market or will have to hack again. :)
Innovativepeople Interworld Commnet gives mobile application development, iphone application development, android application development services in India Android applications
You say screenshots aren’t possible with Android. Not so: there are least two ways to do this. The first involves installing the SDK and then taking snapshots via the emulator, and the second involves rooting the device (in which case there are on-device apps to take screenshots).
The SDK method is not working due to 32bit screen buffer (so I read.)
Hacking and rooting the device is not something I’d recommend for getting screenshots!
Great review Chippy. I know my sons will be very excited on Xmas day, as both of them will be opening one of these. :)
so i got a question. i know the archos 5 has bluetooth. but can you take out a sim card out of a android based phone (like a mytouch 3g phone). and put it in the archos 5 for internet connection without using a wifi?
Really good review.
I’ve owned the Archos 5 IMT for 6 months now and have had very few problems with it; unexpected reboots while using the Opera browser being the most annoying. For all intent and purposes, it’s a computer and they all require a reboot at some point. :-) I haven’t experienced any of the other problems other users have in the past, so I thought I would look to upgrade to take advantage of the new Android OS.
I managed to persuade my other half to purchase the 32GB for Christmas. Collected it yesterday. Just one problem, I’m not allowed near it until the 25th…
Hi I read that by the end of the year there will be a full 2,0 android so you can get all apps that you can with droid. Anyone know for sure?
i heard that too, but no worries you can get android market, gmail, google maps and all that by reinjecting them, not even worthy of being called a hack, it is so simple and yeah, i think it’s because all files are .apk or something… that would be cool though :)
Firmware Version 1.7.33 is now available (January 20th, 2010).
http://update.archos.com/7/archos5/changes_firmware_archos5.html
I’m finding that the Archos 5 crashes a lot, at least 10-20 times a day. Most of these crashes are just a restart of the Android GUI, and not a machine reboot. At first I just the thing was buggy. But after installing SysTray Monitor, I could see that system responsiveness would slow to a crawl as free memory fell below 20MB, and then Android would crash around 16 MB free. My impression is that the A5A has insufficient RAM to operate effectively. Consequently it requires continual vigilance, and the use of a tool like TasKiller, to manually kill off apps before all the free RAM bleeds away and another crash ensues.
Note that I have to do none of this with my HTC Magic 32A, which has 288 MB RAM. The Archos A5A however, has only 128 MB RAM. WTF were they thinking? This unit is nearly useless as a general computing device because of the need to be continually monitoring your free RAM.
Correction, the non-Android version of the A5 has only 128MB RAM. The A5 with Android has 256MB, but apparently only about 103 MB of this is available to the user for running apps. Lots of chit-chat on the ArchosFans forum about the need to be actively managing the free RAM.
you say in your Conclusions that the use of a bluetooth keyboard was untested. Well, I’ve tested it, and it works great! So far I’ve tested with a foldable iGo Stowaway (Blue Fn keys work, Green ones don’t), and a full-size older-model white Apple bluetooth keyboard (almost all keys work, though Arrow keys are swapped around).
Haha, Thanks for your sharing,it’s very useful :)
Love to have that for my birthday – Thanks for sharing
Nice product. Cant wait to buy one for me on my birthday.
First!
Is this the latest gadget? hmmm.. really very nice! But its hard to have one!
A fantastic looking product but I too will be waiting for 8gb device.
WOW Looking good ! Will definitely make it’s way onto a few christmas card lists I am sure !
when i bought a car radio, i picked the car radio that is built by philips because they are well built ,`-
when i bought a car radio, i picked the car radio that is built by philips because they are well built ,`-