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, […]

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 […]

10 inch 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 inch screen I have a problem. Having said that, there’s a special feeling one gets when touching and moving huge web pages smoothly across […]

Update: More analysis, info and a hands-on video. I’ve just come from the Samsung booth where I was taking a look at the N350. Sascha from Netbooknews.com put me onto it when he mentioned 1KG in the podcast we recorded earlier. (Coming later)  I have enough batt/time to give you a few key features and a few pics. A video will be coming later.[Netbooknews have one you can watch here] N550 Dual Core Atom CPU 3G (in some models) 13 hours battery (6-Cells) 6 hours (3-cells) in just 1KG 1024×768 […]

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. […]

Update: Hands-on video is available here. One does wonder why you’d run Android on an X86 platform that can’t even get near an ‘always-on’ capability that, if missing from Android, turns it into a very strange experience, especially if you don’t have any Google apps available. Viewsonic have chosen to include the Android build on the Viewpad 100 to give users a simple user interface option and in that respect it works but if you want to get back to the serious side of the device, it’s a 2 minute […]

Intel Aom Dev Day Berlin (8), originally uploaded by umpcportal.com. This slide has been shown at the Intel Developer Day here in Berlin and I thought it would be worth sharing with you guys as It shows interesting specifications. Note the CPU (Lincroft, not Lincrof as on slide) speed from 900Mhz – 1.8Ghz, memory support and connectivity co-processor. (Langwell). We’re trying our best to stream live at IDD over at MeetMobility.com (but struggling with bandwidth!)