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 inch 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 ultra mobile PC 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.

Laptopmag have beaten me to a full review of the Archos 5 Internet Tablet. That will teach me for playing around with it too much!

“ we wouldn’t recommend this gadget as a GPS navigator or gaming device. If you’re willing to live with these drawbacks, the Archos 5’s excellent display, media playback, and surfing speed will satisfy.”

They also praise the Wifi strength, screen and the two-finger gestures….er….hold on a minute.

You can pinch and zoom Web sites (with autoscaling off) but not maps in the GPS program. Rotating images with two fingers in the photo viewer took some practice, as the screen didn’t interpret the gestures correctly most of the time.

Just a small correction there then – it’s a single touch resistive touchscreen. No pinching and zooming!

Oh, another correction. There’s no Flash Lite.

Oh, and they didn’t bother to mention the awesome YouTube HD playback capabilities or the fact that this is a bloody fast browser or that it supports uPnP and windows shared drives.  They do mention the poor navigation app though. Although I’ve only had a quick chance to check it out, reports from other user seem to indicate that the quality isn’t quite up to scratch.

Maybe there’s time for my full review after-all!

Archos 5 Internet Tablet – Reviews of the Archos 5 Internet Tablet.

As I lounged around yesterday #sofasurfing on the Archos 5 Android Internet Tablet (Archos 5IT) I was really enjoying the Twitter, Web and YouTube experience that makes up a large percentage of my sofasurfing time. I have no problems saying that in this scenario, it’s the best device I have and that includes the Nokia N900, Omnia Pro, Viliv S5, X70, my netbooks and a bunch of other devices that I don’t use any more. Having an HQ YouTube experience and a fast browser helps a lot.

To confirm my suspicion that the browser is faster than any I’ve experienced at this weight and size I picked up the Intel Atom-based Viliv S5, locked it into 800Mhz mode (Power-saving mode) turned Flash OFF in the Firefox 3.5 browser and spent about an hour racing the Archos 5IT against the Viliv S5. You know what, there’s just no difference at all. I doubt any consumer would see a difference with 99 out of 100 sites they browsed in a regular sofasurfing session. Some sites load faster on the Viliv. Some load faster on the Android device. In fact on the Archos 5IT, most sites seems to be ready-to-read (but not necessarily fully-loaded) before Firefox on the Viliv.

More information on the Archos 5 Internet Tablet here.

We could argue about Flash (which actually slows the Viliv S5 down quite a lot) and we could argue about some errors I see on Web applications with the Archos 5IT but at home, on the sofa, bed, toilet, kitchen there’s nothing to argue about. ARM have reached the consumer-important sub-10-second average web-page loading time. This isn’t the reliable FIE that ultra mobile PC and Netbook users are used to but in my opinion, it’s now good enough for even pro-sumers.

I know that many of you use the iPhone and iPod touch in these scenarios and yes, that experience is fast and totally enjoyable too but the difference between the 3.5 inch screen and the 4.8 inch screen (about double the space and pixels) makes it far more enjoyable. If an iPod Plus was released with a 4.8 inch screen tomorrow, that would be the only reason needed to go out and buy it.

I’ve got another reference point for you. Pocketables have just tested four devices that run on the ARM Cortex core, the latest and greatest ARM offering. It turns out the the Archos Android Tablet is as fast as the current ARM-based benchmark, the iPhone 3GS. Compared to tests we did last year, the current generation of ARM-based devices are cutting page load times by at least half.

And here’s another reference point. In theory, the ARM Cortex A8 core can reach 2.0 Dhrystone MIPS / Mhz. (ref) The Intel Atom core can hit about 2.4 Dhrystone MIPS / Mhz. (ref) (ref) With only 20% difference between the two in this relevant benchmark, it’s the software stack that becomes important.

I’m sure Intel will agree that 2009 is not their year for MIDs. It was never really planned to be. With Moorestown, the platform that introduces the all-important ‘power-gating’ feature, coming in the first half of 2010, it won’t be until 2011 that we see ARM and Intel competing with the same power characteristics. At that point, Intel will have lost their Flash and run-time compatibility advantage and they will have to fight just as everyone else will; with marketing, design and developers. For me, that means getting an Apple design win because without that, the momentum in the ARM ecosystem will take them into 2011, 2012 and beyond. The Archos Android Tablet is proving that the momentum is strong and fast, at least in the dedicated Internet/Media device segment.

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

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!