A new gallery is up. 39 pictures that should give you a good feel for the device.

Full Archos 9 Gallery

Recorded Live Review available here.

Thanks very much to Mobilx.eu who have sent one of their first Archos 9 devices to us for a week of testing and hands-on. You’ll remember hearing about this earlier in the year and getting a launch at IDF in September but it’s taken a long time to reach the hands of end-users. There are a few early devices out there already but not many hands-on and unboxing videos. Here’s my contribution.

Live Review was recorded and is available here.

I’ve been testing a lot since doing the video and haven’t seen anything that has changed much from my last testing session with it. Battery life is a very sold 3hrs (wifi on, screen 50%), the Windows 7 build is ‘Starter Edition’ it comes with a 60GB hard drive, 1GB RAM and the 1.1Ghz Intel Atom processor.

I will be preparing the device for a full hands-on demo and Q&A for tomorrow’s live session. Hope to see you there.

In a few hours, I’ll be down in the studio playing around with the Archos 9 that is on it’s way from the DHL depot. I won’t be too interactive as I want to record an unboxing video

Unboxing video now available

Update: Live session finished.

Live Review Session available here.

…and some testing in preparation for the real live session with JKK (one of our Friday night, bring-your-own-bottle sessions) on Friday evening starting at 2130 CET. (Check your time here)

Live sessions take place in the LIVE page which is always available (and open for chat via IRC)

In the live session we’ll be talking about the Archos 9, the Archos 5, the Motorola Droid/Milestone and the Eking S515 (also known as the PsiXPDA)

We look forward to seeing you.

Thanks for Mobilx.eu for sending the Archos 9 over for testing.

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.

About a year ago,  we went to Amsterdam to get some hands on with an interesting device. It was the Archos 5 and it was interesting because it was one of the first devices to use an advanced platform from Texas Instruments that promised much faster processing power for both computing and media tasks, in the same sized package as with previous platforms. It was impressive and brought Internet to the fore in a way that the previous model, the Archos 605 Wifi, couldn’t deliver. The Archos 5 went on to be one of the more popular media players and one of the first media players to successfully integrate the Web as a core part of the product.

In the year that followed, Archos did some homework, announced a move towards Internet media and decided to change the operating system from the closed, proprietary Archos OS to the Android operating system, perhaps to open it up to be a dynamic, web-focused platform that could ride on the wave of the Android story.  The Archos 5 Internet Tablet on the Android OS was first available at the beginning of October 2009 and we bought an SSD version as soon as it became available. Here’s a full, in-depth review of the current build of the Archos 5 32GB SSD Internet Tablet.

Last week I had the chance to check out the Milestone, the GSM version of the Motorola Droid. With its powerful processor and what I call a ‘dynamic’ operating system (which basically means you can load up apps and mess around with fun widgets) it is definitely a leading light in the web-centric smartphone for me. I own an Omnia Pro and I’ve got the N900 here as a test device so although I only had a short time with the Milestone I managed to take a quick set of photos which I’ve put into the gallery.

Full Motorola Milestone Gallery here.

The Milestone is noticeably thinner in the pocket but you don’t quite get the keyboard experience that you do on the Omnia Pro and N900. While the N900 keyboard is small, it’s very well designed and offers good key separation feeling and feedback.

The advantages of the capacitive screen can’t be ignored though. I loved the light-touch and haptic feedback and the rugged glass front is going to be a huge advantage over time. I’m really not interested in having my smartphone screen look like something on a Nintendo DS!

I also took the Archos 5 Internet tablet and compared a couple of websites. Its easy to see how you lose effective space on a small screen. Fonts have to be big enough to read so looks what happens when you do that…

Motorola Milestone and Archos 5 Internet tablet. Both running Android. Both 800×480.

Smartphones are getting really good at providing a solid web experience but with physical issues like this, it leaves the door open for dedicated devices that can provide a much more comfortable experience.

Next week i should be getting an HTC HD2 to test for a week. I’ve had a quick session with one and the screen is incredible but it’s extremely expensive and leans towards the business user. I can’t see too many ‘normal’ people buying one to be honest but we’ll see. I’ll be doing some videos and am planning a live vodcast with JKKMobile. We’ll let you know as soon as we have a date and time for it.

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 inch. 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)