Archos Generation 8 "Tablets" available for pre-order

[fukuisan87]

The Archos 32 is shipping now, 28, 43, 70 and 101 are available for pre-order with an expected availability date of 10/31.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?page=1&Nav=|c:5996|&Sort=0&Recs=1 0

Who's ordering one

[CrowdAds]

[blcistheking]

the 32 has been on newegg site, shipping for 2-3 weeks already. Got mine a week ago, love it. Today we even have a new market place apk

[G-Man76]

There is a market hack for the 32 already? Wow we can hope that one appears for the other devices soon or will this perhaps work on all of them?

[fukuisan87]

Looks like the marketplace can be sideloaded on all generation 8 tablets.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/12/n...rks-as-promis/

[G-Man76]

We will have to wait to see with the other ones I think but it is very promising!

[deadohiosky]

http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/18/a...d-ship-out-so/Android-based Archos 43 PMP up for pre-order, should ship out soon

By Darren Murph posted Oct 18th 2010 3:37PM



Archos swore up and down that this one was set to ship in "mid-October," which means that the pre-order link at Amazon should switch over in a matter of nanoseconds, minutes or hours. For those in need of a refresher, the Archos 43 is an Android-based portable media player with a 4.3-inch touchpanel, support for a zillion (give or take) file formats, an HDMI output and integrated WiFi. The 16GB model is available to claim for $249.99, so if you've been waiting for your chance to hop in the purchase line, this is it. Don't blow it.

[Olley]

Anyone know for sure if it has a resistive or capacitive screen?

[deadohiosky]

the 32 and 43 versions have resistive touch only. 70 and 101 have capacitative.


it's seems to be not half as bad as most resistive touch, though. take a look at some vids, it's not capacitative but it sure is usable.

[G-Man76]

Most reviewers are saying that it seems like capacitive. That said it is not multi-touch. I am waiting for the A70.

[Olley]

The 43 would be the most portable a with android 2.2 on it pretty well featured. My android 5" version is just a little too big to carry around, yet I've seen several people with phones that have 4.3" screens these days.

[G-Man76]

If it had a front facing camera I may have considered it. I want something I can video skype on, be able to read webpages on easily and something I can read ebooks on so a 4.3 inch screen is just too small. If they had even done a 5 inch version I may have considered.

The A70 cleared FCC recently so they should be available very soon!!

[G-Man76]

So when are the new gen Archos devices gonna have their own sub-forum?

Anyways the first views of the Archos 70 from Charbax (who else)

http://www.youtube.com/user/Charbax#p/u/4/FK3ovYyh-34

[blcistheking]

Originally Posted by G-Man76

So when are the new gen Archos devices gonna have their own sub-forum?

Anyways the first views of the Archos 70 from Charbax (who else)

http://www.youtube.com/user/Charbax#p/u/4/FK3ovYyh-34

this. we seem to get no love here

[G-Man76]

Despite the overenthusiastic review, I think the Archos 70 looks like a pretty amazing devicce for 275 cdn or us. I am just waiting for the day they role off the assembly line. Seems to be taking longer than Archos promised as it was supposed to be ready mid October...

I wonder when they push through the update to 2.2 whether that will impact the market hack?

[paulr]

Main hardware missing from all these things is GPS. I'd love to use the 10" tablet for automotive navigation. I have a 4" Garmin but the screen is just too darn small.

An internal digital compass like the Iphone's would also be a plus.

And why don't they put GSM phones into these things?

Kind of silly that the bigger units only have microsdhc slots instead of full sized sdhc, maybe even with multiple slots, but most users probably won't care.

Non-removable battery = bleccch.

The hard disk option in the 7" unit is interesting.

[G-Man76]

You could get a bluetooth gps receiver.

[paulr]

I'm realizing that the nonremovable batteries of these tablets would bug the crap out of me too. I'd probably strap on a large external battery but at that point I might as well use a netbook instead of the tablet. Bluetooth GPS = even more external crap, bleh.

[G-Man76]

It will last upwards of 6 - 8 hours I thought. Are you going to be away from a charger for that long? I agree that removeable batt.s would be nice but I am not sure that Archos has done that in the past.

[paulr]

I really want to like these things but the concepts mostly don't hold up under close examination.

Re 6-8 hours: 1) yes I'm often away from outlets for that long, such as when travelling; 2) 6-8 hours is when the battery is new; they often lose 50% of their capacity within a year or two, so you're down to 3-4 hours. 3) Even if I can get to an outlet every night, I don't want my bedtime to become a ritual of plugging in ten different gadgets for recharging. Look at the admiration aimed at players like the iAudio 7, which had 50+ hours of runtime, or the X7 with 100+ hours (audio). The idea is to go for weeks between recharges. 4) Most importantly, the non-removable battery contributes to the device's obsolescence as it gets old and the battery craps out. I'm convinced that's part of the plan, the vendors want you to buy a new gadget instead of replacing the battery.

Android mostly interests me as a programmer since I see these devices as potential hosts for running my own code. The 28 is attractive because of its tiny size and low price, as a PDA or Sheeva-plug-like tiny computer to use as an always-on server. It seems lame as a media player because of its non-expandability. The 31 doesn't seem to have much point. It has the 28's limitations, but is bigger and costs more. I guess its camera could be useful for a video phone application, except it's a rear-facing camera, oops. The 47 seems like a me-too Android phone except it can't make phone calls, oops. The 70 with the hard drive is maybe useful if you want to travel with a movie collection and don't want to mess with a portable DVD player, though a bigger hard drive would be helpful. The 101 is cool as an ipad competitor though it's too long and skinny and not expandable enough. I'd actually prefer a bigger one but that's just me.

I don't understand why the bigger ones are so much more expensive than the smaller ones. It's mostly the same hardware with a bigger screen, and looking at cheap digital picture frames, largish screens aren't that expensive.

[G-Man76]

Seems like the batt life is apparently longer than that for some uses. Anyways I thinking of pre-ordering the 70 and just seeing what it is like. It is really not that much money for something that could turn out to be pretty cool. I have spent more on some big grocery shops...