Review: Archos 5 - Internet Media Tablet (”slim” edition)

Product rating:  7/10
Usability:  5/10
Product Stability:  6.5/10 (had some issues with reboots and turning on the product)
Peripherials:  2/10 (there’s not much out for the Archos vs. the IPod)
Screen:  7.5/10
Touch sensitivity:  6/10 (not good on pictures or zooming) 

UPDATE:  June 05

After owning this product for 6 months and using it at the gym almost every day, the headphone jack started to get lose and therefore I cannot use it anymore.  Archos support has been fantastic so far and answering my question within 1 day of my ticket.  I was able to ‘fix’ this problem for the time being but anticipate that those who also purchased the product may also have the same issue.  Archos requires you to e-mail them the proof of purchase for future fixes.  As such, it’s a good idea to do this ahead of time incase of any issues that arises with your product.

Also to note, this product doesn’t come with a case.  I purchased the Tuff-luv case from Amazon and has worked out well so far.  The firmware upgrade software is a little crappy as well.  So, do take note of that you require to be in front of a machine to have access to your USB to upgrade it.  

I’ve owned the Archos 605 (the earlier edition) for about a year now and I admit, it’s a great toy to have around for a multitude of reasons.  However, the Achos 605 really had it’s downfalls.  The first and foremost is that it was uuuuuugly.  It’s one of the most hideous form factors I’d ever seen, but the screen was amazing and the resolution is what made me purchase it in the first place.  So, with the new generation of the Archos 5, MANY improvements has come along the way.  The Achos ranges from 60GB to 320GB using a linux backend.  

Firstly, the screen is now brighter and supports a 720p resolution.  This is nice for indoor and outdoor viewing of movies.  The Internet browser is no longer a plugin (and doesn’t need to be purchased).  It now comes with the system and a fully functional internet TV area as well.  It is also preinstalled with a full fledged Opera browser that allows to play Flash, display javascript and pretty can do almost all the things your browser can do while in front of your laptop.  

The new generation of Archos is marketed as the “internet media tablet” which is likely why it offered all the items above.  One of the drawbacks of the older generation system is that the plugins were impossible to purchase online and having wifi on the system was nearly useless!  

The new Archos tablet also offers a number of new technologies:

- Streaming internet radio/tv
- 3G capabilities
- GPS support

Here are the good points about the product:

1.  Resolution

The screen is fantastic!  The quality of the movies, pictures and overall look and feel is just excellent!

2.  No need to use software to upload/download your movies

This was seriously the selling feature for me.  I really disliked going through iTunes or Windows Media Player to upload my songs and videos.  The Archos has always done well in this regard being able to upload into a folder and playing from that folder without additional encoding.  DivX/Xdiv/MPEG and other formats were already supported.  It played pretty much everything that I threw at it!  

3.  Features and functionality

There are a great deal of features and the navigation is relatively easy to go through without needing too much tingering around.  The Achos was always geared towards the DVR market and a movie player.  With the new release of the Achos 5, it’s now very internet driven with all the bells and whistles that you don’t get with the competition.  

4.  Kickstand

This has always been a nice feature in the Archos though in this edition, it was tough to get the stand out!

5.  Video playback

Now with the new UI tweeks, it makes video playback a lot easier to manage.  You can resume watching a video if you decide to pause from the video area (or shortcut if you so desire).

6.  DVR mode

The ability to record your videos onto the Archos was originally it’s selling feature.  It still needs a DVR stand in order to it to record, but overall, it has all the software and support to be able to record TV shows onto your Archos device.

Though with all the wonderful features, there are also some major issues with it as well.

1.  Touchscreen sensitivity problems

This is not the most sensitive touchscreen I’ve ever played with.  As well, with the software installed with it, it is slow and the response can take seconds.  Doing simple tasks such as scrolling up and down becomes incredibly difficult as you’d need to use your nail in order to find the right spot for getting to pages.  

2.  Double touch zoom

This was not intuitive at all.  Here’s where Apple (ipod touch) excels with thie software and technology.  Hopefully, Achos will be smart enough to come up with a mutitouch for their software next time around.

3.   Typing

The soft keyboard is impossible to type on and the ALT key to get to special characters within the system do not reflect a normal QWERTY keyboard.  This makes trying to find numbers and special characters *very* difficult.  Compared to the blackberry where although it has a hardware keyboard (minimalized) it was easy to find all the characters necessary to type properly (and quickly).  

4.  Registration of the product

Upon start-up of the device, it asks you few pieces of information.  Firstly, where you purchased the product and where you live.  This portion of the software is not context sensitive and I had to scroll through all the countries from U through to C in order to get to “Canada”.  Almost all of their forms are built this way and there are no short-cuts to search for specific letters and pulldowns.  This is a small nuiance, but an annoyance nonetheless.

5.  Firmware Beta

It seems like Archos was on a very tight timeline and never got push out it’s final release before it released it’s product.  The warning given in the product box clearly states that the installed firmware and OS software is based on a beta.  The software that came with the system is slow.  Even viewing pictures and sliding your finger across the screen to flip through a slideshow is slow.  

6.  Viewing pictures

Like the above, it’s incredibly slow to flip through pictures but it does work.  The zoom functionality is terrible!  You need to click on 3 places in order to zoom into a picture.  

7.  No cases or physical add-ons yet

One thing that I’m a little disappointed about is that the old Archos came with a case and the protective plastic covering was very good for it.  When I took the Archos 5 out of the box, the protective plastic was bubbled (which needed to be peeled off) and they only gave a cleaning cloth.  There are no protective gear for the Archos yet (at least not for the 6th generation).

8.  Fingerprints!

The form factor is definitely sexy!  However, because of the shiny material they use, it gets dirty very quickly and you can see all the imperfections by first glance.  I spent the first 5 minutes cleaning the underside due to all the oils from people touching the device.

Overall, how’d it fair against the ipod?  Pretty good.  Though the ipod is based on solid state technology, it’s faster and has more intuitive features (ie - sensor to view pictures vertically or horizontally) and zooming is a mere sliding two fingers towards the middle of the screen or outside of the screen.  However, when it comes to movie playing, screen quality and features, the Archos is definitely the way to go.

Archos software has a way to go in improving the performance, speed and usability.  Archos, I’m rooting for you!   Don’t fail me now.  :-)