To each his own. I bought one and find it to be a fine tablet.

Then again - I USE my stuff and don't sit around staring at specs as if they were pictures in playboy.

Underclocked? Is this something new with Android 2.2 or was it always underclocked?

Have you tried installing Meego or the Angstrom distro on the device? I'm wondering if the slowness you're experiencing is Android related or truly hw related (we get by reasonably well with only 256Mb of RAM in the N900, though of course more would always be welcome)

I'd really quite like to buy something like one of these tablets, but I want something with GPS (and I don't really want to have to go back to the old N800 days of carting around a Bt GPS) and e-compass. Unfortunately neither is present, which afaiu was a decision by Archos to try to keep the device cost down (and I guess people don't really need either for an entertainment device.)

Well, then you are not following the news close enough. A new firmware 2.0.7.1 have been released on dec 16 which fixes a lot of problems of the old firmware and you can get the 1ghz back too.
It is a great device and I am even thinking about buying the 4.3 inches one too. I got a free Ipod Touch 4g for Christmas, and 2 weeks now I still haven't have the desire to open it. I just have so much fun with my A70.
Go to the following forum, a lot of details about how you can make your A70 works smoothly.

http://forum.archosfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=43637

Archos is a good company and they do listen to their customers and support their products. I am glad I bought it.

Dual boot is already possible and Archos is working on it. But since it will void the warranty, I haven't tried it myself. And also someone has been able to root and overclock the device, and can use swap memory to overcome the 256mb ram limitation. But I haven't tried it either.

http://archosfans.com/2010/12/13/dua...ally-released/

quote

"Just like for Gen6 and Gen7, Archos is releasing a “Special Edition Firmware” for all the Gen8 tablets, what this potentially allows is to dual-boot the Archos tablets with all types of embedded Linux OS such as alternative Android firmwares, Ubuntu, Angstrom or even Meego.

Basically this SDE firmware voids warranty (because potential hardware damage through over-clocking is no longer under Archos control), and it replaces the need for someone to hack root access to the official firmware. Basically it ads support for dual-booting alternative OS, and you can still continue to have the default normal Android OS image and update that just as normal as well. Discuss Open Development in the Open Development forum section: http://forum.archosfans.com/viewforum.php?f=34"

[QUOTE=tushyd;911955...Seriously? I've been more and more disappointed with this tablet.
...[/QUOTE]

I felt the same with my A81E android tablet. I used my nitdroid (Android on N900) much more often and its port to N900 is a lot better behave than the 'native' android tablet. I think it is NOT Archos' problem, the problem is with Android 2.2, it is NOT for prime time yet. May be Honeycomb will get better. Just my .02 cents

bun

"Then again - I USE my stuff and don't sit around staring at specs as if they were pictures in playboy."

That was a rather tart answer. I make the complaint because I have personally noticed massive slowdowns on my machine... while USING it. Playboy comment was completely unfounded and unnecessary.

Anyways, I would absolutely love to get Maemo running on the A70. I shall definitely look it up, thanks racky!

Ok, for those who doesn't follow the news, a new firmware has been released today 1/26/2011.

http://update.archos.com/8/gen8/gen8...droid_gen8.aos

Archos 28/32/43/70/101 Internet Tablets
Firmware changes
Version 2.1.2 - January 26th, 2010

Video: fix some audio glitches after seeking WMA files
Video: add support for MTS files
Video: bring UTF-8 and UTF-16 encoded subtitles format support
Video: fix SUB subtitles sometimes truncated
Video: add IDX/SUB subtitle handling
Video: fix http://.*mpeg playback
Video: support resume and bookmark for network shares
Video: fix some FLV files not playing
Youtube: fix mobile site video not playing
Multimedia: fix RTSP support for Android applications
Multimedia: fix some web radio applications by adding basic M3U support
Audio: apply shorter steps in audio balance tuning
Audio: fix sound glitch on system notification while playing music
Music browser: fix album view crash on scroll with a lot of albums
Music: support samba protected directory access
Thumbnails: resolve thumbs generation freeze
Indexing: improve rescan robustness
Indexing: fix scanning not restarting after connecting device on PC or ejecting SDCard
Network shares: large files (>2GB) can now be played
Wi-Fi: fix disabling power saving not working
Wi-Fi: enable IEEE802.11n support
Wi-Fi: achieve faster reconnection
SDCard: fix sdcard removal not being taken into account
Storage: enable EXT3 filesystem support and migration
USB keyboard: fix external directional keys layout when rotating the device
Memory: enable 32MB swap by default and increase it to 64MB after Android reset or full device reformat
Applications: fix applications disappearing sometimes between reboots
Applications: fix unit not responsive after Google voicesearch use
Power management: allow to define deep sleep mode by default in settings/about device/power management
VPN: PPTP VPN support has been fixed

I have had an Archos 70 with 250gb harddrive for about a week now. I have mixed feelings. I love the size and form factor. And that 250gb drive has no peer at all. That's why I got it. I took a while to decide between this and a Cowon X7. The Cowon seems to be even more buggy than the Archos G8s, so I passed (though I have 2 Cowon players I really like).

The Archos is definitely buggy. I suggest a full reset from the box so you don't have to later. Seriously. And the application program that Archos provides is awful software. VERY slow, and requires FORCE QUIT / WAIT choices a lot (though WAIT is the one you should choose). First thing one should do is install the Google Market and ignore Appslib altogether (for the sake of sanity). It is that bad. Still, many programs will not show up in the Market that others can get.

I am able to bluetooth tether with my N900, and it's really not slow like I expected BT tethering to be. It's quite nice.

Over all I am pleased with the device. I had an HTC G1 before the N900, so had some familiarity with Android. But using it again--even with all the good things about it--makes me appreciate my N900 even more. I would love to have Maemo5 on my Archos.