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tushyd
2010-11-16, 17:14
This is for those who are thinking about getting on of the new line of Archos, specifically the Archos 70. From what I've read, the 101 is pretty much a slightly larger version of the 70 so I think most of what I see in the probably applies to the 101 as well.


I don't have any pictures yet but I can post them if people ask.

Externally, the Archos is pretty mediocre. It doesn't stand out, and that's sort of what I like about it. When held in landscape, the body extends beyond the screen which makes holding the device nice and comfortable. At 300 grams, it's definitely holdable for long periods of time, but it's got a rather flimsy kickstand that does the trick. I also want to mention that the kickstand is only on the right-side of the device, so if you touch the left hand side of the screen you could easily knock the device over. The kickstand definitely feels like it could easily be snapped and probably won't hold up in the long run. I'd love to be wrong though.

The stereo speakers are located just left and right of the display, they aren't anything to write home about but they are clear and convey sound accurately. Just above the left speaker is a small front-facing webcam. On the left-edge of the device you'll see a micro-USB port, headphone, mini-HDMI and DC power ports. The right-edge has a volume rocker and power button. All fairly standard.

Internally The Archos 70 is a 7 inch tablet (hence the name) that's sporting a 1ghz Arm processor, a capacitive multi-touch 800x480 display and disappointingly only has 256mb RAM. It also has usb-host, bluetooth 2.1 and wifi b/g/n. The device does not have a cellular modem in it.

Archos' own site claims the 70 comes with Android 2.2, but check the fine print, it ships with 2.1 and will be updated to 2.2 in "November". Originally they said November 12 but then they extended it.

I've been using the device heavily for about a week now, so I feel like I can accurately describe the devices performance.

If you want a casual device, this is the tablet for you. If you want something hardcore with the ability to do lots of multitasking and future update-ability, look somewhere else. The 256mb ram is definitely going to hold this tablet back. In fact, when playing heavier games and program I have noticed that the Archos 70 takes a while to recover after you've exited the program. Sometimes a quick reboot is even necessary when the desktop gets real buggy.

And that's probably the underlying theme with this tablet. Buggy. I keep finding error messages popping up, telling me things aren't responding and that they're going to be killed. Usually the device recovers and hums along but often enough performance dramatically drops and a reboot makes all the difference.

Video playback is pretty good on the Archos 70. Although to play non-standard formats you have to purchase codecs from Archos, which is actually not working for me right now. I tried going in to purchase some codecs and when I enter my device ID, the site errors out on me. Terribly frustrating. What's lovely though is being able to play 720p video files. I can play entire movies without a stutter or a jump, and that is a great thing to see. Playing 720p over my home network works great too.

Like many other aspects of this device, the screen is about average. But you know what? It fit my expectations for Archos and for a device of this price ($270). The colors won't pop out at you like they do on higher-end devices, but the picture looks good enough and will suit you in most conditions. The backlight is also solid and bright, so no real complaints there.

The 1ghz ARM processor does it's job pretty well. It's not perfect, and there'll be plenty of times where the interface gets jittery, but most of the time things run smoothly. Switching from portrait to landscape mode is very slow though, sometimes it takes a few seconds for it to reorient itself.

What is above-average on the 70 is the capacitive touch. It's accurate, sensitive and fast. This makes things like browsing the web great. The pinch zooming is buttery smooth and reacts quickly to my fingers. But I will say that the Wifi sometimes takes a while to connect to access points. I've tried on a couple different routers, and sometimes it takes 30-40 seconds for the device to reconnect to a router, which can be annoying if you're looking to turn it on for a quick email/wikipedia check.

I have side-loaded the android market onto the device using the gapps4archos file you can search around the internet for. It took about 1 minute to do, and works just great. It's a little annoying that you have to side-load it, but once I did it I quickly forgot.

As a side-note: The Archos 70 is a great comic reading device. I'm reading V For Vendetta on it and it is a great way to sit back and read your favorite comics/graphic novels.

As for the USB and HDMI connections, I have not tested them yet. I am still waiting on my cables to come from Monoprice, but when they do I'll add a bit more information for you all.

Battery life on the device is good, with moderate use I can get a 2-3 days out of the device and with heavy use it dramatically drops. Watching video is obviously much more taxing on the battery than casual web surfing and email checking.

As I said before, I think if you're looking for a casual web-surfing and extras device, the Archos 70 is hard to beat. If you're looking for a more serious primary device, I would look elsewhere. The 256mb RAM works OK right now, but I have a very strong feeling it's going to dramatically shorten the overall appeal of this device when newer Android versions start requiring more and more memory. It's sort of sad, really, if Archos had put in 512mb RAM I would be singing much higher praises for the 70.

mobiledivide
2010-11-16, 17:26
Thanks for the review I have been looking to purchase a lowcost tablet strictly for movie watching and Archos seems to fit the bill. I hear netflix is on its way to Android as well.

Mods please move thread to competitors.

tushyd
2010-11-16, 19:12
Netflix is.. but I heard it was only on certain devices because Android has no unified DRM system?

ch88xy
2010-11-16, 19:58
As I mentioned multiple times: if you plan to watch movies, then you should choose a 10" tablet (that comes with a stand)--especially now when the additional weight amounts to almost nothing. Just ask yourself if it would be fun holding a 7" tablet in your hands for 90 minutes? Most probably you would want to put it on some flat surface 2 feet away at some point. If so, you will realize that 7" at that distance is too small.

mbo
2010-11-16, 20:20
Thanks for the review, I have pretty much the same impression about my Archos 70. The time the device spends to connect to Wifi is sometimes a downer. But the value you get for your money is overall really good.

tushyd
2010-11-16, 20:47
@ ch88xy

I think it's personal preference, really. I specifically went with the 7" because I felt the 101 was slightly too big for my tastes.

bakuur
2010-11-16, 21:01
does the 101 tablet have the same ram capacity as the 70?
i want a 10" tablet and would love to have the wetab as it contains meego as its OS
but i lost hope of it,its been ages now and i think it will be outdated by the time it will be released on a large scale
so im considiring the 101 and was hoping to squeeze every bit op performance out of it ;)

cheers,
bakuur

ch88xy
2010-11-16, 21:02
That may be true, but there are other disadvantages. E.g. I distinctly remember that some of the videos I played on my 7" Win 7 tablet required a screen larger than 7" and there was no way to display the whole scene.

tushyd
2010-11-16, 21:08
@ bakuur

The 101 has the same 256mb ram that the 70 has.

@ ch88xy

That's odd, I would have thought the media player on your Win7 tablet would scale the video to the size of the screen. I play 720p (1280x720) video on my Archos 70 (800x480) and they scale down just fine...

ch88xy
2010-11-16, 21:42
tushyd: That did happen. Don't know what to tell you.

Anyway, I think if one plans to use his tablet mainly for reading/web surfing, with occasional movie watching, then I guess 7" would be OK. In fact I use my 7" tablet or N810 to read in bed. But for watching movies (in bed too. I guess I am lazy:)), I actually prefer my 10" wide-screen netbook (although I have a 12" tablet too). I usually put it 2 feet away from me, and the display is just right! Not to mention that it sits perfectly and the angle can be easily adjusted. Anyone serious about watching movies should try putting a 7" display or something in that distance and see for himself if it's too small or not.

DistantFire
2010-11-17, 16:59
tushyd - I'm very interested in your upcoming review of the HDMI output. Specifically - the claim by Archos that it displays "every Android screen." I want to know for sure whether this tablet displays more than movies and slide shows via HDMI.

Thanks,

tushyd
2010-11-17, 21:53
tushyd - I'm very interested in your upcoming review of the HDMI output. Specifically - the claim by Archos that it displays "every Android screen." I want to know for sure whether this tablet displays more than movies and slide shows via HDMI.

I'm still waiting on my stupid cables... but in the meantime I can direct you to Charbax's "review" videos on youtube. (Charbax's reviews while useful in some ways mostly just praise whatever device Archos has put out)

I think it's his first video on the Archos 70 that shows it plugged into the TV. Skip to about 8:40 to see it plugged into his TV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK3ovYyh-34&feature=related



From the looks of it, I think you plug the 70 into the TV using HDMI, use the widget to switch modes and then your desktop is viewable on the screen. I think this mode turns the touchscreen into a trackpad so you can mouse-around on the external display.

Capt'n Corrupt
2010-11-18, 19:23
Here's a Archos 70 review on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHRS46vQoVc

racky
2010-11-28, 07:36
Have you ever tried to tether your phone with your Archos 70 and how good is it if you have? That will be the main reason I will buy this tablet, is to carry it outside my house and use my phone as a 3G modem to browse the internet. Thanks.

Kangal
2010-11-28, 10:22
I've got a SGS I9000.
If this thing has USB input (not sure if HOST/OTG is necessary) the SGS can automatically function as a modem.
It can do also (tether) via Wifi, but USB allows for a better connection and less battery strain on the SGS.
With 2GB monthly on my plan, it would be an ideal solution for people with large data plans.

racky
2010-11-30, 23:21
The android 2.2 update is out today. I really hope you can give us some update of the improvement. Any flash, any bluetooth tethering, etc. Thanks.

DistantFire
2010-12-04, 01:08
Well youtube has plenty of demo clips of the Archos 70, and some even show the HDMI output in use. It sure seems to do what I want from my next tablet. Now I'd like to hear (first hand opinion from an owner) or see (youtube) how it works with an attached keyboard (usb or bluetooth) while displaying on an HD TV.

Ever monotonous, I'm still trying to see if this could act as a make-do PC by plugging (or tethering) a keyboard and big screen display.

It is starting to look as if this might be the one, though.

tushyd
2010-12-22, 20:37
Well, obviously this is pretty late, but I figured I could resurrect this a bit.

As far as 2.2's update... there are things to like and things not to like. Actually mostly not to like. The Archos 70 definitely hangs more often with 2.2 installed, I have to force reboot it far more often than I had to earlier. I have a male microusb to female USB adapter, but I can't seem to get anything to work on it. I've tried keyboards, flash drives, mice... it's quite a bummer. The adapter works because if I use a male-male usb cable and plug it into my computer, the tablet sees the connection and asks me if I want to mount the SD card.

Obviously I had to re-install gapps4archos2.2 to get the market and other google apps on there. Sort of a pain but whatever.

The lack of RAM is really starting to stand out now. I usually have to go in and manually kill apps so the tablet doesn't come to a screeching halt.

I still stand by my original statement that if you want a casual device, then this is a decent choice, but if you're serious at all about it then I would look elsewhere.

racky
2010-12-31, 23:42
I have been using my Archos 70 for about 3 weeks now and I love it. It is more like a big android phone with no phone function, so no expensive phone contract. But it can tether with your 3G cell phone or use WIFI signal and use sip phone on it. A lot of apps and a lot of them are very useful. The screen is awesome, big and clear, good battery live. I also bought a bluetooth GPS receiver to connect to it (too bad there is no GPS function on the tablet) and use google map on the road. So smooth after the latest SW upgrade. Now, when I look back to the screens of my N800 and 770, they are so small. :)

tushyd
2011-01-05, 06:26
@racky

Seriously? I've been more and more disappointed with this tablet.

NOTE TO EVERYONE: DO NOT BUY THE ARCHOS 70

256mb RAM = massive slowdowns
Also they've underclocked the CPU to 800mhz!!!! They advertise 1ghz. Archos sucks.

silvermountain
2011-01-05, 06:33
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.

lardman
2011-01-05, 08:12
@racky

Seriously? I've been more and more disappointed with this tablet.

NOTE TO EVERYONE: DO NOT BUY THE ARCHOS 70

256mb RAM = massive slowdowns
Also they've underclocked the CPU to 800mhz!!!! They advertise 1ghz. Archos sucks.

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.)

racky
2011-01-05, 12:56
@racky

Seriously? I've been more and more disappointed with this tablet.

NOTE TO EVERYONE: DO NOT BUY THE ARCHOS 70

256mb RAM = massive slowdowns
Also they've underclocked the CPU to 800mhz!!!! They advertise 1ghz. Archos sucks.

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.

racky
2011-01-05, 13:18
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/dual-boot-on-archos-gen8-tablets-is-officially-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"

bunanson
2011-01-05, 15:33
[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

tushyd
2011-01-05, 22:53
"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!

racky
2011-01-26, 16:38
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_2.1.02/firmware_archos_android_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

lancewex
2011-03-04, 00:01
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.