Re: This is serious competition.
 

It only come with Web browser/TV/Radio, other features like HiDef, video podcast, you have to buy extras,
http://www.archos.com/products/imt/a...g=en&p=plugins

Typical of Archos policy.

Missing BT! I guess one can add a USB BT.

Archos 5 review by CNET, http://reviews.cnet.com/portable-vid...-33226902.html

It looks good, smells good, spec is good, but the above review concluded, without any details though, "... it is NOT the dynamite internet tablet that ones hope for." kind of wondering why?

Much more detailed review here with many pics, http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archi...s-5-review.php It listed OS as Lunix, a different flavor of unix?


bun

Re: This is serious competition.
 

I guess one can't, unless Archos suddenly decides to be astonishingly open (permit 3rd-party kernel code) or sells a USB/BT option themselves, with support, for an outrageous price...

Re: This is serious competition.
 

Thanks, but that's existing devices.. not the one in the OP's posting.

Re: This is serious competition.
 

That's a special *US* webstore offer. To get an European perspective, switch the country, and, surprise surprise, you get a 399 EUR price for a 120GB (the funny part of the Dollar>Euro stance is that Archos is French).

Archos pricing scheme, not quite apparent to many buying into Archos:

DVR Station (video recording abilities + fast charge): 100 EUR
or Video interface (if you just need video out): 30-50 EUR

Headset with remote (yes, no mic or plain 3.5 headset for input): 30 EUR

H264 and AAC support: 15 EUR

MPEG2 and AC3 support: 15 EUR

Full HD support/plugin (which can only^H^H^H^Hno longer be preordered): 15 EUR

And, my personal favorite - game packs (with games like Reversi, Solitaire and Mahjong): 10 EUR.

So, when you sum it up, you get 450+ EUR for the 120GB model. Now, if RX-51 doesn't beat this into the ground both price and feature-wise (sans the HDD, of course), I'd be seriously disappointed :) And as for the new announced model, it's speicifications and pricing are not any more solid than the RX-51's so, lets just wait till both apper and then we will be able to actually compare the two (as far as you can compare a probably locked down device with a Maemo one :) ).

Re: This is serious competition.
 

And Archos themselves may have serious competition from Compal
http://www.pocketables.net/2009/02/c...o-support.html

Is it likely that Compal will be inclined to be more 'open'?

Re: This is serious competition.
 

given how "mid's" seems to treat linux as a kind of "featurephone" firmware, i fear the worst...

still, its using uclinux, something that looks like a proper community project rather then some oddball asian "distro".

Re: This is serious competition.
 

How's that different from nokia (or any other technology company for that matter)? IIRC the official price of the tablet was 399 dollars or 399 euros.
Ok, nokia's not french.... ;)

Re: This is serious competition.
 

"lose" implies that it's my only copy of said data ... that my mobile device is the master copy of _anything_.

and "robbed of" only becomes an extra wrinkle in terms of confidential data being in there... I don't keep confidential data in my home directory, for example (so it wouldn't be on my mobile device). And if I was worried about it, I'm sure I could encrypt it to a degree that made me comfortable.

But, I wouldn't shed tears about having my mp3 collection, useful (but stateless/dataless) scripts, rc files, etc. suddenly turn up lost. That's the kind of information I can recover ... in however long it takes to rsync it.

Re: This is serious competition.
 

I know it's not perfect, but the more competition, the better.