Archos 5 Arrives, Time to End Our Love Affair with the iPod?
Archos has released Archos 5 , a well stacked media player and internet tablet that has all the looks of a worthy opponent to the iPod touch . I know most of you are probably yawning by now. Yet another inane imitation that is sure to bite the dust, you say… Let’s play fair and see what’s on the table shall we?
Archos 5 comes with a powerful wi-fi for super fast web browsing allowing for full width, PC like viewing without shrinking or need for zooming . It runs on the open source android platform which is awesome for apps developers .Moreover, the Flash 9 supporting device not only enables you to watch videos on sites like YouTube but also is the only Android device that supports video formats in High Definition. So expect things to get really creative and very apps rich a la ipod pretty soon.
The Archos 5 will come already preloaded with several Android apps, like the eBuddy instant-messaging app, Twidroid for sending and receiving tweets, Craigsphone for posting or accessing classified ads, Thinksfree for viewing Microsoft Office files, Quickpedia, and many more. You can always download more apps from the Android Market or from Archos’s own AppsLib store.
The full email application lets you read, write, download, send attachments, and manage your contacts. You can also access content seamlessly from a variety of on-the-go , on demand services such as CinemaNow, Hulu , integrated Internet radio, music from sites like Pandora and Web TV widgets. You can schedule TV recordings from any channel on your cable or set-top box and watch it at a time and place of your choice. Then if you so choose, play back the digital content from ARCHOS 5 to your TV, all in HD quality, at 720p.
It comes with a Bluetooth, through which you can access the 3G connection of your mobile phone.
There are also some interesting accessories that you will be able to purchase on the side such as DVR station to record video or integrated GPS with TeleAtlas application. The TeleAtlas software provides all the usual GPS features plus an additional 3D Photo Realistic mode which is pretty neat. In the 3D mode the maps use multiple angles and zoom levels to portray the landmarks and streets as realistically as possible.
The slim, light weight model that ships with a DVR station adapter and a standard USB cable is available at 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB capacities (with a MicroSD card slot) and a hard drive version with a choice of 160GB or 500GB.
Pricing is about $249.99 at the entry point. You can order from Amazon or the Archos website. Make sure though that you are ordering the latest model as quite confusingly the earlier model still on sale in different outlets is also called Archos5.
