Archos has never made bad products, but their PMPs have definitely grown less relevant over the last few years. But now? Now two Android-wielding Archos Home Tablets will each cost only about $200. The Archos 7 Home Tablet is pretty much just a refresh to their existing Archos 5 Internet Tablet—it’s a 7-inch touchscreen Android tablet (or, OK, MID), loaded with Wi-Fi and USB. This April, a 2GB model (we really hope there’s an SD card slot) goes on sale for about $200 overseas

Everybody’s talking about tablets, especially those single-pane capacitive touchscreen ones more specifically known as “slates.” The iPad is the biggest newsmaker , but there are lots headed our way (most with built-in webcams). Here’s how they measure up, spec-wise: Click on the image to view it larger As you can see, they have different strengths and weaknesses, some of which will become more clear in the coming months as we learn more about each tablet. (That Dell Mini 5 is especially inscrutable right now.) The iPad has the most storage, cheap 3G, the time-tested iPhone OS and its mountain of apps, and a serious amount of Apple marketing juice behind it. But it’s also famously lacking features common to the other tablets, such as webcam and multitasking. The Notion Ink Adam is perhaps the most interesting of the bunch, with its dual-function transflective screen from Pixel Qi : It can be either a normal LCD or, with the flick of a switch, an easy-on-the-eyes reflective LCD that resembles e-ink. Its hardware is also surprisingly impressive—but it remains to be seen if Android is really the right OS for a 10-inch tablet

Everybody’s talking about tablets, especially those single-pane capacitive touchscreen ones more specifically known as “slates.” The iPad is the biggest newsmaker , but there are lots headed our way (most with built-in webcams). Here’s how they measure up, spec-wise: Updated: We’ve added Lenovo IdeaPad U1 and Archos 9 Windows 7 edition—see below for more details. Click on the image to view it larger As you can see, they have different strengths and weaknesses, some of which will become more clear in the coming months as we learn more about each tablet. (That Dell Mini 5 is especially inscrutable right now.) The iPad has the most storage, cheap 3G, the time-tested iPhone OS and its mountain of apps, and a serious amount of Apple marketing juice behind it. But it’s also famously lacking features common to the other tablets, such as webcam and multitasking. The Notion Ink Adam is perhaps the most interesting of the bunch, with its dual-function transflective screen from Pixel Qi : It can be either a normal LCD or, with the flick of a switch, an easy-on-the-eyes reflective LCD that resembles e-ink

Archos’ first Android tablet, the Archos 5 , didn’t quite live up to its promises, but a second leaked Android tablet from the French could prove more feature-some if realized, with a front-facing webcam and new 7-inch size. Thanks to a slip-up by the UK retailer Data-Mind , we’ve got photos and specs of the tablet, which will apparently go on sale in March for £149.99 ($242). It’ll have 8GB of onboard storage, a webcam, and 7-inch LCD screen with 800 x 480 pixels. That’s 2.2-inches more than the Archos 5, with the storage being the same.

Oh, Henri Crohas, you tease. In an interview with French site L’Expansion , the Archos CEO made reference to fate of the Archos phone tablet , saying that the company has built a device with strong multimedia capabilities… but it’s not gonna see the light of day without the support at least two major operators.Sad to hear, as the proposed specs — Android OS, 4.3-inch touchscreen, 1GHz ARM processor, 3.5G bands, 10mm titanium casing, and a possible front-facing camera — were mighty intriguing. In the meantime, keep dreaming of that Android-powered HTC HD2 , k? Archos phone tablet in limbo, awaiting ‘at least two major operators’ to sign up originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 16 Jan 2010 21:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds

We hate to be the bringers of bad news, but it looks like the Archos 9 might be serving as a bit of a morality tale, showing why and how PC hardware and software might not be quite ready for the large form factor tablet experience. That’s not to say there aren’t some plusses to the device pointed out by UMPC Portal in its review, like the great build quality and style of the tablet, the sensitive, flush touchscreen, and some great connectivity, but the sum seems less than its parts. The primary blame can be laid at the feet of the 1.1GHz Atom Z510 processor, which is sluggish and single-threaded, and Windows 7 Starter, which is lacking in the standard Windows 7 tablet functionality. We don’t know all the reasoning at play here, but the result is a slow computer with a hacked-on touchscreen keyboard at a $550 pricepoint that doesn’t the hit handheld UMPC size sweetspot and can hardly stand against a netbook in cost or utility. Sounds kind of mean when we say it like that, doesn’t it?

For those of you who just can’t wait for whatever tablet goodness Apple is dreaming up, the Archos 9 running Windows 7 might be the answer. But wait—is that Windows 7 Starter Edition? Unfortunately, yes, which means that this version won’t take full advantage of Windows 7’s tablet capabilities. Still, UMPC Portal reports a solid 3 hours of battery life, 60GB hard drive, 1GB RAM, and a 1.1Ghz Atom under the hood. Our initial hands-on impressions were generally favorable , and there’s nothing really here to contradict that (although $500 is still pretty steep). UMPC will be giving more updates today that we’ll keep an eye on.

It’s been a long time coming, but the Archos 9 is finally being unleashed wholesale upon the world. The 9-inch tablet has been delayed and had its price hiked , but if you haven’t leapt off the hype train yet you’ll be interested in watching the unboxing and initial impressions video after the break courtesy of UMPCPortal . The 60GB device contains a mere 1.1GHz Atom processor and has been unfortunately crippled with Windows 7 Starter Edition, lacking the cool tablet features that you might have wanted to use on a tablet device . A few times during this video the Archos is likened to the Joojoo , which will almost surely face some delays of its own before receiving a similar berth months from now. Overall it’s looking like a nice machine if you have the bank — and don’t want to do anything particularly processor intensive. Continue reading Archos 9 tablet and its Windows 7 Starter Edition unboxed (video) Archos 9 tablet and its Windows 7 Starter Edition unboxed (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 06:56:00 EST

The Archos 5 Internet Tablet hasn’t had the smoothest ride into the commercial realm, but thanks to a few firmware updates , the Android-based player seems to finally be humming along just fine. That said, not everyone’s interested in shelling out big bucks for a capacious version, which makes the latest edition perfect for those simply curious to see how Google’s mobile OS fares on a portable media player. The 8GB model has surfaced over at Radio Shack, bringing with it all the goods on the larger siblings but with far less internal space. The best part? That $249.99 price tag (and that little “In Stock” icon beside it)

According to a press release dated this morning, Archos is making proof-of-concept “developer edition” firmware available for its ARCHOS 5 and ARCHOS 7 Internet Media Tablets. Based on the Angstrom Linux distribution, this is by no means a commercial distro (no multimedia software) but since you’re taking it upon yourself to code the next great multimedia / social networking / productivity / time travel app anyways, you don’t really want to be bogged down by such pedestrian fare. According to the PR, the company “eagerly anticipates seeing its hardware platform used as a foundation for creating exciting new usage models and applications that the developer community brings.” And so do we! Read all about it after the break. Continue reading Archos releases developer edition firmware for Internet Tablets Archos releases developer edition firmware for Internet Tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Nov 2009 11:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds