Review: Archos 5 Internet Tablet
Although not a smartphone the Archos 5 Internet Tablet is of interest to smartphone watchers as an example of a device based on the truly open source version of Android: in other words, an Android device without Google
Although not a smartphone the Archos 5 Internet Tablet is of interest to smartphone watchers as an example of a device based on the truly open source version of Android: in other words, an Android device without Google.
Because while Android is open source and freely usable, the Google apps have to be licensed separately, which Archos has opted not to do here. As a result there’s no Maps, no Gmail, no YouTube client, not even a Calendar. It’s a sorry sight when compared to some of the Android phones we’ve seen.
Worse, there’s no Android Market on this device either, and this is what you’ll miss most, since it puts paid to any hopes you might have that the Archos 5 could be an Android version of an iPod Touch. Archos have knocked together something called AppsLib which houses around 600 apps, but it’s slow and cumbersome to use and the content pales in comparison. We also encountered a couple of crashes when using it.
The device itself makes quite an impression. It is surprisingly thin, and well built with metals rather than plastic. The large five inch display dominates the unit, especially since there are no physical buttons on the front.
We’d have preferred it to have lain flush to the casing, but the bezel around the screen does not impede your fingers when pressing buttons located near the edge of the screen. A stylus is included although we never found it necessary to use. However the screen was not as responsive as we would have liked; it’s resistive rather than capacitive as seen on most Android devices and the difference is noticeable.
The system feels a little plain due to the lack of Google, but Archos has supplemented the basics with a few add-ons, of which the standout is the Twitroid Twitter client. They have also added a new toolbar that gives quick access to your multimedia content.
The lack of buttons is made up for by the permanent presence of the crucial Home, Back and Menu buttons on screen, which maintains the ease of use of the Android UI. Unfortunately, though, the device works almost exclusively in landscape mode, making it very much a two-handed device.
Web browsing is impressive thanks to the high-res screen and fast Wi-Fi. Typing URLs should be easier – the on screen Qwerty keyboard is large, but that unresponsive, single-touch screen slows you down. It is as a multimedia device that the Archos 5 excels.
Videos look stunning on the large screen and there’s 3.5mm headphone jack for audio, although the music app is not iPod-esque in use. GPS is also on board, with a trial of the NDrive navigation software.
The Archos 5 works well as a media-centric internet tablet, and while it is not quite up to refined standards of the iPod touch the large screen is a valuable improvement over that. But it also shows how important Google is to Android, and without them on board the device ultimately offers less than you might have hoped for.
Price: from £200
Web: www.archos.com
Essential verdict
Performance: 6/10
Design: 8/10
Features: 7/10
Value: 7/10
Overall score: 7/10
Popularity: 16% [?]
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Sound wonderful, no Google crap.
For the last month I have been using an Archos 5IT and I must say that I regret this purchase. “No Market” is only the tip of the iceberg, because once you begin to use this device, you see that every now and then it just loses your preferences, crashes your apps, forces you to reboot because the sound does not play anymore (or other similar reason). With every new firmware update there are new bugs and sometimes less functionnalities (you bought that TV snap-on ? bad idea because it doesn’t work anymore)…
The “in-house” apps all depend on one single process (Archos Media Center) and when it crashes, you’re toast. There is no way to launch it again. This thing looks like it’s been ported over from the older models without modification, and that Android is taken over (framebuffer included) when you launch it. And they don’t interact really well with each other that’s for sure !
So, yeah, maybe it’s a good piece of hardware, but the software has been badly hacked together and it’s falling into pieces.
Don’t keep valuable data on that thing because it will disappear or be thrashed, guaranteed !
You are aware that there is a hack available to add the google market – only free apps – to the A5A
check http://forum.archosfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=29833
after you upgrade to firmware 1.7.xx
Yeah. As if the device wasn’t already sufficiently unstable, you can blow Archos’ support with this “hack” (which is just that, a hack) to get Google’s apps on it.
Are you also going to tell us that there are people who pirate apps and upload them to sites like rapidshare or megaupload ? It might not be quite the same, but still… doesn’t change the fact that it’s not supported…
The acrhos 5 IT does not have Google Market, because of Google it’s self, not Archos. Archos has been in talks with Google since they first started work on this project and they continue to. Hopefully one day here soon, the Archos 5 IT will have the market with out a hack.
Google denied their Google apps on the Archos 5 IT because it doesn’t qualify. It is missing a few required features ie, compass, camera, Cellular connection.
I have had no issues what-so-ever and love it. After upgrade to the latest firmware there is a simple .apk file download/install to gain access to the market and all google apps. I have had gmail since before I installed the market update so not sure why you say there is none but maybe you don’t have that in the European market for some reason.
Any way I never have it crash, never have it stop audio or anything else like that so maybe you all just need to go back to the store and get a replacement unit.
I love it and my family loves it. especially now that we have the full marketplace of apps to play with.
I must agree with earlier poster. Much too unstable. I also find the wireless flaky, it often automatically doesn’t come back and I have to do it manually. Annoying in the house. At work I even have to remove my SSID and restart (possibly because it things SSID and HWaddr need to be the same?).
Another annoying feature is that sometimes it doesn’t awake from suspend, and it reboots.
I get the feeling some of the instability is due to my impatience, and it cannot handle too many interrupts and will hang and crash. There is an interesting mode where it reboots quicker. But it clearly cannot handle too many tasks at the same time. I’m also puzzled how certain applications keep being run without me starting them. Not the usual bunch, but a lot more. But i’m still learning.
As a multimedia gadget i love it/. I love the SD card, the webtv, etc.etc. Sad that out of the box you still need to buy things like HD viewing, GPS software. I feel way too penny pinched.
I own the Archos 5 IT since November and have to hand it to Archos for the frequent firmware updates and continuously fixing of issues. Yes, there are some stability issues, most have been fixed for me but this is one awesome device that I use daily, if not hourly. Web browsing is great, twitter using twidroid and many other openly available android apps make this a very useful device. It has pretty much replaced my Nokia n810 Internet Tablet and I sold my Viliv S5 (windows xp on such a small screen was miserable.) Watching movies is a real joy and being able to watch 720p youtube and also being able to connect to my LCD tv via hdmi (you have to buy a separate DRV dock but worth it)
does it have flash so you can play online games ?