I just received and charged up my new Archos 5 500 GB Internet Tablet with Android. I am comparing it to a previous generation Archos 7 unit that I have some familiarity with, but that I did not own. It was owned by one of my workmates with whom I shared a hotel room; I got a chance to run the 7 through its paces and found several shortcomings. Most specifically, I didn’t care for the GUI very much. It was non-intuitive, slow, and cumbersome. The new Android-based GUI is excellent. A huge upgrade.
Right out of the box, as soon as it was charged, I connected it easily to my wireless internet and it found its first firmware update. I installed it without problems and went to work customizing my unit. Everything works as expected. In fact, it exceeds my expectations in every way. The unit is solidly built, the screen quality is superb, and the output to my large hi-def screen in my living room is everything I was hoping for. In fact, it’s truly remarkable to think that all this technology and storage capacity is packed into this beautiful little device. My future travels – and I travel a great deal, mostly long-haul overseas trips – will be changed forever. I will update this review daily for the first few days as I am able. I know that some have been frustrated by certain glitches (I have not experienced any yet), with the criticism being that the device was released too soon. My thought is that as long as Archos are sending through firmware updates regularly, I can live with being one of the first to own this serious new toy.
More to come, but great job Archos, and if you are holding back ordering one, here’s one reviewer saying to go ahead and pull the trigger. If you have any questions or comments I’m happy to test a feature for you or answer any questions you may have.
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Tags: Archos 5 500 GB, Archos 5 Series, Internet Media Tablet