Archos 5 16GB Internet Tablet with Android (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I previously owned the 605 WiFi and the Vision 3. This is a huge step up. PROS: great sound, excellent video playback, very responsive screen (especially for a resistive touch), G-Sensor and Accelerometer works great, Browser is awesome, games run great, etc. Now I updated to the newest firmware only to find that youtube has not been fixed. But here's the thing...I used a hack to install marketplace and now Youtube works great. Strange?
CONS: proprietary plugs, too many accessories that you have to buy to get full experience, charge time is kind of extreme, does not come with marketplace. it has their own version. gets lots of fingerprints!
They almost messed this one up. they are so close i can taste it. Every year they release a amazing play on paper...but when you use it...you find that certain features may or may not work. or work half a**. This is very close. In october they will be releasing ever better players that include so much more including built in camera :-). It's not bad...i still prefer it over the iPod touch. especially since it will sync with nearly any player. not just itunes. works with Winamp and Windows Media player. Another cool thing is that if you have album art...it will import it. very cool. There are two versions of the Archos 5. one with android and one without. It was definitely a good idea to go WITH android. It's almost impossible to screw up android. Having owned the iPod Touch, iPhone, Archos 605, and more....I can honestly say...this one isn't bad. especially for the price. Wish it had more space though. 16gb isn't enough for me. but hey...it comes with the SD slot too so you can add up to 32gb. awesome!

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ARCHOS, award-winning for its constant technology innovation, now introduces its new ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet. This product combines all the multimedia know-how that ARCHOS is famous for, with the ANDROID operating system. It offers you an uncompromised Internet, media, and TV experience in a customizable interface. In perpetual evolution with the continuous arrival of new applications, you can personalize your ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet to perfectly reflect your tastes and needs.


HD Multimedia
Brilliant 5-Inch Touchscreen The ARCHOS 5 features an 800-pixel-wide 5-inch touchscreen, an ultra-thin design, and an accelerometer for portrait or landscape viewing. Whether enjoying media yourself or sharing with friends, it delivers outstanding image quality.
HD Video Formats Don't compromise--the ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet is able to handle the widest range of video formats, even at HD 720p resolution (H.264 HD, MPEG-4 HD, and WMV HD5).
Your Music Everywhere Enjoy more music formats directly on your device (MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC, AAC+, FLAC, and OGG Vorbis). In addition, the unique ARCHOS music browsing system allows you to create your playlists without using a PC. Who needs a tuner? Just plug your ARCHOS 5 into amplified speakers and you're all set.
Experience Your Photos Browse through your photos with a simple flick of your finger or play a slideshow with music and transition effects. The high-resolution screen is great for zooming in on details.
Take It All With a 16 GB hard drive, you'll have plenty of room to drag and drop a good chunk of your media library.

Internet
Fast and Convenient Web Surfing The ARCHOS 5 lets you easily surf the web. With a Wi-Fi connection (802.11 b/g/n) and the new OMAP3440 processor running at 800 MHz, you get quick and responsive Internet browsing just like on a laptop, without the endless waits for page loads. Enjoy the web in full width thanks to the 800-pixel widescreen, with no need to zoom in or out.
3.5 G Mobile Phone Connection If you own a standard mobile phone equipped with 3.5 G and Bluetooth technology, simply pair it up to your ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet via Bluetooth. This will give you easy access to Internet directly on your device anytime and anywhere.
Web TV and Web Radio In less than three clicks, you can access nearly 1,000 web TV channels, over 10,000 web radio stations, and 100,000 podcasts. There's no downloading wait time. Radio and TV start streaming directly from a worldwide list of traditional and independent radio and TV stations.
Media Club The Media Club remains the easiest way to get video and music content on the go. Featuring an even richer library with new partners and some of the biggest industry names, you'll discover a large selection of movies, documentaries, music albums, and games. Buy or rent your entertainment in a couple of clicks and start watching it on your ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet.

GPS
Full-Featured GPS Whether you are walking or driving, you will always find your destination with the on-board GPS. The GPS includes voice assistance, points of interest, fast multiple-route calculations, and car/pedestrian/adventure modes based on the latest maps from Tele Atlas with 3D landmarks.
You can go to your account at any time on the ARCHOS website and purchase the available maps or cities.
3D Photo-Realistic City Navigation Find your way around cities in 3D Photo Realistic mode. With multi-angle views and four zoom levels, you'll be able to recognize places as if you had taken your own photos from the sky. This is ideal when walking and visiting large cities in the U.S. (available Q1 2010).
Free 7-Day Trial Try the GPS for 7 days free of charge.

TV
HD TV-Out with the Optional DVR Station or HDMI Mini Dock Turn your TV into a real web-connected multimedia platform. Enjoy all the ARCHOS functions on the big screen of your living room. Watch your movies in HD (720p), listen to your music, share your high-resolution pictures, play games, or surf the web.
Record Your Favorite Programs with the Optional DVR Station With the optional DVR station, you have the perfect match for your ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet at home. Record TV shows and movies in one step using the included remote control. Then you can enjoy your recording at home on your widescreen TV, or in the palm of your hand when you are out.

Applications

Ready to Go with Pre-installed Applications
Enjoy a selection of fun and practical applications for daily use right out of the box:

eBuddy IM: For Instant Messaging The multi-platform instant messaging application. Chat from one place to all your friends on the various platforms. Supports MSN, Yahoo, Gtalk, Facebook, ICQ, MySpace, and AIM (AOL)
DroidIn: For Connecting to LinkedIn Connect to your LinkedIn account to exchange information, ideas, and opportunities. Stay informed about your contacts and industry. Find the people and knowledge you need to achieve your goals. Control your career online.
Twitroid: For Instant Micro-Blogging Twitroid is the industry-standard Twitter client for the Android platform. Easily access the famous free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables you to send and read tweets, and publish short URLs and pictures.
Deezer: For Music Streaming Enjoy 35 free web radio stations and the SmartRadio directly on your ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet.
Dailymotion: For Viewing and Sharing Videos Browse videos by searching tags, channels, or user-created groups.
QuickPedia: For Access to Wikipedia Access to the free web-based and collaborative encyclopedia.
ThinkFree Mobile: For Viewing Office Documents This application allows you to view, edit, and create Microsoft Office 97/2000/XP/2003/2007 Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF documents. You will get a free update before year's end, allowing you to also edit and create documents.
E-mail and Contacts Stay in contact by using the fully integrated e-mail and contacts applications.
Moov: Toggles Easily Between Your Apps Moov wraps up your search needs all in one place, so you can quickly toggle between the product's contacts, Google, Wikipedia, and the remaining Applications on your product.
CraigsPhone: For Access to Online Classified Advertisements CraigsPhone is a centralized network of online communities, featuring free online classified advertisements with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, and discussion forums.
High-Paying Jobs: For Access to a List of Jobs (U.S. and Canada only) Browse through job lists and search over 2 million jobs from all the leading job sites.

Add-ons
DVR Station This accessory allows you to record TV, play video back to your TV, and charge your ARCHOS. Recording your favorite programs has never been so easy. You can also surf the web or stream web video to your TV while comfortably lounging on your couch and using the included remote control as a keyboard and mouse pointer.
DVR Snap-on Use our DVR Snap-on to record from almost any audio or video analog source when you are on the move.
HDMI Mini Dock Optimize TV playback with HDMI output quality. Transfer your files directly from USB keys, digital cameras, or other portable media players from the standard USB port. Quickly charge your ARCHOS with the included charger/adapter.
Battery Dock Transfer your files directly from USB sticks, digital cameras, or other portable media players. Quickly charge your ARCHOS with the included charger/adapter and get extended playback with the built-in backup battery. Play video out to your TV with video output in high-quality S-video or standard quality composite.

What's in the Box ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet (16GB), headphones, standard USB cable, DVR Station adapter, quick start guide (QSG), and legal and safety notice.

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Clarion MiND 4.8-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)6/3/2009 Update
I've been using the device for a few weeks now. It has a lot of potential and things can be done, but many applications/features lack the quality of a mature product: inconsistent and unfriendly interface, missing features etc.
Major issues:
1. Small POI database. Only 2 mln POIs, and so far, no way to buy or import additional POIs. Big problem for me, and no easy way around. Finding missing POIs using Google at home takes longer than on a regular GPS unit with built-in POIs. You cannot use Google on the road (or it is much more difficult). Some GPS devices have 6 or more millions of POIs; you can really appreciate it after using the limited 2mln Clarion's database.
2. POI search speed can be from 10 seconds to 3 minutes!!! depending on user's entry. 3 minutes - it is just an absurd number. It must be fixed.
3. No Bluetooth hands-free calling. (The GPS is supposed to work with a phone. Why not hands-free calling? I need a BT headset? How many more electronics should I carry?)
4. Bluetooth dial-up network (DUN) doesn't work with my phone. I was surprised because it was one of the major selling points. Clarion provides only a list of compatible networks and my network is on that list. No list of compatible/supported phones.(My phone's DUN works with my other devices)
My hope is that Clarion will keep releasing updates and improving its functionality.Written before 6/3/2009
The great:
1. Integration with the Internet:
a) You can send POIs from the Internet to ClarionMiND. Even with good GPS units finding POIs may be difficult: you either don't find it or you find too many. ClarionMiND lets you plan your trip on your computer at home using Google Maps, and send POIs to the device. Great feature!!!
b) Great desktop-class Internet browser. You will be able to do everything you can do on your desktop at home, including Flash videos.
c) Google search, and it is integrated with navigation.
2. Navigation (I will update this review on route quality after I use the unit more):
a) So far routes look good.
b) Lane assist. It shows which lane on a multi-lane road you should take.
c) Nice job with voice directions. For example, it tells you something like, "go to the right side of the road" in order to prepare you for right turn.
d) All info needed for navigation is on the screen: compass heading (N, NE, E...), arrival time, distance, next and current street.
e) auto-zoom.
3. POI
a) Very fast search
b) You can preview POIs on the map. This is something nice and unique. You can select a single or a group of POIs and see them on a temporary map.
4. Address entry
a) Very fast.
b) QWERTY keyboard
c) Predictable entry. Only valid keys are active. As you keep entering data, it shows what was found at the top of the screen.
d) It remembers previous entry, and lets you re-start search from any level: state, city, street.
5. Hardware:
a) Gorgeous, high-resolution, large screen
b) Touchscreen works well. It is responsive.
c) Dedicated hardware buttons for Home, Top Menu, Music/Sound.
d) Great to hold in hands
6. Free Internet traffic. So far, I didn't find if it is integrated with navigation. There will be an option for radio traffic which, most likely, will be integrated.
7. Internet weather, news, email etc
8. Fast GPS lock. Less than 30 seconds.

The bad:
1.POI database is small. I couldn't find retail stores like, Walmart, Target, Costco etc
2.The car mount is awful. It is a few 100s dollars device with a "$1" mount. Very difficult to mount/dismount.
3.After you mount the device, it automatically limits its Internet functionality. Result: you cannot use the Internet in your garage when the device is mounted. You have to dismount it 1st, check the Internet, mount it again. AWFUL!!! If they wanted to make it safe, they should detect vehicle speed from the GPS.
4.Addresses are not displayed in the American format (number street, city zip), but as zip city street number.
5.Keyboard
a) Inconsistent keys. Sometimes, it is character-only; sometimes, characters and digits.
b) Inconsistent behavior: to accept, sometimes you have to click "Back", sometimes "Enter"; sometimes something else.
6.Too many keystrokes needed to see the route overview.
7.Current time is not displayed during navigation.
8.The device gets very hot.
9. Video player doesn't accept many video formats.
The bottom line:
It is a great navigation device: very fast, detailed spoken commands, plenty of details on the screen, great map, good routes. The device could be a perfect GPS but they have to add more POIs, BT hands-free calling, and polish the interface. ClarionMiND works very well with the Internet: it will have more or less of a practical meaning for different people.

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ClarionMiND is a completely new type of mobile Internet device created by the car audio and navigation expert Clarion. As a Next Generation Navigation plus Internet-Based Entertainment device, it provides GPS navigation, and with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-enabled cellphone, the Internet can be accessed via a full browser anytime and anywhere. ClarionMiND has a new interface that allows you to navigate the real-world and the unlimited possibilities of the Internet at the touch of a finger. Standard Features: Available in Black, White and Red; 4.8-inch TFT WVGA Touch Screen; Built-In Navigation; Built-In WiFi; Stylus and Quick Reference Guide; Li-Ion Rechargeable Battery; Cigarette lighter and AC Adapter; Windshield Mount Kit. Hardware: Intel Atom Processor Architecture; 4.8 inch WVGA(800x480) Widescreen LCD Display with touch screen; Simple Three Buttons (Home, Control,Audio); Built in stylus holder; Headphone Jack; Built-In Speaker / Amplifier; Inter-changeable Li-Ion Battery and extended battery is available as an option. Storage: 512MB DRAM; 800MHz Clock Speed; 4GB Solid-State memory for Storage. I/O: MicroSD Card Slot; 2 USB Port (Standard 2.0/Mini); Built-In WiFi b/g; Built-In Bluetooth 2.0 EDR for Dial-up Networking (phone tethering) uses phone as a modem; Built-In SiRF GPS III 20-Channel GPS Antenna/Reciever; USB media control to external MP3 thru RealPlayer; Docking Station Connector for optional NK1. Dimensions: 6.61in(W) x 3.78in (H) x 1.06in (D) with Standard Battery; 6.61in(W) x 3.78in (H) x 1.42in (D) with Large battery (Option); Total Weight : With Standard Battery: 11.64oz With Large Battery: 13.76oz (Option.

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