Archos attempt to resurrect the UMPC category of devices got off to a good start yesterday in Paris with the launch of its 16-mm thick
Archos 9 pctablet -- a 8.9-inch 1024x600 pixel tablet riding an 800MHz or 1.2GHz Atom Z515 processor, 1GB of memory, up to 120GB disk, webcam, Bluetooth 2.1, 802.11b/g WiFi, and SIM card slot for WWAN connectivity.
Archosfans just posted a video of the Archos 9 prototype in action and honestly, that resistive touch-screen looks pretty damn impressive to finger taps. However, since it's running Windows 7, a full-blown desktop OS, you'll still need to pull out the included stylus on occasion to interactive with the Windows 7 UI or applications designed for a mouse and keyboard. Fortunately, the Archos 9 offers an optical mouse on the right-side bezel and left and right mouse keys along the left. Other notable highlights include a removable battery of undetermined capacity, a docking port for added expansion (Ethernet, 2x USB, VGA output), stereo speakers, and an adjustable kickstand for viewing video or working on the Archos 9 with attached USB keyboard and mouse. The Archos rep says it'll be priced between €450 and €500 when it ships around the time
Windows 7 launches at the end of October. What we're wondering is how much finger-friendly UI customization will be included by Archos and how they plan to market the device to consumers who already own smartphones, laptops, and even netbooks. Video after the break.
P.S. While
Archosfans claims the Archos 9 is multi-touch, nothing that we've found supports that claim on the Archos site or in the video demonstrations. Nevertheless, multi-touch resistive touchscreen technology does exist as
demonstrated to us by Stantum back in February. In fact, the ASUS Eee PC T91 also features an 8.9-inch resistive display that
does support mult-touch.
posted June 12th 2009 4:22AM
You know the touch screens that have been around for years, the ones that feel kinda soft and plastick?
Those are resistive screens.
The better, new ones do feel a little better.
Misspelling plasticky doesn't bother me, cause I don't think it's really a word.
Accidentally backspacing the "y" however, just makes me look like I can't spell.
Dammit.
ah, ok, so in effect the "resistive touchscreen" means a cheaper and older touchscreen ? :)
plasticky should be added to the dictionary ASAP!!!!
Not exactly, resistive is older tech, but new resistive screens are on par with capacitive screens.
Just like everything else it depends on the user, if you want a stylus resistive is pretty much a must.
They can also be less expensive for similar performance.
Anybody who says either cap or resist are better than the other, in all circumstances, is selling something.
As nice as this is, it doesn't make me want to give up my Q1. For those who don't know the specs: 7-inch capacitive screen, stereo speakers, 900mhz Celeron (1.2ghz Pentium avail), installed 2 gigs of memory, Wifi, Bluetooth, microphones, 2 USB ports, Ethernet, 6 hour battery life (w/extended batt.), compact flash reader, VGA out, and a real kickstand which I bet will last a lot longer that the stick on the Archos. AND I can tether my cellphone to get online. And that's just the 1st iteration of the platform. Later models are even better.
The screen is absolutely gorgeous but it's also nearly 2 inches wider and could be more cumbersome to carry around. Granted the included keyboard sucks, but there is a free keyboard, Zero Weight Keyboard, which is transparent and full screen and is a joy to type on. It will never replace a physical keyboard but it makes the UMPC experience much, much more enjoyable.
Demo at 2:50 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqCGJptj-Gw
Er...the Q1 is unrepentantly ugly, overwhelmed with buttons, and awkward. I wouldn't sacrifice a regular laptop to get one, size factor be damned.
That being said, I won't be jumping on the Archos bandwagon anytime soon either. As many have said, their products are fault-ridden as a rule. The design and the touchscreen are a step in the right direction though.
Looks great and I really like Archos hardware it's just they drop support way too fast for their models. Does this mean the Archos 5 I just purchased won't get anymore firmware updates to fix the random restarts and other quirks I have?
Tikiwk... you have great reason to be concerned. I was a long time Archos support. Was with them from the beginning. There products USE to be fantastic. Somewhere along the way, they became more concerned about profit. Now I know all companies are there to make a profit, but this company is ONLY concerned about that. They pump garbage after garbage out. I got tired of paying $600 plus another $100 in plug ins to be their BETA tester. Then once they got the units HALF WAY stable, they would just come out with a revised version of the same crap and expect you to buy that, because all support for the old unit is dropped in a second. Even worse is that bugs that have been in generations from 8 years ago, ARE STILL IN THE UNITS BEING SHIPPED TODAY. Their DVR stations have had the same damn bugs in them for the past THREE generations. They originally acknowledged those problems and said they would be fixed. Once they realizes that their tech's absolutely were worthless, they went back on their word, and acted like we were all nuts about the bugs, crashes, and issues. I am the biggest Anti-Apple person you would ever see... but Archos has STOLEN so much money from me (not paying me to be a full time BETA tester is just one example), that I would buy ANYTHING from Apple before I but one more damn thing from this lemon of a company. People like Charbax will try to tell you otherwise, but keep in mind that this clown has half of his life savings in their stock (which is falling like a boulder for the reasons I listed above). Do yourself a favor and just go with Apple or Microsoft. While those two argue about who is really what, they are also SUPPORTING and FIXING bugs and issues as they become know... not denying them and pumping out new units every 4 months.
I couldn't agree with you more. After my current archos 5, I'll never buy their products again. The first one died after 2 months so had to go through archos for repair (good luck for those who haven't tried, several 90+ min calls went unanswered). The thing crashes all the time and firmware updates aren't doing anything. They falsely advertise an HD plug-in that wasn't ready for 9 months after product launch!! And as missionsparta stated, WHY are you selling an expensive piece of hardware with BETA software on it?? I can't wait to see how archos tries to nickel and dime us on the new 9, maybe we'll be lucky enough to be charged $20 to 'unlock' windows media player.
I agree also with the negative view of Archos support. I used to have the Archos 704 WiFi tablet, purchased for just under $500 (thankfully, Amazon took it back for an 80% refund after 12 months!). Archos never provided a newer version of the Opera web browser, even though the version on the machine would crash frequently and would fail to render many, many web pages. All support questions were answered with things like: "Maybe in the future..."
STAY AWAY FROM ANY ARCHOS PRODUCT - it will become obsolete almost instantly and you will never get any of the bugs in it fixed. You will be throwing away your money. Stick with "name brand" companies: Samsung, Asus, Dell, Lenovo, etc.
Thank you MissionSparta and Wayne and ArchosSmarchos. I appreciate the time you guys took to warn us about the troubles you've experienced. I'm sorry you had such a horrible time with their product.
I don't know if I should try the Samsung Q1EX or the Viliv X70. For sure, I love Windows XP and don't mind Ubuntu as well, and the X70 is very sexy. It's new, but it's also a company I don't know anything about... Viliv. Samsung has been around and it's a reputable company but I don't know how often they update their products to fix bugs.
Anyway, thanks for the cautionary words. I'll stay clear of Archos.
I semi-agree with some comments regarding Archos tech support. It can be frustrating to deal with them at times, but I also have never had a problem solved by talking to an Apple Genius either by phone, or at an Apple Store. My biggest problem with Archos tech support is the cavalier attitude of some tech support personnel I have talked with after spending an hour waiting for the call to be answered. I still believe Archos offers the best PMP's available in the US. I have 2 Archos 5's and had several 605's before them. I use the Archos 5's daily, have dropped them too many times, and yet they still work fine. I purchased the Archos 5 to record my favorite TV programs, and watch them while away from home the next day. Works fine - great picture quality, and operates without any problems. I am not denying other posters had problems, I have not experienced similar problems. I did not purchase the Archos products for web browsing, but the bigger screen (resolution, and physical size) does offer a better browsing experience than the iPod touch for me.
If you want to record video directly to a device for mobile watching later, consider the Archos, the experience has been very positive for me.
I do understand that there are some problems with some of the Archos products but my Archos 5 that I have had for a few months has been perfectly fine. My Archos 5 is amazing. It is called an "Internet Media Device" but that is definitely not what it is best at doing. The Archos 5 has a few things over ipod touch but the ipod also has a few things that the Archos can't do. Personally, I like the Archos more but these two "can" be considered pretty close to each other. What the engadget guy has just said about the recording and the excellent screen, i completely agree with. The add-ons that you can buy for it are amazing. These can add so much more to the Archos like the DVR station but some of the others, I must say, aren't the best. The one thing that really pissed me off is that you have to pay so much more money for the plug-ins which should come with it when you buy the product. Just for you that haven't had an Archos before, they are great products but some of them have to be sent back in(which a lot of other products you have to do the same thing with) its just the risk that you have to take. I agree with engadget that this is the best PMP available in the US. I have also owned a cowon which has given me a different experience. I just hope that you won't have to pay more money for plug-ins for this Archos 9.
Give me this plus a Pixel Qi screen and I'm sold.
I don't see why you would need plug-ins in Windows 7. You would just need to install stuff like a normal computer I would think. The plug-ins were there because the OS was Archos branded.
The guy in the Asus video clearly says Asus is not yet shipping the multitouch version, so it's not obvious to me that the device he is playing with has the resistive touchscreen listed in current product specs. It's awfully shiny for a resistive screen.
If it had DVD drive and tv turnner I would buy one 600.00 then it would be the perfect gadget
Multitouch doesn't necessarily mean that it can detect multiple points.
It can also mean Lenovo's definition, which means an LCD with a resistive sensor on top, and a Wacom sensor on bottom. So, when the stylus is in range, it behaves as a Wacom tablet, when it's not, it behaves as a resistive panel.
Looks slick and runs rather fluidly. This device is what the Apple fans has been waiting almost 2 years for, and at any rate will not see it EVER!.
Thanks Steve for saying a multibillion dollar company cannot do this, while other small companies are moving product lines with way greater number of model diversity for years. Archos being one of them.
wow, that's like, the first resistive touchscreen I might WANT to use.