Archos's budget Vision A43VB PMP caught on camera making kittens sad (video)

It's been a few months since we last heard of Archos's supposed new player lineup, as all the talk lately has been tablet-this and tablet-that, but we finally have some video of a new Vision device, the A43VB. Somewhat tragically, though, it apparently is not a real Archos device at all, rather a re-branded discount media player given the Archos silkscreen and a UI refresh. The good news is this means a low cost -- just €99 (or $135) -- for this 8GB model with a 4.3-inch screen and microSD expansion, but the bad news is that the result is slightly janky. The plastic looks rough and the UI far from intuitive, leaving our friendly video guide below to decry "I cannot exit the cats." That said, this is not a final device we're looking at here, so with any luck things will be a bit cleaned up inside and out before retail. Just don't go hoping for a surprise infusion of Android before then.

[Turnipus Posted Mar 8th 2010 10:47AM]

This is rebrand of a chinese player made by Ramos called the T8. It was released about 1 1/2 or 2 years ago. It runs the Rockchip RK2706 chipset which can't handle xvid or in fact most codecs above vga resolution.

It is so old they no longer sell it in china, it has been updated with an HD version. But if you could find one it would be dirt cheap (as in like $50)

This is what we call archos, having a complete laugh at comsumers' expense. The Ui on this is appaling. Anyone who knows about mp4 players wouldn't touch this with a barge pole.

[mp3 Posted Mar 8th 2010 12:08PM]

@Turnipus
Found it, but not at 50$ :/

http://www.focalprice.com/EM388S/Ramos_imovie_T8_8GB_43_MP5_Player_Silver.html

[Turnipus Posted Mar 8th 2010 12:40PM]

@mp3

I would expect that $77 price has undergone a price bump for export, I would expect China price to be close to $50, no where near 99 euro thats for sure.

[mp3 Posted Mar 8th 2010 12:48PM]

@Turnipus
Probably, as you said I wouldn't touch it either.

[KAL326 Posted Mar 8th 2010 12:51PM]

@Turnipus Well I guess that explains why the kittens are sad, no LOLz 4 da olde warez

[Turnipus Posted Mar 8th 2010 6:12PM]

@KAL326

Hahaha yer archos corner cutting = Unhappy moggies!

[Very Powerfull Codfish Posted Mar 9th 2010 10:32AM]

@Turnipus
...in addition to the severly annoying voice. He seems to think he NEEDS to talk ALL the time.

[Mike Vegas Posted Mar 8th 2010 10:49AM]

Now I can cross "I cannot exit the cats" off the list of things I never thought I'd hear someone say

[ChazClout Posted Mar 8th 2010 10:50AM]

"I cannot exit the cats"

WHY ARE YOU IN THE CATS? BESTIALITY FTL! :(

[htd Posted Mar 8th 2010 10:54AM]

how come archos always wants to charge this much more? those things eventually end up in sales much lower than MSRP

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16855501047

[HardToBelieve Posted Mar 8th 2010 10:57AM]

Exit the cats. Even if you have to smash the player, exit the cats.

[xirsteon Posted Mar 8th 2010 11:04AM]

I smell the accent of a typical Archos (French) man who always go on interblogs to hype up his "fake" representation of the Archos company whose software is extremely buggy and uses its users as 'beta testers'

His name starts with Charboax, yes?

[Akhen Posted Mar 8th 2010 11:11AM]

They don't look sad. They look judgemental and indifferent. NOTHING PLEASES YOU ELITIST FELINES ANYMORE :(

[willowtwf Posted Mar 8th 2010 11:13AM]

what? archos branded a product that's buggy and doesn't work quite the way that you want it to? no way!

[Jeff Posted Mar 8th 2010 11:33AM]

What is Archos' fascination with resistive touch screens?

[Charbax Posted Mar 8th 2010 4:12PM]

@Jeff 4.3" capacitative does not exist in commercial products (apart perhaps $535 HTC Touch HD?), not on cheap mass market products, even less for as cheap as this PMP.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 8th 2010 11:43AM]

I can has gadgetz?

[applehateboy Posted Mar 8th 2010 12:50PM]

Ok ok i wont buy this... Now stop shouting u all!

[NYNY Posted Mar 8th 2010 2:30PM]

Poor kittens never had a chance:(

[gadgetPr0n Posted Mar 8th 2010 4:48PM]

hate the guy who made this video. Annoying accent and terrible vocabulary

[Heliosphan Posted Mar 9th 2010 7:48AM]

Thats weird!
Counterfeit goods are usually seized by customs and so forth when entering countries, now Archos themselves are counterfeiting their own goods with crap far-east KIRFs!! (reverse KIRF?)
Fantastic strategy. I knew I had a great reason I haven't bought any Archos products since the Jukebox 6000!! And I never will.