ArchosLounge.net l Archos 5 > Archos 5 Review : Introduction

Don’t call them PMPs ! Archos changed its orientation and is now making MITs (Internet Media Tablets). A step forward that should provide to customers the performances of laptop in extra mobility. With the Archos 5, it has never been easier to access the web.

The new Archos MITs are the first to use the new ARM Cortex processor powered by Texas Instruments. Clocked at 600MHz, it offers about 4 times the performances of the actual Da Vinci processor integrated in the 605 WiFi. Archos has a 6 month exclusivity for this new processor. You won’t see any other products integrate this new chip before 6 months ! Texas Instruments is somehow using Archos’ experience in the domain to fix their processor’s bugs. However, the bet isn’t won yet for Archos, as the little company puts a step into an unknown area. When we received our Archos 5 test unit (the first clients had already got their MITs), a little note that came from the product manager informed us that the firmware was actually still in beta and that some features weren’t integrated yet. At least we knew that the Archos 5 launch had been highly precipitated.

The Archos 5 is definitivaly the new flagship of the company. Archos’ future is partly based on that product. If it fails, Archos could be in a very critical financial situation. Critical in a point that we may not even see a future 7G. But let’s hope the best for this new Archos generation ;).

In the following test, a full chapter will be devoted to the comparaison between the Archos 5 and the 605 WiFi.

We tested the slim version of the Archos 5, the 60GB version. It is slightly different than the 120GB and 250GB models as it has an 1,8 inches hard drive and is only 1,29 centimeters thick !

The ArchosLounge team will try to update this test as new firmwares and accessories come out. Some chapters will be only filled with a couple of lines of presentation of the upcoming Archos functions.

If any modifications are made to this review, they will be indicated on the conclusion chapter.

Disclaimer :

Archos have currently started to sell their Archos 5. They sell their units with a beta firmware : an unfinalized version in which some functions are under beta or simply don’t work for now. As you may see in our test, our Archos device crashed a lot of times. This situation is temporary and will get fixed as soon as Archos release a new firmware in a couple of weeks.

This test has been made with the Archos 5 1,0,51 beta firmware (september 2nd 2008).

Once the beta tag will have disappeared from Archos firmwares, it will be much easier to buy with confidence.