The Archos 28 Experience

Surprisingly fun & interesting -- Picture courtesy of Archos

by blogSpotter
As recently promised, I’m doing a review of Archos 28, an internet tablet (a la iPod Touch) sold by the French consumer electronics company, Archos. My larger purpose is to demystify the Android operating system for myself and compare it to other systems, primarily Apple IOS4. I actually like my Archos 28 -- it’s cute, albeit problematic. Below I have a long list of problems discovered followed by some redeeming qualities.

Let me preface this by saying that I got the extremely, cheap, small, entry-level, 4GB Archos 28 model for $98. I didn’t want to squander too much money for my experimental foray. Keep that in mind. Also on this bulleted list, some of these items are closely related so there may be a bit of overlap going on …

ARCHOS 28 -- the problems encountered
o The apps frequently freeze and I have to reboot.
o The unit can be slow, so that buttons (like Back/Return or Home) seem very unresponsive
o On several software installs I get a cryptic “App did not install” with an orange triangle. No further message box or tab to say what is wrong
o Internet connection comes and goes; constantly have to reconnect
o Klondike Solitaire took 15 hours to download, probably because of the above bullet. Other software downloaded promptly.
o Where Apple refactored its displays for each size of screen, Archos didn’t refactor the display for a tiny 2.8” screen. Therefore the program icons are miniscule and I need strong reading glasses to read it.
o Related to above bullet -- the pop-up keyboard is tiny. The unit is supposed to be touch screen (like iPhone) but I had to dig out my Pentopia stylus (purchased in 1998) to type on it.
o This is maddening -- the Touch screen confuses a swipe for a click and vice versa. I have to be careful not to touch any icons when I swipe, else it will open an app I don’t want.
o The Archos 28 is a little bit larger than a Zune and smaller than an iPod Touch. They sacrificed quite a bit of screen area for hardware controls. Sometimes for the vision-impaired or for workout mp3 players you want hardware buttons that can be felt with fingertips. The irony here is that the Archos buttons are flush with the front of the unit so that a blind person couldn’t feel them anyway. Apple’s iPod Touch has a beautiful, large “retina” display -- it uses software buttons that can vanish when needed.
o No reason found for this (yet) -- I downloaded an MP4 of a television episode (Mary Tyler Moore if you must know :-) ). The soundtrack is way ahead of the video image. It’s not just a little out of synch.
o Because Android OS has a one-size fits all approach, you have to be careful what you download. I downloaded some apps (eg YouTube, X-Construct) which were too big for my memory. They either didn’t load or they crashed my unit. Apple’s App Store doesn’t make apps available that don’t scale well to a particular device -- you don’t have this unpleasantness.
o Another unexplained piece of weirdness -- sometimes the “On” button doesn’t work. I have to press it for 2 minutes (and force a reboot) to get the unit to come on. Don’t know if I somehow gracelessly terminated a prior app or what I did.

Archos 28 -- the plus column (including some A+ Google apps)…
o Places -- This app will show you hotels, bars, hot spots etc close to your zip code. This is free, you have to pay good money for it elsewhere
o Navigator -- This is actually a GPS app that would run you $90 elsewhere.
o Flash Player -- this downloads and works like a champ. All those forbidden Flash sites can come to life.
o Android market is way cool. It actually does wireless “air purchase” because Android market remembers whatever handheld you last connected to the market with. You can install purchases from the PC app to your handheld wirelessly. Way cool, almost seems like science fiction.
o Archos 28 has a nice form factor in a beautiful dark magenta, metallic finish. If you only can get one color, that’s a helluva good color.
o Did I mention this one was only $98? $107 with tax?

CONCLUSION
In spite of my whiny laundry list of compaints, this little device is fun and I find myself fiddling with it a lot. I’ve downloaded games and apps (DoubleTwist, Traffic Jam) which fit comfortably in its small memory and work well. Probably the Samsung Galaxy tab would avoid many of the app freezes and download problems mentioned above.

Apple’s approach is admittedly more paternalistic -- they don’t want you getting app freezes and abends. The Android OS is more of a “wild west” approach for people who are willing to risk the difficulties involved for a more liberated environment. Can see the advantages of both sides, I have to admit. I still say, “Advantage Apple” because nearly every cool feature of the Androids (touch screen, accelerometer, app store) is a feature introduced by Apple, probably 2-3 years earlier.

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