ARCHOS 43 16 GB Internet Tablet

Had this Archos 43 Internet Tablet a couple of days now and just about figured out all the stuff it can do. Once it's updated to Android 2.2 and you get the full Google Market installed (see ArchosFans forums) it's really a very nice device. I've got a 16gb micro SD card ordered so that'll take it up to 32gb storage.The reason it's not a 5 star device is the resistive touchscreen which means no multi-touch and does compromise the browsing experience. Having to double tap or tap the on-screen zoom buttons to zoom web pages sure isn't as slick as pinching. You'll sometimes find you select things when you meant to scroll as well. I would advise you to buy a stylus or use a finger nail. Finger tips work for most things, but not when you need to click something small. Only other issues are a few crashes (mainly with the Archos AppsLib which you don't need to use) but it's not a problem just to reboot the device.As for the positives, the movie playback is good with lots of file types supported. Battery life seems very good so far. If you're mostly web browing and gaming on it you can expect 8-10 hours. There's lots of apps and games on the market, some of them really quite decent, and almost everything I've tried so far has worked. The 3D games show the device is quite powerful too. I really bought it as a movie device with a browsing capability, so to find it can entertain you for hours with games is a real bonus (the touchscreen seems fine with gaming btw). It can also output to TV at 720p with a mini-HDMI to HDMI cable although I haven't got one to try this.In case you buy one I want to save you some headaches. When you select the wifi network to connect to you'll see a 'power saving' checkbox. Untick it, or the wifi will switch off every 5 minutes whether you're using the web or not. Some other advice would be to move the power app to the main page, and turn off wifi/bluetooth when you're not using them to extend your battery life.A few last things to mention, for this size of device the sound quality is good, the camera is bad, and the device itself it very slim and a really nice size.

this tablet was good when i got it but has since after quite a bit of use becoming obsolete in my hands as i'm finding many apps do not want to run very well and has stopped being able to play youtube videos any more. It does not cope very well at all with many top games that are out for android nowadays. it also doesn't come with playstore or android market and you have to download it via your pc and then move it onto the tablet where you can in turn install it onto the device. The overall look of the device i quite like and the metal back to it looks great until you get a build up of fingerprints on it but that can just be wiped clean. The camera is pretty good for your quick point and shoot novice giving a reasonably crisp 720p recording with alright audio from the built in mic. the stills however are only a measly 2mp with no digital zoom for both video and stills which isnt that great considering you can film in 720p. the positioning of the camera can also be a bit annoying sometimes as you can find your self covering it up with the side of your finger from time to time. the inbuilt speaker is pretty standard, giving you a reasonable amount of volume and clarity. the touch screen too i can find it is very temperamental and you often find your self pressing the wrong keys when typing especially with the smaller vertical keypad that pops up, i've come to finding my self using make shift stylus' out from old pens or blunt tooth picks to make pressing stuff on the screen that bit easier. i have found the kickstand on the back pretty useful though when sat on the train or plain i can just sit my archos on the table and watch movies merrily for the whole journey. the battery life on this device is surprisingly long (especially when you have turned off the wifi) i can watch a good succession of movies on one charge and basically endless music without the worry of looking for a plug. the media interface on the actual device is very nice and easy to use allowing you to find your music and movies easily. the cpu i have to say could do with a few more ghz or an extra core as i do seem to lag of quite a few applications now. the mini HDMI output i haven't had much use for as i never really think to plug it into my TV to stream movies off of it as i have my gaming pc already connected to the TV. I have to admit finally i had to send the first device i received to archos for replacement one as some of the pixels had gone on the screen and it developed a bug where, whenever the device went to standby by its self or by pushing the standby button it would go into a continuous cycle of restarting, going to standby, restarting...etc and i could only find a short time fix to this which was factory resetting the device which you can imagine means having to either backup all your apps, music and movies.all in all this device was pretty reasonable for the price when i got it but now i would say not to go too near it as im sure there are better spec things out there.

This is a good sized device, a much better size than the iPod touch for those of us with less than perfect eyesight. It connected to my wi-fi with no problems, and I liked the fact it connects as a standard USB device and was ready to use out of the box without the Big Brother-ish user identification nonsense that Apple require of their customers. Hadnt used an Android device before but it was easy enough to work out - it was a little annoying as it seemed to be aimed at kids and full of silly cartoon apps and icons, but these are easily deleted.Unfortunately when it came to web browsing, the resistive touchscreen was more awful than I could have imagined. It doesnt scroll nicely like an iPod, it either ignores your command or does something you don't want it to do. Even using a stylus I found it impossible to browse without clicking on unwanted adverts and links, and within ten minutes I knew that I would end up smashing it against a wall in rage, so I sent it back.If Archos sorted the touchscreen out and put a GPS in it, this would be perfect, but sadly as it is, it is not fit for purpose.