ARCHOS 8 Home Tablet: Dork review

Emma Cossey — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:00:27 +0000

Up until recently, Apple has had very little to deal with in terms of mainstream budget competition for their iPad. The most recent addition to the market is the Dell Streak which, at almost half the size, is more often seen as a smartphone than an iPad substitute.

When ARCHOS approached me with their ARCHOS 8 Home tablet, I was initially dubious. The gadget looks more like a digital photo frame then a touch screen tablet, however they assured me that although it does double as a showcase for your favourite images, it also boasts far more browsing and entertainment features.

Plus it retails at £129.99.

Got your attention now? Excellent, read on for my review.

The basics

The ARCHOS 8 Home Tablet gets its name from the 8-inch screen, slightly smaller than the 9.7-inch screen of the iPad. It weighs in at only 400g, which makes it a lightweight alternative to a netbook. Running on an Android system, the user has the opportunity to pick and choose from an assortment of apps for your surfing pleasure.

The tablet can be used upright on a table using the inclusive kickstand, or as a handheld gadget for checking Facebook whilst watching Doctor Who reruns. You won’t be able to create documents or do anything more complicated then check up on Twitter, but what more do you expect for £130?

Budget browsing and entertainment

I’ve tested it out for a few days and there are a few aspects I really like. Reading ebooks is a joy, connecting to wi-fi and surfing is, in general, a smooth process, and slideshows and videos are fairly high quality. However, webpages are displayed in mobile format, which can be irritating on sites like YouTube when you want to search for something specific or require more advanced options.

Pros and Cons

Wins points for:

Being quick and easy to set up.
Responsive touch screen.
Ideal for casual surfing and for use as an ebook reader. The makers also suggest it’s great as an interactive cookbook (similar to the format of the Dishy iPhone app we reviewed last year)
Price. At an RRP of £129.99, it’s a fraction of the price of an iPad.

Loses points for:

Digital photo frame appearance, slightly tacky.

Not particularly transportable (check out the ARCHOS 7 for a more portable option)

A minuscule 4 GB for the £129.99

Conclusion

Whilst it lacks many of the extensive features of the iPad, it offers a decent budget alternative for your browsing and viewing needs. It’s actually cheaper than the Kindle reader, so if you’re considering buying an eReader, this might be a suitable option with extra features.

Available from:

ARCHOS for £179.99

Amazon for £148.99

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Google Android: All the newest phones

Emma Cossey — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:00:11 +0000

Since the Apple vs Android war has officially kicked off, I’d like to pledge my allegiance to Android. I’ve yet to get my paws on the newest generation of phones, but I’m an avid Google fan and the idea of buying an iPhone leaves me feeling a little blah.

After checking out what’s currently on offer, and what’s to come, I’m more than a little excited.

The HTC Magic (right) sits at the more aesthetically pleasing end of the Android scale. The HTC was the second offering from the Google Android market after the T-Mobile G1, and the improvements show.

It’s much slimmer than the G1 thanks to the removal of the QWERTY keyboard, and general reports seem to indicate a system with far more usability.

HTC are dominating the Android market at the moment. Their latest offering, the HTC Hero, is professional-looking and stylish enough to face up against Apple’s iPhone.

Following in the footsteps of the Magic and the G1, it features that ‘chin’ at the bottom that seems to be bit of a Marmite feature. The Hero’s camera is the big difference between this handset and the others, boasting a high quality 5-megapixel camera.

The search feature is a nice touch too, allowing you to search through tweets, e-mails and messages.

Samsung have recently entered the Android market with the Galaxy i7500 (right), currently exclusive to O2. Measuring just under 12mm, it’s a skinny handset packed full of features and widgets.

There have been some complaints of slow reactions on the touch screen, and a lack of customisability (a common complain with most of the Android handsets), but overall it seems to have strong reviews.

I’ll be interested to see what the recently announced i6500 Saturn will bring to the table, and whether it will fix the buggy screen.

The Motorola Dext (left) reverts to the old QWERTY keyboard, much to my fat-thumbed glee. An Android aimed at social networking fans, the handset boasts the Motoblur function to make keeping in touch even easier.

Whilst this initially wooed me, the news that it’s currently only available on Orange was a massive turn off. Rubbish signal and sitting on the phone to customer services for hours is not an appealing feature.

Sony Ericsson have finally entered the market too with the Xperia X10, the first of many headsets that will be appearing in early 2010. The handset includes a wireless stereo headset, 8.1 megapixels camera and a features called Timescape which holds all your communication for one person in one place. So in theory you can browse the texts, e-mails, tweets and facebook messages of one person at a single click.

The phone everyone is really waiting for though, is the Motorola Droid. This smartphone features a huge screen, 5-megapixel camera, and a free GPS system powered by Google.

The system is reported to be ultra fast, and many are comparing it to the iPhone for its performance.

With news of several more handsets in the works from Archos and NVIDIA, 2010 should be a very good year for Android.