As we already mentioned, we have been testing the Android tablet Archos 101 for a few days of which we leave you its unboxing, I think more than enough to draw conclusions from this tablet. This is a device that I really wanted to try since its specifications were announced and after having tested the Galaxy Tab and after having been using the iPad for more than 4 months.
I always say it and I think it is the most convenient, try to test the terminal before buying it. What for me may be slow, for you it may be more than enough.
All the Archos 101 specifications you have them all here Details and some tips that I think can help you when selecting a tablet can be found here. That being said, let's get to the point.
Since I said on Twitter that I had this terminal there have been many questions and questions that you have asked me, but perhaps the one that has been more than if it looks like the iPad or if it is better than the iPad. Things must be made clear from the beginning, the Archos 101 has nothing to do with the iPad, neither in hardware nor of course Android is still conveniently adapted to this terminal. They are very different devices and I personally think that the iPad is far superior to the Archos.
The part that has disappointed me the most about the French tablet has been its screen. The response time and sensitivity is not bad, but both the sharpness, the brightness, the resolution, the color contrast and the viewing angle (especially) are really very improvable. It is true that the price of the terminal is very affordable and I still believe that the quality / price ratio is very good, but within this same relationship I believe that something better could have been achieved.
As soon as you move the tablet a little from its optimal position, you can hardly see anything. This in a tablet that is a device that is normally used held by the hands and in motion, is a problem.
The design of the tablet is not in the style of others that has more square shapes, this is rectangular, I think trying to make it possible to hold it with one hand. This has its good and bad parts, and I personally prefer it more rectangular in shape. As the Archos is designed, if it is put in landscape form and we have to use the keyboard, we are practically without a screen.
The materials in which the device is made are plastics less on the back that have some metal. They are not of poor quality being a quite acceptable device.
By removing this inconvenience from the screen the Archos 101 It is what it is, an inexpensive, mid-range tablet with a series of specifications that make it interesting for those who want to surf the internet, manage emails, read Twitter, feeds, read, listen to music or watch movies, what to watch movies As long as it is through the player integrated in the system, if it is through flash the thing is regular. All this is done well but knowing that its execution is not as fast as it should be.
The operation in general is somewhat slow, the transitions between screens, the closing of applications, the opening of these is done somewhat slowly. Or at least it gives me that feeling. Surely this improves with the arrival of new versions of Android, but today it is. I have installed different launchers but the result is the same, moving the system becomes tedious.
In addition and due to the hardware it has, we do not expect that we will be able to use it in games with high resolutions and great graphics. It is a modest team.
Very useful its HDMI output to connect it to the television and be able to play on larger screens or view photos. And above all very useful its USB port to which we can connect a mouse or keyboard or even an external hard drive.
The battery behaves quite well during and the battery life is more than enough for normal use. In stanby it can last about 2-3 days, playing video around 5-6 hours and with a mixed one that I have given using it as an rss reader, email manager, Twitter and web browsing for about 3 hours a day , it can last 1,5 days or maybe a little more.
I have not wanted to say anything about the software because in this type of device and when it is most appreciated that Android is not yet optimized for tablets at all. Not the operating system and much less the applications that cannot since they do not have the tools to do so. All this will improve with the arrival of HoneyComb but today, except for the applications that Samsung adapted to its tablet and some that Archos has customized for its own, there is no application that really allows you to take advantage of this type of terminal.
To get an idea of what this tablet represents, we could say what a Htc Magic is to a Nexus One. Taking as Nexus One the tablet that Motorola and Google are preparing. If you want to have a contact with what is a tablet that includes Android and at an interesting price, this is your tablet. If you can wait a few months, and spend a little more, surely the experience will be more rewarding with the new models that will arrive.
I think the videos are made with the update to cold .54 not the last .71, because in that the micro goes to 800mhz, and in the .71 it goes to 1ghz apart from being much more adapted.
The experience changes radically, if it is true that before, games like fruit ninja were unbearable, now they do not have to envy the ipad, it is true that the hardware is nothing to write home about but currently what there is is a very good buy, the current ones tables with tregra don't run much more fluid than archos with .71.
He invited ANDROIDSIS to perform another test with the .71 update.
Yes, I have seen this morning that they have released a more optimized froyo rom. How is it going? the initial cold left a lot to be desired.
Hello Fernando. The video is true that it is with the first Android 2.2 rom and I have also installed the update for a few days. It is also true that with this new update the performance improves somewhat but I sincerely believe that the improvement, although good, continues to leave the tablet with slowdowns and with serious problems when playing streaming video via the web.
Yes, it has changed you radically, I'm glad, but being totally honest, this tablet leaves the iPad a lot to be desired in terms of the general execution of the system and the applications, that's how much it hurts many people.
I say and I continue to maintain that it is the best value for money purchase but being aware of what we buy.
I do not intend to engage in any type of controversy or anything like that but I try to be objective. Greetings and thank you
Hello,
I do not know to what extent this test is objective, I would say rather subjective. you don't have to compare two products as different as the Archos and the Ipad.
Your test is missing a few small details that differentiate the Archos from the ipad:
1 / the ipad does not have USB
2 / the ipad does not have a micro sd card slot
3 / the ipad has no other mini usb output for sync
And finally the android as you know is Open source. With the ipad you have to eat what Apple wants and it's over. Try to pass a file to the ipad from a mobile other than Apple. You now understand the difference. I want to remember that Archos made the first 4.5-inch tablet with a 250gb hard drive in 2004 when Apple had not even designed the ipad
Hello,
I do not know to what extent this test is objective, I would say rather subjective. you don't have to compare two products as different as the Archos and the Ipad.
Your test is missing a few small details that differentiate the Archos from the ipad:
1 / the ipad does not have USB
2 / the ipad does not have a micro sd card slot
3 / the ipad has no other mini usb output for sync
And finally the android as you know is Open source. With the ipad you have to eat what Apple wants and it's over. Try to pass a file to the ipad from a mobile other than Apple. You now understand the difference. I want to remember that Archos made the first 4.5-inch tablet with a 250gb hard drive and Wi-Fi in 2004 when Apple had not even designed the ipad. and all the archos tablets were also professional 48khz audio recorders. Ahh, the trends ... how much do you think? Does it cost Apple an ipad? much more expensive than an Archos?
I write to you in bed from my Archos 101. I should be working but I have allowed myself the luxury of taking the morning off. The gadget is fine for my needs. It is very possible that there are much better tablets but if the gadget lasts for 3 years I am satisfied. Greetings to all and happy holidays.
PS: Pay attention to fernando28, the update to. 71 greatly improves performance
You have already let me fly. I am looking forward to getting home to update.
Hello antocara:
I don't want to get into polemics at all 😀, and of course it has no comparison with the ipad, they play in different leagues (I think Apple is one step ahead in terms of software optimization in their terminals), although it is true that in reproduction of streaming on the web goes a bit by leaps and bounds is because the specific archos plugin for flash content is pending approval by adobe and they have not yet released it (if there is no problem it will be released in January), and we are using a generic from the market that Not everything is optimized for 101 as it should be.
Regarding the performance in general with the new update and putting it in overdrive mode, it is not that it changes little, it is that it is another tablet (without becoming like the ipad) but nothing to envy the first tegra 2 that are coming to the market for about 100 euros more.
Another point to take into account is the support from archos and the great scene behind (which is why I decided to buy this and not a tab or a mobii) that shortly after releasing the update to froyo 2.2 (version. 54) got the (.71) thus correcting many bugs of the previous one in a period of 2 weeks (this is very important to take into account).
Without further ado, I wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS and thank you for the work you do at the ANDROIDSIS for keeping us informed.
A greeting.
Well, I have it and with the last update that Fernando says it goes, I would even say, better than the ipad ...
Overall, this guide is not reliable at all.
Greetings.
I have the galaxy tab and the iPad and I don't think that tablet is superior, please, just because they have it, they think it is superior to the galaxy tab or the iPad.
Damn ... of course you can not compare the Archos with the SGTab or Ipad xq the archos is worth 280 vs 680 vs 480 euros respectively is like comparing a Seat with a Corvette. Or something like that to some the seat serves very well and to others it seems like a potato. You cannot compare they play in different leagues.
How many nonsense are heard ...
When there is a tablet with the characteristics and price of the archos 7 Internet Tablet, which is worth the same (219 euros), tell me ...
I expected a more impartial review, I don't know
it is clear that it is not the ipad but I have had the opportunity to test it and it is not as bad as in the video ...
the flash thing, archos is preparing the plugin with hardware acceleration (it is waiting for the adobe certification)
About the 3d games, I don't know which ones you have tried but any of the 3d gameloft that have come out recently work perfectly (you just have to take a walk through xda or archosfans to check it)
I only agree with you on the screen, the rest does not seem correct. But everyone has their tastes and is used to different things.
For me it is more than enough (I am waiting for one), it is not an ipad but it is not an apad either, which is how you paint it here
Hello,
I have been following the blog for a long time and I appreciate all your effort.
I bought the Archos 101 a few weeks ago, but it is a gift from kings and I have not opened it. Yesterday I went through TPH and they had one on display ... I liked it a lot in general because, as you said, it is very fine and in my opinion the response times are quite acceptable. But I left with a bad taste in my mouth and something worried ... I saw that the screen has a lattice, like vertical lines that form rectangles and that are ahead of the graphics, what is that? I have not found in any forum or blog Let them talk about it ... and I left quite upset, since the archos 7 tablet does not have that type of screen ... just like my ignorance and it is some kind of technology ... but I would appreciate if you would tell me what it is about.
Thanks. All the best!
If you look closely, all capacitive devices have this framework, although some hide it more than others. i guess it must have something to do with its capacitive ability
Good review, although the launcher theme squeaked something to me, why not leave a default one instead of choosing the android one every time you want to return to the main screen? I personally prefer the zeam launcher, the adw EX too They say that it is going very well, I see that the tablet in the review has it installed ¿??, why not leave it default, with the tablet improves a lot in screen transitions. As you say in the article, one thing is the hardware of the device and another is the soft, it is surprising to see how the tablet can go much better simply with a launcher other than the standard one.
Another very important point is to keep in mind that this tablet alone, has 256 mb of ram, you cannot open "heavy" browser-type applications, return to the main screen, open the video application, return to the main screen, view photos , launch the twitter client,… .etc without saturating the tablet and dropping performance. To take better advantage of the hardware and enjoy more of what you are doing, it is convenient to enter the system administrator and close the applications that are not in use to free up ram. There are free applications that do this in the background for us, for example configuring them to close background programs that we have not used in the last 5 minutes.
Another convenient thing is to use the tablet in overdrive mode so that it goes to 1 ghz, before this latest update it could be done with the pair z4root and setcpu, also obtaining a temporary root. I think that capping this temporary root has been key for archos to have removed this last firm so quickly.
Finally, it is expected that with the flash that will bring archos the flash performance in the browser will improve.
Summary: cons of the device: screen angles and only 256mb of ram
Pros (many things that the ipad lacks): android is a more free system, we can open a file from the explorer with the application that we want, the connections of the device including hdmi output, it reads pendrives, external hard drives, microsd cards ……. Anyway, it beats the ipad 8 and we're talking about a "mid-range" tablet)
Well, the new rom improves certain things but it still suffers from random resets and crashes.
I have been able to test the 10 mobii pov with tegra2 on the mediamarkt, which was my other option and it has disappointed me a lot. The toshiba folio, which I did not get to buy due to lack of stock, is fine, but I am not very convinced that it is much better than the archos. What I did see better in both than in the archos is the issue of the screen, of the terrible viewing angles.
In the archos you can hardly see even from the front, a shame, there it plummets.
The performance in general is good, already 1GHhz more. Bad that it does not include google apps, although they can be installed, but a normal user will not.
Flash on the web must change radically, it is impossible to see a YouTube video on the web, let them wake up.
The games, because the angry one goes to the movies, but I tried to install the need for speed shift and it told me an incompatible device, touch the c… .. for once I buy something in the market…. Less badly than in the galaxy s it goes from movie theater.
If you are thinking about buying an android tablet, or you buy this one, or the Toshiba folio 100. What is clear is that it will be a tablet only until March, when Motorola brings out its tablet with Honeycomb, which will have nothing to do with froyo.
The ipad issue, since they actually play in different leagues, it is much more fluid and it is another story, but it is that in Apple they take it for granted by layering things, neither sd, nor usb, nor flash….
Good analysis but I get the impression that the slowness could come from simply having too many programs at the same time. For example, I have the advanced task manager permanently installed on my galaxy 3 because before, my phone would freeze every two minutes. Now just turning it off for a second makes me brand new and free of open tasks.
Buaf the Tablet archos is milk
I had never thought that I could have it.
I recommend it to everyone.
It is clear that having news something will go wrong, but everything is a matter of testing it and according to what I read it is not as bad as some think.
A quite viable alternative the truth, I like the idea. It also has many possible applications.
painful technical service I've been trying since December to give me a solution to repair the tablet without any results, simply inadvisable.
how do i download android market
I have an archos 101 I do not know what happens but I can not connect the micro USB or the USB can help me my address drcgsoria @ hotmail.com
very good your youtube
Good evening, I have the archos 101 internet tablet but I could not download anything! I can't see videos on youtube as it asks me to download adobe flash player but I can't… someone could help me make the most of my tablet!
I formatted the tablet to be able to install it again because it showed memory full at all times and it always works very slow, despite removing everything and leaving it in zeros I install 3 applications and it showed the memory full again, the technical service in Bogota Colombia very bad and the solution it presents is to buy a large number of accessories to continue its operation, in the two years that I have been with it if I have been able to use it 15 times it is a lot ... I am disappointed with the brand and the product ... besides the price is competitive with other equipment with a better processor and higher performance and camera pixels because even in that a cell phone is better.
1 year with her, and sorry. Out of 10 apps in the playstore, only 2 can be installed. Device not supported in 85% of apps. With my Chinese mobile, no problem compatible with all, no problem. You have a tablet to install apps, not to have it empty. For my part, very bad buy.