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In my previous post, I wrote an overview of the Archos 7 Internet media tablet.  In this post I’ll take a closer look at the tablet’s Web browsing and internet media features.

WiFi

All of the Archos 7’s Internet features work over WiFi.  Setting up the  connection was easy and the connection was reliable.

Web Browsing

When you register the Archos 7 and do a software update, it gives you a free copy of the Opera Web browser.   This version of Opera supports tabbed browsing and has limited Flash support (more on that later).  It does a pretty good job of displaying simple Web pages.  Pages with complex programming a problem for this version of Opera.  Google Maps, for example, is totally non-functional.  This is a shame because it puts much of the Web off-limits.  (Google offers an HTML version of maps which does work on the device, but it’s not a great experience.)

Overall, the Web browsing is okay, but hardly a replacement for browsing on a laptop or desktop computer.   The larger screen makes it better than browsing on a mobile phone, though.

Flash Support

Archos claims the Archos 7 can display Flash content, but my results have been mixed.  It plays some videos but not others, and when the videos do play the process is slow and prone to crashing.  Web site content in Flash appears on some sites but not others.  On some sites, when the Flash content displays, it does not appear as intended (displaying in greyscale, for example, rather than in color).  I assume this has to do with the version of Flash used on the site.  Overall, Flash support is a disappointment.

NOTE: The Archos Web site now offers an updated browser and claims it supports Flash 9 content.  I’ll install this update and post my results.

Update: Looks like I already have the latest browser.

Internet Radio

The Archos comes with vTuner software for playing Web radio.  It offers a very robust directory of terrestrial and internet-only radio stations.  It also has a directory of podcasts where you can download-on-demand an audio file  for playback.  This process works quite well and is relatively fast.  I was pleased with the assortment stations and the variety of formats.

Internet TV

The Archos also has a directory of free Internet TV.  Most of it isn’t worth watching.   You can download video podcasts, but Archos makes you purchase a $20 H.264 codec to play them.  I have not done this, so I can’t comment on the process.  I have, though, downloaded video podcasts from C|Net and Revision3, then side-loaded them using DoubleTwist (which after a recent upgrade now supports podcasts and video podcasts) and they work just fine — DoubleTwist even converts them to a compatible MP4 format.

Bottom-Line: I found the Archos 7’s internet media features nice, but not stellar.

Next, we’ll look at where the Archos7 really shines — playing digital media files.

For the past few months, I’ve had the chance to play with a really cool media tablet.  It plays videos.  It surfs the Web.  It does e-mail.  It displays photos.   It plays Internet radio and MP3s.

No, it’s not THAT tablet (you know, the one from our favorite tech orchard).

It’s the ARCHOS 7 Internet Media Tablet.

Archos makes some really interesting devices, and they’ve been doing it for years.  They made a portable digital video player before Apple released the video iPod.  Unfortunately, though the products get good reviews, they’ve never gained much traction in the U.S.  The Archos 7 probably isn’t going to change that track record, but it should.

The Archos is designed to work with Windows Media Player.  And that’s probably one reason why it hasn’t gained traction.  Fortunately, you can use doubleTwist, which I find makes it easier to manage and transfer media files to the device (but I’m getting ahead of myself).

As the name suggests, the Archos 7 has a 7 inch diagonal color LCD screen, which makes viewing videos a pleasure.  The screen resolution is 800×600, so videos are nice and crisp.

The Opera web browser, working over built-in WiFi, allows you to go to an Internet site and download audio files directly to the unit’s internal hard drive.  It’s easy to configure the internal WiFi software.  Sadly, you can’t purchase tracks from the Amazon MP3 store on the device, but you can easily download podcasts, for example (though there’s no internal podcatcher software).  The sound quality is good, though my audiophile husband says it’s not quite up to his standard.

Regarding that hard drive, you have two capacity choices: 160 and 320 GB.  (I literally couldn’t believe it when I heard the low-end iPad would only give you 16 GB of storage).

For some unfathomable reason, Archos did not include H.264 support for the device, though its available as a $20 upgrade.  Also available is a $200  add-on that lets you record TV as if it were a DVR.

If you already have a video file you want to play on the Archos 7, side-loading it from a computer over a USB cable (provided) is fairly straight-forward.  Using doubleTwist, it’s pretty much a drag-and-drop process.  It takes time, though.  A 40 mb file takes about 15 minutes, plus any conversion time that doubleTwist may need to do.  The Archos plays MP4, WMV and other formats.  It says it will play FLASH, and this was a major selling point for me, but the FLASH execution is uneven.  Some videos play while others do not.

These are some initial thoughts.  I’ll add more next time.  Until then, think about the Archos if you’re looking for a internet tablet that let’s you do more than Apple thinks you should do.

Oh, I really, really didn’t want to write this.

I tweeted this week that I will probably give in and buy an iPhone instead of a Pre.  This decision has been brewing for a few weeks now, and though the Pre has a lot going for it, I just don’t think it’s for me.

Here’s why:

• Apps – Android and iPhone have the mindshare.  Palm just doesn’t seem to be gaining traction.   For example, most of the radio stations I listen to offer a free iPhone app with streaming audio and music news.  I’d hoped the ease of Palm’s development environment would make more apps available, but I just don’t see it happening.

• Screen Size – Palm, you just made the Pre screen too darn small to be an enjoyable experience.

• Media – I want a smartphone that’s a solid media player, for both streaming and locally stored content.  The Pre is functional, but I want more than that.

And there are two, more-strategic factors:

1. You bet the farm on social media — and it isn’t what you thought it would be.  The Pre, with all its hooks into the Web, is supposed to be a social networker’s dream.  Are any of these social media phones selling well?  When I’m out of the house or office, I do want access to Facebook, LinkedIn and such, but I don’t want a phone built around them.
   
2. You’re still playing catch-up — and not making progress.  I had such high hopes for the Pre.  I hoped your CES showing this year would be impressive.  Flash would have made all the difference.  It would have drawn a line in the sand that Apple would not cross and instantly made the Droid fans weep.  But there was no Flash.  Only the Pre Plus and some games which are nice, but too little, too late.

And isn’t that the way with Palm these days?

I used to work for a company with a major operation based in Europe.  My colleagues there always wanted to hold off launching projects until they were big, elaborate and impressive.  On the U.S. side, we wanted to launch when they were good enough and quickly evolve them into something more.  The Pre seems like a great phone, and it would have been a killer product two years ago.

The Pre is impressive, it just arrived too late.  (You can thank an ill-conceived strategic separation of the company’s hardware and software units for that — it lost them years of OS development work.)

I’m not totally writing off Palm.  The Pre has some great features that are costly in the iPhone universe — like the GPS navigation (through Sprint, at least).

Palm, you can still win me back, but right now, I’m ready to move on.

Sorry.

The Wall Street Journal’s Digits Blog reported this week that Android and iPhone are still gaining marketshare, while Palm and Microsoft are losing ground.  The blog story was based on a ComScore analysis of September through December 2009 subscriber activity.

I think it’s easy to understand why Microsoft is losing ground.  Phone running Windows Mobile have never been appealing to me.  Phone manufacturers put a veneer of usability over a notoriously complex and inconsistent OS.  One of my neighbors has a Windows Mobile phone, and though — to be fair — he likes what it does, he reports quirks like he can’t get rid of old profiles for Bluetooth headsets he no longer uses.

Likewise, I can understand why Palm is losing marketshare it once held with older Palm OS devices like the Treo.  They were awesome in their day, but that time is long past.  Sadly, it looks as if the Pre and Pixi, with their slick WebOS aren’t gaining enough traction.  More on that in my next post.