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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.

A new report from comScore found that users of high-end smartphones are heavy users of mobile media and the mobile Web.

iPhone and Android owners report using a lot more mobile media than other smartphone or mobile phone users.  In fact, at 80%, it seems that one of the main uses of their phones is for mobile media.

This isn’t surprising for the iPhone, which began life as an iPod — playing audio and video.  It’s pretty surprising for Android, though.  I’m also surprised that Blackberry users aren’t consuming more media.  I guess they are too busy reading all those crackberry e-mails.

Palm Barely Scores

There’s some bad news for Palm in this report — only 2% say they intend to buy a Pre.  There’s still time to turn this around and create more buzz for the Pre, but if Palm has to produce a really nice update of the Pre at CES.

I recently came across a review by Walt Mossberg of the Sprint/Samsung Instinct.  I’ve admired Mossberg for years, and always found his reviews to be insightful, but his review of the Instinct was a disappointment on many levels.

First, Mossberg spends most of his time (in both a blog post and video review) lauding the yet-to-be-released iPhone 3G.  While the Instinct is clearly positioned as a iPhone competitor, I think a product review should focus on the merits of product under review.  That review can include a comparison of a market-leading product, but in my view, it’s bad form for the entire review to be such a comparison.

Mossberg, by writing his review entirely in the context of the 3G iPhone, misses several strong selling points for the Instinct including:

1. GPS with turn-by-turn directions,
2. Streaming media (TV and radio)
3. Voice Command for local GPS-assisted search and voice dialing
4. Ability to shoot and playback digital video

The Instict also gives users software for transferring music, photos and videos from a pc to the Instinct.  Mossberg dismisses the Instict’s digital music playing features, saying they are incompatible with Apple’s format.  Isn’t every other media player on Earth incompatible with Apple’s format?

You can read Mossberg’s review on Allthingsd.com and watch is video below:

Just a decade ago, your mobile phone let you talk to someone — and that was it.

Today, our phones allow us to do much, much more.  We can:

1. Send text messages
2. View Web sites
3. Play music
4. View and send e-mail
5. Get GPS directions
6. Take pictures (and send them to others)
7. and even let us watch TV.

Mobile phones are just two-way radios, they’re sophisticated hand-held computers.  And I’m not just referring to iPhones, Treos, Blackberry devices and Windows Mobile smartphones.  As mobile networks become more powerful, our mobile phones are doing more for us.

Thanks to MP3s and digital video, our media has become mobile — moving with us as we go about our busy lives.

In this blog, we’ll look at some of the most interesting aspects of this “mobile convergence.”  Thanks for coming along for the ride.