I friend of mine just received an Archos 70 tablet (see link below) and knowing that I have an Ipad he asked if I would like to use it for a bit to get my impressions.
http://www.archos.com/products/ta/archos_70it/index.html?country=us<=en
Since there has been a lot of speculation about Android tablets around here I thought I would give my impressions after a few hours of use.
My first comment when I picked up the device was "You're telling me this thing only cost $250?". The build quality is pretty good, but certainly much more plastic feeling than the Ipad. The front facing stereo speakers are a nice touch and much better sounding than what the Ipad has. The device is super thin and light and is almost the exact same size as a Kindle.
Moving on the the device features, it has only 8GB of memory, but the real beauty is that it has an integrated micro-SD slot as well as a mini-USB port. I was able to mount both external hard drives and USB memory sticks with no issues at all. I could use multiple micro-SD cards as well. I have to admit, the external storage capability gave me more than a twinge of jealousy. I only tried playing music and movies from the devices, but the performance was fine. There is also a HDMI-out port.
The interface on the device is fantastic. Multi-tasking is enabled from the start and works in much the same way it does on iOS 4.x devices. Desktop widgets are supported (I tried stock ticker and weather widgets). Full access to system functions is available (full view and control of system processes for example). Interactive / animated wallpapers are supported which are kind of neat but probably not something I would use long term. The device is multi-touch, so pinch zooming and everything I was used to with iOS works almost the same way.
The device is able to run Flash with some exceptions. Believe it or not, the device did not turn into a pile of melted plastic when running web based Flash content. I could not perceive any noticeable slow down when viewing Flash content either. The Android 2.1 OS does not seem to support Flash 10.1 content however, so there are still things that don't work. Also, Hulu blocks access from Android based devices so you still cannot view their content (they are working on a "premium" app" for Android which explains that).
Web browsing on the 7" screen was surprisingly good. I missed the extra vertical space the Ipad gives me, but besides that browsing was easy and fast. The marketplace isn't as well organized as the App Store, but it isn't the nightmare I had come to expect from the rantings I have seen at various (mainly Apple centered) sites.
Overall, I found the device to be very nice which was a surprise to me after hearing so much about how Android based tablets suck. My impressions were quite to the contrary. How much of this has to do with custom Archos additions to Android I cannot say. I still prefer a 10" device honestly but for $250 is is amazing how much you can get. I would love to have a 10" version to play with.
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