The Archos 2 PMP may not have the Android OS we’ve all been patiently waiting for, and neither does it have the nifty touchscreen interface of its 3 Vision sibling, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a reasonable, budget media player. Generation MP3 have one in to review – in a hue unpleasantly bordering on puce – and have found that while the Archos 2 may not embody all the innovation we’ve come to expect from the company, it does hit the right price spot.
Video overview after the cut
Archos brought their PMP and tablet roadshow to the UK today, revealing not only pricing and availability for the upcoming Vision mediaplayer range but details of their Android MID. The Vision range – which currently includes 2-inch and 3-inch touchscreen models – will land in the UK in August; meanwhile, Archos reconfirmed that their Android MID will make its debut on September 15th.
After Palm’s big moment last weekend, Apple once again seized the headlines with their WWDC 2009 keynote on Monday morning. We showed up to liveblog the whole announcement, expecting a new smartphone, and the company delivered in the shape of the iPhone 3G S – twice the speed, twice the storage, and the same styling as the iPhone 3G – together with a launch date for iPhone OS 3.0. However, Apple weren’t content with just that: they also brought along a new MacBook Pro range complete with integrated batteries; check out our video unboxing and first-impressions.
Archos’ press event yesterday fell short of delivering the Android tablet many had suspected was on the cards, but CEO Henri Crohas did spare a few words in his keynote about the company’s Android development. What they did announce was the Archos 9 PC Tablet, and ArchosFans were on-hand to grab a video demo.
More details, plus Archos 9 video demo after the cut
The Archos 9 PC Tablet isn’t the only touchscreen product to arrive from the company today; there’s a much smaller finger-friendly screen on the Archos 3 PMP. The Archos 3 has a 3-inch touchscreen and 8GB of flash memory for up to 4,000 songs.
The Archos press event was today, but contrary to our expectations the company didn’t take the opportunity to whip out their Android tablet. Instead, they brought this behemoth: the Archos 9 PC Tablet, an 8.9-inch touchscreen UMPC running Windows 7 on an Intel Atom Z515 1.2GHz processor.
Updated with full specifications after the cut
The SlashGear team have been surprisingly mobile this week, with part one of our Lincoln MKS road-test, and toting Sprint’s version of the MiFi 2200 portable EVDO hotspot around. We still found enough time to get frantically excited about the Palm Pre, though, which we now know will launch on June 6th for $199.99.
That excitement is tempered with the ongoing rumors that stocks may be severely curtailed on launch day. Not only have Best Buy and RadioShack insiders been talking of minimal handset numbers come June 6th, Sprint’s own CEO is warning that the Pre will likely be in short supply for the first couple of months. The concern is that all of Palm’s momentum since CES back in January could fizzle out, as Apple are expected to announce a third-generation iPhone two days after the Pre’s launch.
Archos have announced a press event to be held on June 11th in Paris, France. While there’s no actual written confirmation of what the event might be about, the shadowy PMP/MID device visible on the invite and the bright green color-scheme has led to speculation that it concerns Archos’ Android-based Internet Media Tablet (IMT) phone.
The company announced that they would be developing an Android device back in February, with the IMT measuring just 10mm thick and having a 5-inch high resolution touchscreen. Connectivity will include not only WiFi, like existing PMPs from Archos, but 3.5G HSUPA/HSDPA for up to 7.2Mbps downloads.
Coincidentally the company’s second strand of their 2009 financial recovery plan, our second Archos post of the day concerns their Archos 10 netbook. Freshly unboxed over at NetbookNews.de, the first netbook from the PMP company seems to hold its own against rivals from ASUS and Dell.
Considering part of their plan for 2009 is to produce more entry-level PMPs, we shouldn’t be too surprised to see the Archos 2. A compact 8GB or 16GB media player, capable of playing MP3, WMA, WAV, AVI and JPEG files, the Archos 2 PMP is just 9mm thick and weighs 50g.
SlashGear Japan
