Version 1.1.01 - October 28th, 2008

New:

System: Use suspend mode for faster start-up (One can still perform full shutdown by pressing ON/OFF button for 4 seconds)

Accessories: FM Remote supported (http://www.archos.com/products/imt/archos_5/accessories.html?p=fmremote)

Video: Can now play H264 and AAC codecs in FLV streams (Plug-ins required)

Web: On TV, the page scrolls when moving the mouse to the top or the bottom of the screen

Virtual Keyboard: Can do Caps Lock with a second click on “Shift”

GUI: Full Screen Clock is now displayed only when in Standby or in the Home Screen

Bug fixes:

Music: Resume was not working with FLAC files

Music: There were some audio drop-outs with high-bitrate FLAC files

Music: The download pause/resume menu was not consistent with the actual download state

Video: Resume was not available after quitting the player using the Home button

Video: Sometimes video playback was not possible after using the photo viewer

Video: Sometimes the video search was very slow

Video: The device could reboot when playing a video after browsing the web

Video: The device could reboot when using “Switch to Adult” in the video browser

Web: Remote Control BACK button performed “Quit” instead of “Back”

Web: Predefined Yahoo search was not working

GUI: the list of scheduled programs was not correctly refreshed when scrolling

GUI: Background music was stopped when entering Tools>Settings>Appearance and Tools>Help

GUI: The MacOS hidden files were not ignored in the wallpaper selection

GUI: Registration and Online Firmware Update could conflict at first use

GUI: There were possible conflicts between Scheduled Recordings and Security Code request

GUI: There were possible conflicts between Alarm Clock and Security Code request

System: TV display was sometimes all pink when using HDMI output with Analog-out audio output

System: Wifi region was sometimes not right, which could make channels 12 and 13 unusable

You can discuss this firmware update at http://forum.archosfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=18593

If you understand french, check out this interview, it is really interesting.

Archos just entered the world of built-in HSDPA, which is a real revolution for Archos enabling full wireless broadband connection to your Archos including streaming of videos from the Internet from everywhere in the country. Where WiFi remains the best way to connect to the Internet while at home, at work, at school or when at open WiFi access points, but for everywhere else, HSDPA is now providing awesome built-in ubiquituous wireless broadband connectivity.

Found at http://archoslounge.net/Interview-video-d-Henri-Crohas,8458.html

ArchosLounge.net posts info and images:

http://archoslounge.net/Archos-5g-SFR-presentation,8422.html

Pricing for the Archos 5G 30GB unveiled by French second largest HSDPA carrier is as following:

449€ unsudsidized in France without any contract.

249€ subsidized with following contracts:
19€ per month for “unlimited” HSDPA data, 20 unlimited streaming TV channels including pay access to pay-per-view channels such as Canal+, 1 free movie on the Média Club and 5 free songs in the Média Club as well.
+5€ per month if you want to limit the contract at 12 months instead of 24 months.
+5€ if you don’t have a voice plan on a separate cell phone with that specific carrier.

Source as well: http://silicon.fr/fr/news/2008/10/23/mid__archos__eeepc___sfr_mise_sur_les_terminaux_connectes

You can discuss this at http://forum.archosfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=18333

Chris Pirillo did a live unboxing of it in front of about 600 people at 11.21PM Seattle time, he is going to test the DVR Station next, try connect it to his Tivo system, see if he can get the list of digital channels in the electronic program guide.

So we’ll look forward to more coverage by Chris Pirillo, I think he is one of the biggest geek technology influences of the silicon valley and he has for the past couple of years been building his own Technology TV station streaming live 24 hours a day using Ustream with 8000 members of his community and hundreds of people constantly viewing his live show at http://chris.pirillo.com/live/

This recording of the live Archos 5 review was posted at http://ustream.tv/recorded/807108

You can discuss this review at http://forum.archosfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=18452

Check their review out at http://pocketables.net/2008/10/review-archos-5.html

Rob Enderle says that Archos 5 is product of the week: http://technewsworld.com/story/Apple-and-Google-Try-to-Remap-Laptop-Smartphone-Landscape-64848.html

I’ve been a fan of Archos for years. The new Archos 5 and soon-to-be-released Archos 7 offerings, from a hardware standpoint, are simply amazing.

Price announced so far for the Archos 5G 30GB at SFR in France is 279€ with a 29€ per month HSDPA data subscription.

No details yet about the specifics of the minimum length required or the 29€ per month subscribtion, no details yet if this includes their unlimited music service, their IPTV over HSDPA service, their unlimited SMS messages, if this includes some monthly access to certain video content on a customized Media Club, no detail yet if this includes a USB HSDPA key that can also be used within the same subscription on another device. No details yet if that price includes also the DVR Station IMT, which plugins it might come pre-installed with. Also no details yet if all the features of the Archos 5 are also available on the Archos 5G by SFR, such as full video codecs streaming support on HSDPA as well as on WiFi.

The official date for the SFR official press event is on the 23rd of October in Paris, on that date, we should be able to learn more about this first subsidized Archos 5G HSDPA carrier distribution agreement, which may set the stage for the kind of agreements that we should as well see in other countries soon once other carriers announce that they will distribute the Archos 5G to their customers and to attract new customers on their HSDPA networks.

Thanks to http://jbmm.fr/2008/10/19/archos-5-3g-by-sfr-les-prix/ for the info..

Pocketables did some comparative testing of the Archos 5 web browser with the other main competitors that are Apple iPhone 3G and the Nokia N810: http://pocketables.net/2008/10/website-load-ti.html

They conclude that the Archos 5 browser is at least double as fast as the iPhone and N810 browser on many different types of websites.

Archos 5 browser support most AJAX and Flash contents which are very present on most websites.

Archos 5 provides 25% larger screen size then the Nokia 810 and double the amount of screen size compared to the iPhone. 2.5x the amount of pixels compared to the iPhone. All that in about the same footprint:

One thing that I think would be great for Archos to add in the web browser, is a scrolling momentum flick effect just like it currently has in other sections of the interface, such as currently when browsing long lists of files.

Archos just released this awesome firmware version 1.0.87 at http://archos.com/support/support_tech/updates.html?country=global&lang=en

It fixes the WiFi disconnect bug, a few other bugs and ads Ogg and Flac audio codecs support which is awesome!

Version 1.0.87 - October 13th, 2008

New features:
Music: Can now play OGG/FLAC files
Music: improved battery autonomy during music playback
System: Improved USB speed
Video/Web: Can now play Flash (VP6) and MPEG-2 videos with resolution up to 800×576
Accessories: Helmet Cam supported
PDF: Can now create Home Shortcuts from the PDF browser

Bug fixes:
System: Wifi was hanging after some random time
System: USB host (PTP mode) connection was not always working
Video: Image was not always centered on the screen
Video Recording: Sometimes video preview was stuttering after a while
Video Recording: Default settings were not always taken into account
Web: Improved image quality for analog TV output (PAL & NTSC)
Media Club: Fixed zoom mode in HDMI 720p
Media Club: Resume was not working in the download manager
PDF: Fixed many user interface bugs, especially in TV out
GUI: Wallpaper was not centered in TV output mode
GUI: The device could hang when exiting the TV Control screen after the EPG setup
GUI: The device could reboot when deleting an opera widget
GUI: Caps Lock state on keyboard changed too quickly on long press

You can discuss this firmware update at http://forum.archosfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=18098

Archos has officially just released this awesome 13 minute video presentation of the Archos Internet Media Tablet series including a thorough overview of the Archos 5, Archos 7 features and accessories.

Post this Youtube video on your blog, suggest it to other blogs to show to your friends and to other people that you think that the Archos 5 and the Archos 7 really are awesome.

This video was released officially at http://archos.com/products/imt/archos_5/index.html?country=global&lang=en&p=guidedtour

You can discuss this video at http://forum.archosfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=18028