Version 1.7.95 – March 23th, 2010
Multimedia center: fix multimedia center sometimes not starting
Suspend: implement a deep sleep mode triggered by long press on power button that suppresses device wake up by alarms. Normal suspend behavior is preserved and triggered by a short press on power button.
System monitor: add kill all applications entry on top of the running application list for easier access
Mutlimedia: increase Archos Multimedia Library update speed for large hard drives when using MSC USB mode
Multimedia: fix some mp3 files playing with wrong sampling rate
Multimedia: fix some subtitles preventing correct video playback
Multimedia: fix compressed MKV subs sometimes not displayed
Cell phone tethering: disable TCP/IP header compression since it conflicts with some carriers
Networking: fix some DHCP issues occurring with some buggy access points on certain firmware revisions (e.g. WRT54G v5 FW 1.01.0)
Networking: fix some Wi-Fi disconnect occurring when exiting from suspend
Networking: fix Wi-Fi turning directly off when wpa_supplicant.conf file is empty
Appslib: version 1.1.6b2 of appslib is installed at firmware upgrade
Accessories: add HDMI minidock support
Archos is releasing a whole bunch of new cheap Mp3 and Mp4 players at the CeBIT 2010 consumer electronics show. Here is an overview of most of the new ones. It enables Archos to position itself as a low-cost provider of Mp3 players, with really good affordable value for retailers and to position the Archos brand broader on the market, interest people in then also checking out Archos higher end Android devices.
Here’s a 4.3″ Archos PMP, it will playback most video formats and be sold for only 99€ in Europe. This may be one of the cheapest 4.3″ touch screen PMP devices on the European and US market.
This is optimized for low power (up to 7 hours video playback on the battery), lower cost Android multimedia tablet features.
It is powered by a 600mhz Rockchip 2808 processor, does web browsing pretty well (for an ARM9 processor) and plays all video codecs at up to 720p video playback (at up to limited 2500kbit/s bitrates for 720p).
Archos is going to try to sell this device in all retail stores of the world at only $179 in the USA and 149€ in Europe (because European countries have more taxes they don’t just convert Euro prices to US Dollar prices), it may quickly become a best-seller and I think it is a great very low-cost alternative to the iPad.
For advanced users that absolutely want the fastest OMAP3440 ARM Cortex A8 800mhz processor, there is the Archos 5 Internet Tablet available today below $249 at Radio Shack http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3843254 or you might want to wait another few months (I am speculating) for Archos to release the next generations of ARM Cortex A8 or ARM Cortex A9 based tablet devices (probably also for a bit more expensive than this Home Tablet series) at all different screen sizes (I speculate and the interviews around the web point to clues towards from 3″ to 10″ Android Tablets starting at $100…)
For now, this Archos 7 Home Tablet is being released this next month or by May already and at this amazingly low $179 price for the 2GB version with MicroSD card slot. There will also be a 8GB version and maybe larger capacities for slightly more expensive. It also has a mini-jack to composite video-output using the headphones jack and micro-USB to USB host features built-in. The built-in stereo speakers are very decent for movie watching and the 7″ 800×480 resistive touch-screen is just very fine and does allow for fast text input.
Archos is still working on the Android software optimizations, it comes with special video player, audio player and file explorer applications by default. My guess is that the Google Marketplace could be hacked to work onto it by the open development community at http://forum.archosfans.com
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