The performance of these Texas Instruments processors is very relevant to us Archos Fans. In this video I interview Atul Aggarwal, Director of Product Marketing at Texas Instruments, about the performance, hardware acceleration, software support for their awesome OMAP3 series of processors.
Android 2.1 is thus said to have been “available for developpers” just only about 2 weeks ago and it is demonstrated to run beautifully on both OMAP3430 based Zoom2 and the OMAP3630 Zoom3 development devices.
OMAP3430 is similar to the more powerful OMAP3440 that Archos is using in the Archos 5 Internet Tablet with Android. Thus I try to get some informations from the Texas Instruments representative about which kinds of hardware acceleration limits in terms of Video playback and 3D rendering and other graphics accelerations that we might see in firmware updates. Of course the firmwares that Archos can release for us do not have to feature all the latest from Texas Instruments, but the latest stuff that TI can demonstrate, logically Archos engineers might also be working with those tools for our firmware updates.
Not that I am able to exactly confirm what kinds of hardware acceleration upgrades and Android upgrades we might get in the next firmwares, but I can tell you that I heard lots of very exciting stuff from the Texas Instruments engineers and product managers at the Mobile World Congress, as I was there to film 55 video interviews for my other site http://ARMdevices.net
I am meeting with Archos soon, the CeBIT is coming up in just one week and I will be there filming 50 videos as well. So look forward to more very exciting updates on the hardware acceleration updates for Archos Android that are coming!
Ameet Suri, Strategic Marketing Manager at Texas Instruments, explains some of how Texas Instruments is working with Archos on powering the awesome Archos 5 Internet Tablet series running Android, what kind of work goes into it, he tells a bit about how TI supports Archos and how Archos innovates impressively in the industry.
This is one of about 55 videos that I filmed for my other site at http://armdevices.net at Mobile World Congress 2010 last week in Barcelona.
I spoke with the Texas Instruments people a lot off camera as well about Archos, and I think there is a lot of very interesting updates that you can be looking forward to coming up. For more ideas about what type of Texas Instrument technologies you may look forward for Archos to implement look for my upcoming OMAP3440 video running Android 2.1, comparing it to the 1ghz 45nm performance of OMAP3640 and also check out my amazing OMAP4 video, even look forward to my Texas Instruments nHD DLP Pico Projector video.
According to the Archos 5 Internet Tablet with Android firmware changelog:
Version 1.7.77 – February 19th, 2010
Cell phone tethering: now propose both DUN and PAN bluetooth profiles if phone supports it and select DUN as default one
Cell phone tethering: properly clear former settings to avoid migration issues with new tethering infrastructure
System: fix device not entering in suspend mode after being mounted on PC with USB
Video: fix MPEG4 streams in MP4 files sometimes had wrong aspect ratio
Music: fix .MP4 genre was sometimes not recognized correctly
Playlist: add support for “PLS+XML” mime type in Archos Media Center
Android: prevent going fullscreen when an application change its window attributes
Developers: fix ADB/DDMS screenshot feature in landscape
* Cell phone tethering: add DUN and PAND bluetooth support for connection and automatic detection
* Cell phone tethering: add one click enable/disable shortcut in “Power control” widget
* System Monitor: a new application to kill background processes, list system alarms responsible of waking up the product and “wakelocks” preventing device to sleep.
* GPS diagnostic: a new application to monitor satellite reception levels
* Storage: add FAT32 support for internal storage, with capability to reformat device in FAT32 (settings>about device->repair and formatting tools options). Note that if you choose to reformat your device in FAT32, file size will be limited to 4GB which is incompatible with most of the full length HD movie file size. Use of FAT32 filesystem format is not recommended for hard disk based products.
* Archos Media Center widget: faster launch of media center applications
* Video: allow volume autogain for files played from a network shares
* Video: fix some MP4, WMV9 HD and MPEG1 files not playing
* Calculator: add clear button in menu
* File browser: file overwrite does not freeze UI anymore
* Keyboard: fix a wrong letter in Android russian keyboard
* System: fixes device power off when time is changed in the past
* System: better handling of media center application restart
Just like a PC, the ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet can be freely programmed in alternative ways in addition to the applications that can be created for the Android platform. To have total control of your Internet Tablet, ARCHOS has opened up this device, thus allowing creative minds to program their own tablet, or create what could be the tablet of the future.
Skilled developers and programmers can now choose to switch over to a true standard Linux environment as offered by the Ångström Linux distribution. Developers can put this on their ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet devices and join other enthusiasts who are experimenting with various ideas and interfaces based on the Linux operating system.
Read more about the Special Developer Edition firmware for the Archos 5 Internet Tablet on: archos.com
Here is a video that shows you how easy it now is to install the full Google Marketplace experience on your Archos 5 Internet Tablet with Android with the new firmware 1.7.33 that awesomely integrates a whole bunch of the Android 1.6 software features from Google that optimize everything better for Archos’s larger screen:
When Archos released it’s first Donut (Android 1.6) firmware, those who installed it noticed a great new feature… Screenshots!
With the press of a button, users could capture their screens to PNG files, making it easy to describe new apps or illustrate blogs like this one.
But that firmware was quickly pulled for bugs in the browser and, most likely, for other reasons (like the developer code left in the release, including the screenshot functionality).
However, when the proper firmware release of Donut debuted yesterday, some users were sorry to see that screenshots were a no-show.
So, here comes Devo, the same hacker who brought us the first simplified Market hack for Donut, to the rescue!
It’s not an app but a simple script that will allow more adventurous users to grab screenshots off the device when tethered via a USB connection to a PC, Mac or Linux box. Here’s the original forum thread and a complete how-to guide, as well as the links to the files you’ll need.
Devo harnesses some built-in developer functionality in the A5A and combines it with the scripts, drivers and files you’ll need to get great PNG screenshots on the Archos SSD, HDD or even right to your PC.
Be advised that this requires getting an ADB connection working with your Archos, a special developer’s mode that some users have problems getting going especially on 64 bit Vista and Windows 7 PCs.
But if you’re wanting some of that screen capture mojo back and you’ve got a little knowledge and the patience, then Devo’s got your hookup!
M4rk3t and Devo have released solutions for installing the full Google Marketplace including the Google Apps such as Gmail, Maps and Listen onto the Archos 5 Internet Tablet with Android. Devo’s hack was released a week ago in this thread which required the ADB debug method to work.
Now, M4rk3t is back with an even easier solution! M4rk3t has combined all the hackings required in one simple .apk file that simply needs to be manually installed to unlock all the Google Experience goodness!
That is, until Google hopefully soon officially allows Archos to include all the Google apps including the Google Marketplace on this device.
It is to be said that Archos 5 Internet Tablet with Android probably supports more than 95% of all Android apps of the Google Marketplace just fine, even though Archos is the first Android device and still the only one on the market with a 4.8″ medium density WVGA 800×480 touch screen, and even though Archos comess as the cheapest Android device on the market selling at only $249 unlocked without contracts at Radio Shacks in the USA, even though Archos does not come with Compass, 3G and a camera, but instead supports hard drive storage, USB host, video inputs, HDMI output, all video and audio codecs up to 720p, even H264 high profile videos (maximum bitrate supported needs to be tested with the latest 1.7.33 firmware).
What’s new in this version?
New Android 1.6 “Donut”
- Optimization of applications on the high-resolution screen of the ARCHOS 5 IT
- New “Quick Search” to find your Apps, Music, Contacts, and browsing history and get suggested search results as you type
- Easy access to battery saving features (wifi, screen, gps, etc.) show me
New version of office documents viewer (ThinkFree Mobile 1.2)
Since this firmware is based on a new version of Android, after the update, you will be prompted to reset your device configuration. It is highly recommended to do so. The extra applications that you may have installed will need to be re-installed, but your multimedia files will not be affected.
Android 1.6 “Donut”: quick search box, power control widget, battery usage indicator screen, WVGA screen native support, VPN
ThinkFree Mobile 1.2: double-tap zoom in PDF, miscellaneous bug fixes and speed improvements
Video: add automatic gain control option for sound in Video Player
Video: fix support for MJPG files
Video: improve youtube playback support
Music: add support for .mp2 files
Music: allow to play shoutcast .PLS files from the web browser
TV: improve image centering in Video Player when using DVR Snap-on
Android: fix touch screen offset experienced in some applications due to presence of Archos status bar
Keyboard: add up and down arrow keys in Android keyboard (press “?123″ to get it)
Keyboard: add “OK” key in Android keyboard (long press on “Return” key to get it)
GUI: improved Archos Widget layout on TV
Storage: correct random hard disk disconnection while playing music or video
Network: fix UPnP and network sharing not working on Wi-Fi access point not complying with Wi-Fi power saving standard specification
Network: add an option to disable power saving at the expense of battery life for a specific access point at first association to cope with some buggy Wi-Fi access points
Network: fix archos multimedia application sometimes failed to access the network
Alarm Clock: fix alarm could not be set when android multimedia library was off
System: use Android default notification sound when android multimedia library is off
System: add accelerometer calibration in Startup Wizard
Archos briefly released the 1.6 firmware yesterday, but they found out that it had somekind of bug, so they pulled it temporarily to get it fixed.
An official source at Archos is telling me that I should communicate you the following warning:
People that were early to see this firmware and who upgraded to it, are requested to please not try to downgrade to firmware 1.4.16 from it.
ppl that are already on 1.6.x (donut) not to downgrade to 1.4.25, it is possible but a painfull process coz at the start nothing will work
The new Android 1.6 firmware brings a lot of new optimizations, including a new better video decoder that improves H264 HD playback, faster Archos Media Center and better integration of Archos multimedia features into Android, the first official support by Android of Archos superior screen size and resolution which hopefully will soon lead to official support of the Google Marketplace, WiFi connection seems faster, Bluetooth connections might have been improved, overall readability of all Android features are better optimized for the screen size and resolution, and of course it has plenty of bug fixes.
There will be a new Google Marketplace hack available soon until hopefully soon Google officially allows Archos to include it by default.
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