Archos 70 - 250 GB Internet Tablet (Black)

by Archos

• Android 2.2, ARM Cortex-A8 1 GHz
• 8 GB integrated
• 7" TFT - Multi-Touch 800 x 480
• WiFi 802.11b/g/n, front facing camera
• 10.6 oz

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 0.6 x 4.5 x 7.9 inches ; 14.1 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00422XOEG
• Item model number: 501586
• Batteries 1 Lithium Metal batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (90 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,150 in Computers & Accessories (See Top 100 in Computers & Accessories)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 17, 2010

Product Description

Amazon.com

Redefine the way you browse the web and enjoy HD multimedia with an ARCHOS 70 internet tablet. With the latest version of Android, enjoy fast web surfing and all your favorite applications, including games with 3D graphic acceleration, all your favorite media, an eBook viewer, and more. All the functions of a computer: your apps, the Internet, video chat, your photos, music and videos actually fit inside your bag or your briefcase.

All the functions of a computer in a slim, Android tablet. Click to enlarge.

Best ARCHOS Design Yet

Slim and Light
The ARCHOS 70 internet tablet is just .55 inch thick, and weighs 14 ounces (the 8GB flash model is even smaller). It's easy to fit in your handbag or your briefcase.

Leg Stand
You can comfortably enjoy your movies or TV shows using the leg stand to prop up the player on your lap or table.

High-Resolution Screen
The wide seven-inch touchscreen, combined with a g-sensor for automatically switching landscape and portrait views, lets you experience fantastic viewing quality. The 800 x 480 pixel high-resolution display is plenty sharp, for enjoying the details. In addition to the HD resolution, the 16:9 aspect ratio is great for widescreen format video.

Connections, Connections

Android
Android is the application framework developed by Google for connected mobile devices, coming with a full pack of connected apps, such as a web browser and email application. The five home screens of the Android user interface allow advanced personalization: icons can be placed, moved, or erased with just a flick of a finger. Thanks to the home screen widgets, users can instantly access their favorite applications.

Grab all your favorite applications with the latest version of Android.

Exclusive applications for music, video, and photos.

Android on TV
Basically, this is what you see on your product screen, but ten times bigger. With its TV output, the ARCHOS 70 internet tablet displays every Android sceen on your wide screen TV. You can then browse your files or surf the Internet from your couch, not to mention enjoying some immersive 3D games.

Tethering
Want to be connected anywhere? Grab your mobile phone equipped with a data connection and Bluetooth technology, pair it up to your ARCHOS 70 internet tablet via Bluetooth (or even USB cable), and enjoy easy access to the Internet on your device anytime and anywhere. No need to pay an extra fee when you already have a data service plan. (Note: may not be authorized by your mobile phone operator or may require a special data plan option. Please refer to your contract.)

Serious Multimedia

Unique Android Multimedia Applications
On top of Android's standard offerings, ARCHOS offers its own exclusive applications for music, video, and photos. Get smooth browsing through your album covers and widgets on the home screen to give instant access to your media. Make your own music playlists, browse your songs and music by favorites, or by files recently played or added.

ARCHOS also makes your life easier by supporting audio and video formats beyond the standards supported by Android. It can even display subtitles and alternate audio tracks, all you have to do is drag, drop, and play.

Other ARCHOS offerings include an internet-connected Photo application with 3D transitions, and the ability to sync your pictures with your Facebook, Picasa or Flickr accounts.

Portable HD Video Playback
The ARCHOS 70 internet tablet has a monster seven-inch touchscreen, for movies and TV shows in HD quality.

Share Your Pictures
Open the new Gallery application and show your latest vacation to your friends, or even share them via a wireless network.

A PC in Your Pocket

Real Web
Connect the ARCHOS 70 internet tablet to your Wi-Fi network and you will be able to do just about everything that you do on your home PC, wherever you are. You will be able to surf the full web, not a scaled-down mobile version of the Internet thanks to Flash 10 support, which let you access to all your favorite websites.

Surf the full web, not a scaled-down mobile version.

Enjoy 3D games, complete with graphics acceleration and a speedy processor.

Display web pages quickly and at full 800 x 480 pixels with a high-speed processor running at 1 GHz. The browsing experience is made even more intuitive with the Android browser. Tap a part of the text that you're interested in and the display will be automatically resized to the paragraph you want to read.

You can also easily check your emails with the Android email client, which gives you the ability to manage all your email accounts (Gmail, Yahoo!, etc).

3D Graphics Accelerator
The ARCHOS 70 internet tablet feature a graphics accelerator (3D OpenGL ES 2.0) to exploit Android 3D capabilities such as 3D games, animated interface with live wallpapers and transitions effects. You will be also able to enjoy the Android interface on your TV screen via the HDMI output. Discover a new way to play games on TV, as your device becomes your gamepad.

Google Search
All your searches are done in a simple tap on the Google search bar, which can be placed anywhere on one of the five screens of the Android interface.

Apps Galore

AppsLib
Just tap the Appslib icon on the home screen of the ARCHOS 70 internet tablet to immediately discover a large choice of Android apps to download for the widest variety of needs you might have.

Application
Want to check the weather, the latest news, your social network account or read ebooks? Simply select the app and it will be available in a couple of seconds.

Games
Additionally, this product has a superfast CPU with OpenGL 3D graphic acceleration and a g-sensor to offer you excellent performance for playing the latest 3D games found on the Appslib.

What's in the Box

ARCHOS 70 Internet Tablet (250GB), Earphones, USB Cable, Power Adapter, Quick Start Guide, Legal and Safety Notice

Product Description

Redefine the way you'll be browsing the web and enjoying HD multimedia with your ARCHOS 70 internet tablet. At home and on the go, you will always have a good reason to use and show this beautiful “window to another world”. With the latest version of Android, enjoy fast web surfing and all your favorite applications, including games with 3D graphic acceleration (rendered with its 3D hardware accelerator) or a soothing eBook viewer.All the functions of a computer: your apps, the Internet, video chat, your photos, music and videos (up to 250GB* of storage7) actually fit inside your bag or your briefcase.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 64 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Tablet - But Needs to be Frustration Free. Here's how: March 15, 2011

By Diane C. Tycangco

Amazon Verified Purchase

I am writing this review because I don't want future Archos 70 owners to experience what I went through. I have had it for a week now and have contemplated throwing it down a deep ravine. Finally, thank God, I was able to get it to work. Here's how:

1. Firmware must be updated to latest version - my Archos would connect and disconnect with the internet continuously. I thought it was because of a weak signal, but it is a firmware problem. How can you update the firmware when you can't download it online because your Archos wifi does not work? In the Archos website, they have instructions on what to do using your desktop/laptop.

a. Download the latest firmware into your desktop/laptop.

b. Connect the Archos 70 to your desktop/laptop using the USB to micro-USB cord supplied. The Archos 70 will then ask you if you want to mount it to your desktop/laptop. Say yes.

c. Open My Computer on your desktop/laptop. It should recognize the Archos as an additional hard drive.

d. Copy the firmware you just downloaded on the desktop/laptop by pasting it on top of the Archos icon on the desktop/laptop. It will then load onto the Archos. When it is done, un-mount it on the Archos 70 then pull out the cord.

e. It will then ask you to plug the Archos 70 into the wall. It will do some other stuff and then you are done.

By the way, it is helpful to look at the "More Info" section of the download webpage. It shows you all the different versions of the firmware, when they were "issued" and what improvements they are supposed to make. This way, you can see how old your firmware is and what it is supposed to do.

2. Upload Android Market and Flash Player - the pictures won't come up on the websites I went to. Buttons would be missing. Flash is not on the Appslib on the Archos 70 because Archos is not yet certified by Adobe to have Flash Player.

I found the solution on YouTube. See link below.

You have to follow the steps exactly. Your Android should be at least 2.2 Froyo. Anything older and you have to install Android 2.2 Froyo on your machine, which is a very complicated process.

If your Archos is already on Android 2.2 Froyo, this is what you have to do.

[...]

I would like to thank the person who posted this on YouTube. Here are his steps:

a. Go to Settings - Repair & Formatting

b. Reset Android - ok

c. Reboot - do not shut off Archos and then turn on. You must pick the "reboot" option

d. Startup Wizard comes up - go through the whole process, including connecting with your wifi.

e. Reboot - same as c.

f. Go to Appslib icon on home page

g. Type "arctools" (with no quotation marks) and install

h. Open Arctools

i. Click on "Default Apps & Market b 2.2.7"

j. Click on "Install apps"

k. Reboot - same as above

l. Market app icon should be on your home page, click on it and create your new Google account if you don't have one;

m. Search for Adobe Flash 10.1, download and install

3. Go into Browser App

a. click on Options "button" on right side on screen (four white lines),

b. pick "More", "Settings" and check "Load Pictures".

I don't know why it defaults to "no" which is really stupid.

4. By the way, if you download Flash from another source into your desktop/laptop and are thinking of copying it into your Archos, you need to do a special step. After your download Flash onto your desktop/laptop, make a copy of it but change the extension from .zip to .apk on the copy. You can then mount your Archos like before and paste the copy like normal. Be sure to paste it into the Files - Downloaded area or else you cannot install it into the Archos. Un-mount, and then touch the Flash file you just pasted into the Archos and it should start to install. If you don't change the extension from .zip to .apk, it will just say "cannot open file" and you can't do anything.

This caused me a lot of frustration.

5. One more thing. If after all this, you still cannot listen to stuff on the website, contact the website and ask how you can listen on an Android device (tell them which version). They might direct you to another website that carries their "station" for Android users.

After all this suffering, I love my Archos 70!!

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Device! January 3, 2011

By E.C.

For starters let me just say that I'd love to rate this a 5 as it meets all of my requirements for a portable media player that just so happens to have access to the net (internet activity was not what I purchased this for). 5 stars would mean a perfect product and I have yet to stumble upon one; even from Apple.

PROS

- LARGE storage! As long as Archos continuous to give customers a choice on large capacity players they will remain in business; companies are forgetting that's people's library of media is only increasing not decreasing

- Support for a ton of video including hi def rips (ie. MKV and H.264 with subtitles)

- Music layout is pretty darn good

- Multi-touch screen is responsive, maybe not as much as an Apple product, but it does the job

- Battery lasts! Very surprised on the life of the battery before it needs a re-charge

- Great e-book reader (with access to Kindle and Nook readers from the market)

- Impressive screen

- Kickstand in the back; I can enjoy a video on my lunch break without having to hold the player.

- External speakers

- HDMI out (no longer a need to purchase silly docks to connect to a flat screen)

- Web is better than I thought. I was able to pick up my home network with ease

- Can install the Google market via hack (real easy to do)

* Don't be fooled by so-called "professional" reviews which state that the device feels cheap in your hands; it does not by any means. If anything it feels super light.

CONS

- VGA camera is a joke. I have had camera phones from years ago that were better than this

- There's supposedly a 35,000 music track limit

- Wallpaper feature, using actual personal photos, doesn't scale correctly for whatever the reason in either view

Conclusion

I had the 8gb prior (returned because I thought I could manage with the amount of storage but I needed the extra space) and for 250gb it is STILL a really light device in your hands. At about $349 you can't beat this in terms of functionality & features. For the e-book reader and web surfer get the 8gb. For the media buff (ie video, music and pictures) get yourself the 250gb as I did.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Android Tablet to date June 24, 2011

By D. MATRANGA

Amazon Verified Purchase

I've owned this since January. I wanted an ereader that could handle moving pdf's around, without the slowness or blinking. I enjoy a lot of out of copyright materials, basically older literature, travel narratives, etc. This tablet is great for that. Much lighter than the color nook (though, that's not a bad option), does video, music, pictures, internet, a few games, word files that I've converted to pdf. I got the 70 because it's lighter and put 16gigs microSd into the side slot (I wouldn't recommend taking that in and out, as it's tricky, use the cable to transfer files, it is much easier). I've also converted a lot of text files to pdf and using those has made it an even more responsive reader. For instance, I've downloaded Ulysses to a text file, printed it to micromedia flashpaper, so now it's on my Archos as a pdf a few mbs large that I flip through it as fast as I could a desktop, or probably even the hardcover for that matter. The nice thing is that just sits in there, with the 50 or so other titles on my sd card. You might want to consider a file labeling system where the author's last name comes first, then the title, that way scrolling through the list makes a bit more sense.

There is a lot of support out there with this product and with the patient googler, most anything is possible. I've got some backgammon, a nice pdf reader (which turns the words white and the background black, basically making eye fatigue a non-issue), weiqi, a phases of the moon thing-a-ma-bob. People make fun of me for buying a French product but they are nimwits who deserve the Jobs kool-aid they are doled out in the annually emperor's new clothes style charades. It's a sorry state when there are no tablets out there for a regular user who doesn't want a dataplan or itoons or someother intrusive element. This country is just not as innovative when it comes to technology as it likes to think it is. I did like the wifi only Samsung Tablet when I played around with it at Staples a few months ago, but don't regret purchasing this handsome little bugger at all.

It also makes for a decent music player. The speakers are more than adequate; if you are in a room with a few friends, shuffle up some mp3s and let it ride. My Uncle was piqued: "What's that," he said, "looks like an oversized iphone?".

Also, the iPad is hugely over-rated. So heavy that you simply cannot hold it comfortably for long, so you are back to hunching over flat surfaces or buying a stand for it. It wasn't any faster than the Archos either, especially loading or navigating webpages. Besides with a little motion of your finger you can easily increase the size of whatever you are looking at, so tablets the iPad size are just inane tomfoolery for the product toters. And the iphone, despite being a convenient phone/internet experience, is just too small. Touching some of the weblinks, you'll accidently hit the one right next to it and boom you have to go back...the keyboard buttons closest to the edge, like the letter "P" never work either without tapping 5 or 6 times, even then it puts the letter "O" in or whatever, then you have to try and hit backspace, etc.,etc.,...I use dolphin browser on my Archos and it's been a pleasing web experience.