Archos 5 32GB Internet Tablet Android

Brilliant device for what it does well - I have TWO of them - one for me and one for the kids - and for my needs it gets five stars for - BUT ... it has really limitations which could be real deal breakers for some people - see bottom of review.

It is a brilliant PMP for videos and for recording TV (if you stump up extra - see below) - and is still better than any other device currently available for these features. But bear in mind this is over a year old since release and technology moves fast. Be aware you will need to PAY EXTRA to leverage these features.

Other bits it does pretty reasonably.

Some bits are not so slick or absent if compared to a new (past 6-9 month old smartphone).

If you get it primarily as a PMP and are prepared to stump up extra - and think of the other bits as frippery you won't be disappointed.

PROS

It will RECORD from your TV / Satellite box.
This is a UNIQUE feature of this device - as there are plenty of other players out there that are cheaper. This is perfect for me - BUT you will need to pay £70 or so for the docking station (which also doubles as a fast charging stand). Makes some people unhappy, but a lot of people only ever play stuff they've downloaded (legally I'm sure) off the net and so they aren't paying out for something they don't need.
For me it's brilliant, I record stuff on Sky+ (UK satellite hard drive) and then record several programmes overnight for my commute. Even more useful to have a whole load of the children's programmes available on tap for car/train/plane journeys.
32gb is a nice size and you can double the memory with an extra micro SD memory card if you want - especially as the price for memory cards is pretty reasonable now.
It is flexible in offering you different record rates (1000-2500 kbps) to control the size of the output file and you can output the video onto your TV - though I don't use this as we have a 37" hidef screen which doesn't upscale the standard definition output and so the video on the large screen looks blocky. Having said that, however, if you had the small video dock (cheaper and more portable than the docking station) it would be perfect if you are a regular traveller and stay in hotels where the in room TV is smaller and standard definition. I don't have one but the clip on video dock will output but NOT record.
Transfer the videos onto your laptop / netbook and they should play fine - mine do with no problem at all (Windows XP VISTA and 7).
The kickstand is a really useful feature for on the train and leaves both hands free for sandwiches, coffee etc
Plays videos really nicely, and the screen is really nice. The sound is mono from the speaker but pretty reasonable.
BUT you need to pay extra for some codecs, which makes some people unhappy - but the product would have cost them £10 or so more in the first place if it would have come with it out of the box so will benefit more people than not on balance.

It is great for text / pictures internet sites and perfect for reading blogs, newspapers. The screen is a good size and nice quality for this and the machine is pretty light without a magnetic hard drive so no arm strain after protracted reading.
Big caveat that it WILL NOT DO YOU TUBE / FLASH SITES so it's no use if these are your prime internet use.
One really useful feature - if you shell out for the Video Dock (not the clip on option) - is you also get a little remote control that you can use to surf the web and watch it on your tv. It isn't hugely high quality - spongy rubbery keys - but it does have a little round cursor pad and cursor keys which you can use to move the mouse around and navigate the page.
Formats things pretty reasonably for reading on the machine and you can zoom in and out pretty reasonably.
IT DOES NOT DO PINCH AND ZOOM - but actually not a huge loss most of the time (when you touch screen to scroll the page you get a little plus / minus option come up in the bottom right of the screen which quickly disappears after you finish scrolling.
It is okay for acquiring Wifi signals but not as good as your laptop / netbook is eg 1 floor up and one room across wifi signal cuts out - one floor up one room across sideways and wifi signal is fine.
I have no problems logging onto my current 2011 issue router (free with my ISP) nor my old 2007 model Netgear wifi router - but there are reports of some people having difficulty accessing their router due to the security protocol.

Plays photo's and music pretty nicely.
Not as slick as the wife's iPhone interface and you can't really do playlists very easily - but music is really a side note for me. If I wanted this to be primarily a music player I would get something else! However it plays downloaded (and recorded MTV) music videos great.
I only ever use JPEG but is fine for my 12mp files though takes a little time to load.

It has a little kickstand so you can use this as a photoframe (which I only just saw somebody else mention and it's a great idea).

It is okay for reading word documents and PDF's but you wouldn't want to do more than cursory browsing in an emergency.

It has a radio for those times where you want to hear the news or sports results etc - but if you are one of those people that doesn't like to register for things bear in mind that this feature is a freebie that they "give" you as a gratuity for registering with them (activates after registration).

Has a couple of half decent games for entertaining the kids aged 5 and 8 but they aren't famous ones - but okay to pass the time if you are done watching video listening to music, don't have internet access (no 3g and so you need wifi access) and don't want to listen to the radio.

Music and Video codec support is pretty good.

Current build for me is stable (there are reports from earlier in the product cycle of this being an issue).

CONS

1. NO YOU TUBE & BBC iPLAYER
Not a dealbreaker for me as I have a netbook, laptop and android 2.2 touchphone for these if I need them - though would be really nice if it did them.
2. NO ANDROID MARKETPLACE
The ARCHOS version (Appslib) is ho-hum at best. Android on this machine is an old version 1.6 which was reasonable at the time of release but they won't be releasing any newer versions to correct this. Android Marketplace (equivelant of Apple App Store) on my phone is great though - so if you need this
3. NO CAMERAS
I'm happy with the camera on my phone and have a proper camera and so don't need this but it's probably a really important missing feature for a lot of people.

Currently excellent value for Video Player that does a little internet and music but really depends on your needs and wants.

All in you pay £150 for 32gb machine plus £70 for video dock and £10 or so for extra video codec support (the original set with the machine is pretty reasonable actually) plus micro SD expansion if you want it - current amazon prices are £16 for a 16gb card and £54 for a 32gb card.

Compare that to iPod touch 32gb 4th gen currently listing for £220 or £289 for the 64gb version.
Pinch and zoom nice on that and plays You Tube and much nicer music interface but I can't record telly films or music onto it and need to stump up extra for all the goodies iTunes offers.

If you get it and accept the caveats then you won't be disappointed the hardware feels high quality and really nice in your hand.

what an amazing little gadget. Downloaded Google market (market4archos.zip), transferred it to my archos, opened it,wow! downloaded Kindle, now I can read my amazon ebooks on my Archos,watch movies,BBC i-player files,surf the net,e-mail. I'm impressed.
Update July 2011. Have been using my Archos 5 for 8 months now, still really pleased with it. It can play FLAC music files and Spotify works as well. I bought a pair of Sennheiser headphones to use with it great sound quality.

This is a great piece of kit, but be warned, you will probably be disappointed when you first take it out of the box. It originally kept crashing for me, but after a string of firmware updates it now works perfectly. The screen is a brilliant size, and much clearer than you'd expect for a product of this size. It is simply brilliant.