Apple, Archos, And Now, Cowon ( - Changing Computing

Last week, Archos did its best to show who rules the mobile tablet by comparing its new Archos 5 and Archos 7 offerings to the puny ipod Touch.  How did it do?  Aside from horrible battery issues, rather well.

Now, Engadget is reporting Cowon is doing their own version with the 4.3" or 7" touch screen, FM tuner, GPS, and TV tuner.  We're not going to be seeing this state side but it's indicative of what we're going to see going foward.

Cowon' new devices, unlike Archos' offerings which double as Internet tablets, are purely media players.  When I found out, I was a bit disappointed.  The iPod Touches, of course, run on a variant of the Mac OS X and is being offered as a new mobile platform.  However, it occur to me a new class of mobile devices with more power than smartphones and sheds any shape or manner in which traditional laptops are used is on the rise.

It'll be interest to see what else we're going to see this autumn for the Holiday Seasons and beyond with the consumer show or two and Macworld just months away.  No one knows what Apple will grace us with but it's not difficult to see more mobile players try to pry consumers away from the iPod Touches with their own media player-Internet tablet.

If anything, these mobile devices are more of a threat to netbooks because they will likely be in the same price range.  Furthermore, these new devices may usher in a new form of computing that relies exclusively on widgets and more sophisticated cloud systems like Google's online apps.

The key to the success of these devices will hinge on whether its a true mobile platform or a mistake that some device makers will certainly make:  incorporating Internet features into a media player or mashing together an Internet device with media features.

Archos Smacks Apple

If Onxo were to do a device of the week or device of the month, this would be it.  Meet the Archos 5 and 7.

This is what should be coming from Apple as far as media support goes but Archos beat them to it.  Clearly with the comparison to the iPod Touch on the website, Archos has it's sights set on the consumer.

What a lot of mobile warriors will want to know right away is the screen.  You get a choice of a 5" or a 7" touchscreen (800x480 pixels; iPod Touch has a 3.5" screen, 480x320 pixel).  Hence Archos 5 or 7 (A5, A7).  With such ideal sizes for mobile devices, what can it do?  Well, I'm going to tell you the highlights just to show you what is possible in such a small package.

When it comes the Internet, the pitch being offered against Apple's offering is "why zoom".  Archos uses Opera as its browser.  It also has a full e-mail client, widgets also courtesy of Opera, and Web TV and Radio are accessible because of Flash.

And it supports 3G if you want to stick a sim card in there.  

On the media front, he new mobile devices supports just about every format.  AVI, MPEG4, MPEG2, MP3, FLV, M4P, SWF, H.264.  And how much can you put on these bad boys?  Up to 2.5MM photos, 125K songs, 330 movies.  

The A5 comes with a 60GB, 120GB, 250GB HD.  The A7 offers up to 320GB storage (or a smaller 160GB HD).  In the past, there have been a few folks who wanted to see an iPod with a bigger screen and uses a HD for storage.  Since Apple has not made public their fall iPod line-up, we won't know for at least six to eight more weeks (October).  

When it comes to promoting the TV features, it does not bother mentioning the iPod.

• 720p HD 
• Live TV over the air, no need to Internet connection.
• Allows for timer and recording TV programs.
• DVR station to hook up to TV.

Make no mistake this is a purely entertainment mobile device.  Videos, pictures, musics, ability to receive video streams from a PC, and even games.  

The battery life is a bit of a let down.  For such a device, you want something that can last a while longer.  A lot  longer in fact.  It beats the purpose of having such a large storage but without the battery life to access it.  The iPod Touch offers 5 hours of videos and 22 hours of audio while the A5 and A7 both offers only 4 hours of video and 12 hours of audio.  

The A7 weighs in at 23 oz, 1.44 lbs while the A5 weighs in at 10.58 oz or .66 lb.  By comparison, the iPod Touch  weighs in at just 4.2 oz or .26 lb.  

By comparison, the Nokia N810 offers a 4.1" scree (800x480), 2GB storage, camera, keyboard, and weights 7.97 oz, .5 lb.

While it's doubtful that Apple (or Zune) will have to worry too much from Archos but they both need to pay attention.  They can learn a thing or two from Archos who has been doing this longer than Apple or Microsoft.  

Note:  I'm not giving up my iPhone.  As impressive as these Archos offerings are, they are not the mobile platforms Apple's mobile devices are.  I see the Archos 5 and 7 as media players with Internet features added.  

Just the same, both of the models rock.