Tag Archives: Archos

Archos F24 Power Feature Phone Review

August 8, 2016mobile, reviewArchos, feature phone, mobile phone, reviewAndrew

Today’s tablet-style smartphones are almost totally ubiquitous but the form factor isn’t without problems. Even basic models are expensive, the large touchscreens are easily damaged and batteries have relatively small capacities requiring regular recharges. These aren’t big limitations for suit-wearing knowledge workers but for people who spend more time outdoors, a more rugged, longer-lived and cheaper phone can be a better choice. On review here is the Archos F24 Power, a candy bar feature phone that costs less than GB£30. Let’s take a look.

Although not immediately obvious from the picture above, the F24 is a chunky phone nearly 2 cm thick. Officially it measures 129 x 53 x 19 mm and weighs in at just under 100 g. The upper surface is filled with a 2.4″ 240 x 320 pixel screen and a keypad which wouldn’t be out of place on a old skool Nokia. And that’s a good thing, as long-forgotten key presses to, say, unlock the phone, work just fine.

The screen and keypad don’t explain the phone’s bulk but the 4,000 mAh battery does. Not only does the battery give the F24 Power its size and weight, it gives phone a ridiculously long battery life: standby time is nearly two months when loaded with a single SIM. The big battery powers the F24’s other interesting features; a twin LED torch and a USB charging port. The phone itself charges via a microUSB port, but the adjoining full size USB port can charge whatever other gadgetry is running low on juice, although the output current is only 700 mA.

At the other end of the phone is the torch. It’s a pair of LEDs that can be turned on and off by holding down the central pad button for a couple of seconds when on the home screen. The torch isn’t blindingly bright but it’s good enough to find your way on a dark night or find dropped house keys.

Popping the back off and removing the battery shows slots for two standard (mini) SIMs and a microSD card (up to 32 GB). I only used one of the two SIM slots during the review but there’s the option here to have work and personal SIMs, to maximise coverage with SIMs from different vendors or for a foreign SIM when travelling.

The F24’s installed apps are fairly limited in comparison to today’s app-oriented world but they do the job – Phonebook, Call History, Organizer, Multimedia, Messages, File Manager, Profiles, Recharge Mode, Camera, Services, App Zone and Settings. These broadly work as expected, though Services is a primitive web browser and the App Zone has three games plus links to the mobile versions of Google, Facebook and Twitter. Interestingly, there is a call recorder too. Organizer is a bit of mixed bag, with a combinations of apps (calculator) mixed in with settings (Bluetooth). Multimedia covers images, music (mp3), FM radio and video.

The rear camera takes 2 MP (1600 x 1200) and the camera app has a surprising number of options and the picture quality is fine in good light – the colour reproduction isn’t bad at all. Obviously this is not comparable to anything from the latest multi-megapixel smartphones but for comparison here are a couple of untouched photos – click through for the full size images.

To its credit, Archos tries to make configuring F24 for data as easy as possible with a large array of presets for European telecoms providers. It’s a good idea but fails as there’s too many similar names. For example, there are two called “3”, but one is Danish and the other Italian. I ended up having to enter the network data settings manually. Although the phone has Bluetooth, it doesn’t have WiFi, and any web surfing, such as it is, has to be done using the 2G mobile data network (and consequently, I don’t think it will work with 3 in the UK as they’re 3G only. Check before buying.)

Disappointingly, Messages is only for SMS messaging. There’s no email, POP3 or otherwise, which I think would have been a useful addition to the F24 Power. At a pinch, you might be able to use the web browser with an email service. I didn’t try.

Archos have made moving round the phone’s options as easy as possible, with a choice of navigation methods either by the rocker pad or by number key. For example, pressing 3 will select the third item on the screen. The four way rocker can be configured for four shortcuts and out-of-the-box, it’s linked to Camera, Profiles, Music player and write SMS message. While talking about “the box”, the F24 Power comes with a charger, USB cable and headphones.

In use as a phone, the F24 worked fine. Call quality was acceptable with both parties audible, though there’s no noise cancellation or anything fancy like that. Not much more that I can say here other than there’s no problem.

Overall, the F24 Power is good value at less than GB£30 and if you are the kind of person who needs a phone for calls and texts with a seriously long battery life, then the F24 Power worth a long look. It would also be ideal as an emergency backup phone, perhaps left in the car or taken hiking when away from power for several days. The LED torch, USB charger and FM radio are all handy for those little emergencies. Just remember that the F24 Power is a feature phone that would have been well spec’d ten years ago, cf Nokia 6300, so adjust expectations as appropriate.

The F24 Power is currently available from Sainsbury’s for only £20 in the UK. Thanks to Archos for the loan of the F24 Power.

Archos 80b Helium 4G Tablet Review

May 31, 2016Android, review, tabletAndroid, Archos, review, TabletAndrew

Tablets have become ubiquitous over the past five years to the point that Android devices are almost a commodity item in the smaller screen sizes. Regrettably favourites such as the Nexus 7 and Tesco Hudl have been discontinued and the Amazon Fire tablets are tied to their own ecosystem. What’s a geek to do for a secondary tablet or younger family member?

Fortunately there are other models and suppliers. Here we have the Archos 80b Helium 4G tablet for under £100 online. On paper it seems like a great deal – 8″ HD screen, quad core processor, 4G connectivity, 16 GB RAM, microSD slot and dual cameras. Let’s take a look and see whether it lives up to expectations.

Opening the box reveals the 80b Helium tablet plus a USB travel charger with UK and continental adapters. The charger manual does mention a US adapter but there wasn’t one in the box I received. There are two booklets, though one is only warranty and legal information. The other is a Quick Start Guide in a dozen languages.

The 80b tablet has a white screen surround on the front and a silvered back panel on the rear. The top above the camera on the back pops off to reveal the slots for the microSD card and not just one, but two SIM cards. The part that comes off is a little flimsy, so I wouldn’t expect to be switching memory cards or SIMs on a regular basis. (The dirty smudges in the picture below are where I’ve blurred out IMEIs).

The 80b Helium feels good with slight texture to the metal back: it’s easily held in one hand. There’s a small ridge round the edge of the screen and a microphone and camera at the top. There’s a single speaker on the rear, plus power button and volume rocker on the upper right hand side. Finally the top side has the micro USB port and 3.5 mm audio socket. The top micro USB port may not be to everyone’s taste and the slight downside of a single speaker on the rear is that it can be easily muffled when the tablet is on a soft surface.

Turning the 80b on, the tablet runs largely stock Android 5.1 Lollipop and you have to look fairly hard to find the Archos customisations. As a bonus, Archos has pre-installed a selection of software including Angry Birds, Asphalt O, Green Farm 3, Little Big City, News Republic, Jamendo and MobiSystems’ OfficeSuite, to name a few. There’s also Archos Video player and FM Radio. As the 80b has a SIM slot, there’s a phone app too, and the tablet can be used as a giant phone. Probably best used with a headset as aside from not looking like an idiot, there’s no proximity sensor and ears press the screen.
(Note: some of the online specs say that the 80b runs KitKat but the version sent for review had Lollipop both installed on the tablet and printed on the box).

In addition to making phone calls, having mobile connectivity on-board was handy and meant that I wasn’t always having to look for a wi-fi hotspot to download my latest email or news feed. Obviously there’s the cost of the extra SIM plan though I found that having the extra screen real estate over my phone meant that I was more inclined to get a little real work done on email.

The screen is an 8″ 1280 x 800 IPS display with a plastic surface and this gives screen a slight soft or diffuse appearance at times and benefits from having the backlight turned up. There’s no ambient light sensor in the 80b Helium so it’s a manual adjustment. Depending on the expected use of the tablet, having a plastic screen may be a benefit as perhaps it’s more robust than a glass one. In terms of resolution, 1280 x 800 is the same as the original Nexus 7, though the 2013 model upped it to 1920 x 1200 in a 7″ screen. I like that extra inch in screen size and it’s just enough to make reading magazines a bit more comfortable.

Performance-wise, the 80b is not the fastest tablet in the world. Running Geekbench 3 benchmarks shows that the 1 GHz quad-core MediaTek ARM CPU runs somewhere between the original Nexus 7 and the 2013 revision. Having said that, I felt that Archos tablet responded well and played games like Alto’s Adventure well enough. What I did notice was that loading times were a little slow and switching between apps wasn’t that nippy. The solitary 1 GB of main RAM probably has good deal to do with this.

Although I didn’t do a full battery test, in normal use the tablet seemed to get through the power source at the expected rate. It neither lasted ages or burned up quickly, though playing any high powered game reduced the charge fast.

The cameras are specced at 2 megapixels (1600 x 1200) for the rear one and 0.3 (640 x 480) for the front facing camera. The camera app has a couple of interesting features. First, a picture can be taken using the “V for victory” sign which is handy for group shots where everyone needs to be in the frame. I found it worked best in well-lit situations and it was a little hit-or-miss where the light levels were low. Second, there’s a “live photo” feature, which is a 5 second video with an inset, perfect for uploading to social media sites. In the live photo mode, the camera is constantly recording, so the clip is the 5 seconds before the shutter button is pressed. Other than that, there are a few controls for white balance, exposure, scenes and effects. Below is an untouched picture (click through for the full image) taken with the 80b’s rear camera on high sharpness.

Way before Android 6 Marshmallow introduced adoptable storage, Archos had Fusion, a clever OS mod which melded internal storage with a semi-permanently installled SD card. Inserting a 32 GB microSD card and formatting it for Fusion gives the 80b an effective internal memory of 48 GB and the Fusion system is completely transparent to installed apps. It’s neat idea, especially for pre-Marshmallow tablets.

I think we’ve covered all the main bases and it’s time to review the findings. In summary, the Archos 80b Helium is not a flagship device by a long way but as it only costs £92 it would be unfair to expect it to be. This is a budget tablet with 4G mobile connectivity which makes the 80b a bit of a rarity and a useful one too.

For example, I would see the 80b Helium being good for travel where undemanding usage as an ereader and media player along with the bigger 8″ screen make it a suitable choice for entertainment on the go. It’s robust enough to be thrown in a bag and paired with a suitable data plan (such as Three’s Feel at Home), there’s no need to pay for expensive hotel wifi. And at less than a hundred quid, it’s not a disaster if it’s damaged or stolen.

To hit that price point, the Archos 80b Helium is all about compromise. On the downside, it’s slow, the screen quality’s not great and the camera’s poor. On the other hand, the screen’s bigger at 8″, there’s expandable memory with Archos Fusion and 4G mobile connectivity for information on the go. Ultimately, I liked the 80b and it migrated to my bedside, but it’s not going to be replacing my Nexus 9 anytime soon.

The Archos 80b Helium 4G tablet is available from Ballicom and other online retailers.

Thanks to Archos for providing the 80b Helium for review.

Archos 52 Platinum with Fusion Storage Review

May 31, 2015Android, review, smartphoneAndroid, Archos, Platinum, review, smartphoneAndrew

On review here is the Archos 52 Platinum smartphone, a mid-range phone with a couple of tricks up its sleeve. First, the smartphone takes dual SIMs and second, it has a microSD slot. The latter is perhaps not a great trick on its own but when paired with Archos’ new Fusion storage, it’s a smartphone with masses of space. Let’s take a look.

They say first impressions count and my first impression of the Platinum 52 on opening the box is how much the smartphone looks like a bigger Nexus 4. It’s the silver surround on the front and while round the back it’s not the sparkly glass of the Nexus, I’m still a big fan as it’s a neat clean look.

The physical dimensions are 77 mm wide, 150 mm tall and only 8.8 mm thick. Weighing in at 161 g, it’s a tidy package for a big screen phone.

Specwise, the Platinum 52 is a 3G quad-core 1.3 GHz device with 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB storage and a microSD card slot. It’s not a cutting edge processor by any stretch of the imagination but it’s a solid performer that will handle most tasks thrown at it. The 1 GB RAM is a bit meagre but once Fusion Storage has been experienced, it forgives the 8 GB storage memory. Out of the box, the 52 is running KitKat with extra Archos apps but no significant changes to stock Android.

It’s a 5.25″ IPS screen with a 1280 x 720 HD screen which looks bright with good contrast. The Platinum 52 has hard buttons at the bottom of the screen. I prefer the soft buttons of the Nexus series but that’s a personal choice.

There are two cameras, an 8 MP rear camera and a front 2 MP one. No great surprises from either camera, either good or bad.

Round the back and inside is a removable 1750 mAh battery – performance was in-line with expectations. Also inside is the Platinum 52’s first trick; a SIM carrier that takes two SIMs, one micro and one nano (though the Archos website says that they’re mini and micro).

Having dual SIMs opens up possibilities that having one SIM doesn’t. One SIM for personal and other for work. One SIM for home and your main number, one SIM for the local country and data services.

When a new SIM card is put into the Platinum 52, the phone prompts to set the defaults for each card, so if on travels, set the data connection to the local SIM to avoid whopping data charges. It’s pretty neat.

The next trick is Archos Fusion storage and the Platinum 52 is one of the first smartphones to take advantage of the feature. Simply, the internal 8 GB storage memory is joined with the inserted microSD card. Put in a 32 GB card and the Platinum 52 has 40 GB of storage.

It’s a two step process; first enable Fusion and then optimise the storage. It’s straightforward and pain-free, though the optimising process takes a little while as files are shuffled around.

Once the process is finished, the addition of the microSD card to the storage memory is seamless. After inserting a 32 GB card, I was able to load a stack of massive games onto an “8 GB” phone – Monument Valley, GTA III, Shardlands, Iron Man 3, The Room, The Dark Knight, Galaxy on Fire 2. In practical use, I could tell no difference – possibly games took a little bit longer to load but these are big games and take time even on standard phone. As far as I could tell, the Fusion storage system worked perfectly; Archos have done a really good job here.

At an RRP of GB£129.99, the Archos Platinum 52 is up against some stiff competition but on the whole comes out ahead in both price, specification and looks. The dual SIMs and Fusion Storage are compelling selling points which should set it apart from the herd, especially for travellers. Fusion Storage is clever, works well and gives the low internal storage a valuable boost.

Archos Fusion Storage OTA Incoming

May 5, 2015Android, SD Card, smartphone, tabletAndroid, Archos, memory, sd card, smartphone, TabletAndrew

Back in March at MWC, French firm Archos announced “Archos Fusion”, an Android storage technology that seamlessly joins a smartphone or tablet’s internal memory with an inserted memory card. The merger of the two memories is invisible to apps and other services, with Archos Fusion automatically managing and moving files around. Apps tend to stay on the internal memory and media gets moved to the external card.

The clear advantage here is that there’s loads more space made available to the user with almost zero effort. Another advantage is a reversibility of the process: the fusion of internal storage with the external storage card is seamless and the user can return to the original separated settings at any time.

GNC covered the announcement at the time, but the good news is that Archos are delivering on the promise and a free OTA is expected very shortly for owners of the Archos 101 Oxygen tablet, along with the 50 Oxygen Plus, 50 Diamond and 52 Platinum smartphones.

By pure coincidence I have an Archos 52 Platinum smartphone on review at the moment so I’ll be reporting back on the OTA and the Archos Fusion technology, which looks really clever and a huge benefit.

Archos Fusion will be available on the new 62 Xenon and 59 Xenon out of the box.

Archos Connected Scale Review

April 19, 2015Android, fitness, health, iOS, review, smartphoneAndroid, Archos, fitness, Health, IOS, review, smartphoneAndrew

Over the past few years, we’ve all seen the rise of the fitness tracker and their transformation into wearables. While the goal of encouraging greater fitness is laudable and essential for the future health of the nation, to some extent the tracker is the gamification of fitness. For evidence of weight loss, reduction in BMI and reduced body fat, you need scales (and hard work)….which brings us neatly to the Archos Connected Scale.

The Archos Connected Scale is a set of stylish bathroom scales which measures weight and body fat transmitting the recordings via Bluetooth to a complementary app on the smartphone. I think these would look good in any bathroom or home gym.

In the box, there’s the scales, four AAA batteries plus a couple of guides. Getting going is simply a case of installing the batteries and once they’re in, the Archos scales will measure weight like any other bathroom scales. The display is backlight and lights up with a cool blue.

Of course, the real benefit with these scales is that the readings can be sent to the owner’s smartphone and recorded in the Archos Connected Self app, available for both Android and Apple iOS devices. The app stores information from three different sources to record data on weight, blood pressure and distance from Archos devices the Connected Scale, Blood Pressure Monitor and Activity Tracker.

To get the readings from the scales via Bluetooth, the Connected Scale need to be paired with the smartphone and that’s straightforward: press and hold the Unit button on the rear and then pair as normal.

Archos App User Scale Binding

On the Connected Self app, the first step is to set up a user account and the second is to attach the Connected Scale to the user. With all that done, every time you step on the scale, weight and body fat percentage are transmitted to the app. It’s that easy. As recordings build up, the app can show graphs on weekly, monthly and annual basis. It can also show the data in a tabular form.

Graph

If needed, weight measurements can be added manually and some additional information can be added too including blood pressure and heart rate.

In use, the Archos Connected Scale worked well, sending the weight readings to the smartphone. I did have one glitch which was only resolved by re-pairing the scale, but in my experience of Bluetooth devices, this isn’t unusual. One tip for potential users – don’t bother taking your smartphone into the bathroom every day. The Connected Scale will remember several week’s worth of readings and upload them when there is a connection to the phone.

The only downside is that as with all of these wearables and health devices, they don’t talk to each other and each supplier is trying to build their own ecosystem. Simply I can’t load Archos Connected Scales information into my Fitbit app or I can’t load my Fitbit steps into the Archos app. Very frustrating.

With an RRP of £49.99, the Archos Connected Scale is about twice the price of a similarly stylish but unconnected set of bathroom scales. Having said that, the Connected Scale can be found on-line for a little less (£35-ish), which I think makes it a fairly good buy even if you are only looking for stylish bathroom scales.

Thanks to Archos for the loan of the Connected Scale.

Archos Creates World’s First 256GB Android Tablet with “Fusion Storage”

March 22, 2015Android, tabletAndroid, Archos, TabletShawn Thorpe

While tablets are overall a relatively new technology, they’ve evolved a lot since the first iPad was released in 2010. And now Archos is continuing that evolution with its new Magnus tablets, including the company’s innovative “Fusion Storage” technology.

Fusion Storage optimizes data storage by fusing internal memory with external micro SD card memory. Once activated, Fusion Storage automatically migrates data from the micro SD card and optimizes memory balance, resulting in an increase in install space for apps and games, as well as more storage for media and large files. Fusion Storage will be available on all new ARCHOS tablets and smartphones, including the new Magnus tablets, and through Over-The-Air updates on select models.

Along with this new storage technology, the Archos 101 Magnus Plus and 94 Magnus feature powerful Cortex A17 quad-core processors capable of running apps and games smoothly while remaining energy efficient and maintaining longer battery life.

These new Archos tablets will hit the market next month. The 101 Magnus Plus 128 GB and the 94 Magnus 256 GB are expected to retail at $349.00. Archos will also be launching the 101 Magnus, the first tablet with 64 GB of internal storage for $179.

ARCHOS Kitchen Screen e-Grocery Shopping Tool Launched at CES

January 8, 2015ces, tabletArchos, Kitchen ScreenJenThorpe

ARCHOS, a pioneer in Android devices, and Freshub, a connected-kitchen Israeli start-up, launched an end-to-end service the enables consumers to instantly add items to a digital shopping cart using a kitchen-tailored version of the ARCHOS Smart Home Tablet. It is called ARCHOS Kitchen Screen.

The ARCHOS Kitchen Screen makes it easy for consumers to add a choice of thousands of products to their digital shopping cart throughout the week simply by waving the desired item in front of the screen, or via voice commands. The device also has a touchscreen that suggests alternatives if a wanted item is unavailable. It even has customized electronic coupons!

In addition, the ARCHOS Kitchen Screen offers consumers a variety of kitchen, family, and smart home apps. Some include recipes, cooking timers, streaming music, safety cameras, digital picture frame, weather, and more. Right now, the ARCHOS Kitchen Screen is being referred to as a pilot.

Visit ARCHOS in the Sands Expo Hall A-C at Booth # 70437.