Archos MD for UK and Ireland Tony Limrick has told TechRadar how the forthcoming Android device from the PMP manufacturer is likely to look with both its own OS and Android running together.
In a recent interview he told us that the company wouldn't be compromising on screen size, and that in essence it will be "very similar to the Archos 5 Internet Media Tablet with some changes" but that it will "also be slimmer than the Archos 5 series."
The new phone is likely to debut in September at another Archos press event, and the gadget world is eager to find out what form the device is going to take.
Still no good option
"When we look at smartphones today, even with all the options out there, we still say the device that does it all, and does it all well, there's nothing that's achieving that. With internet surfing we still firmly believe you need a five inch screen, minimum, to view the full page and still be able to read it at text level," Limrick said.
"That's what we deliver (with the IMT range), but up to now haven't done the voice bit. By combining with Android, that gives us the voice platform and our new processor power will allow us to run both operating systems in one device, meaning we can incorporate everything we do well, and bring the voice part too."
Larger than anything out there
However, despite the success of the IMT range, the five inch screen size will still be among the largest on the market, dwarfing the likes of the Toshiba TG01 with a 4.1-inch effort.
Limrick thinks that the design won't be too large, despite confirming that users will be able to hold it to their head or speak using a Bluetooth headset:
"Take the 60GB Archos 5 and imagine that has phone capability, it doesn't actually look that weird. If you take the (much thicker) 250GB model it does. We look at all phones out there and we know we'll have a bigger device, but we believe you need a 5 inch screen size for a proper internet experience."
New revenue streams
Limrick also pointed out that expanding into the Android space doesn't only give the company a foothold in the rapidly expanding smartphone market, but also opens up a number of new revenue streams:
"[The Android Archos device] opens up new channels for us, not just with our PMP or netbook range, but new product channels. The number of point of sales we have will increase, and we'll also be partnering with networks.
We're currently in conversations with networks and retailers, as [the Android device] will have to go on a network. There are different ways we could work that model, but we're talking to all the people we need to talk to."
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charbax
July 24th 2009
1. Confirmation of Bluetooth headset support would be really great. Thank you for posting that. Still waiting for confirmation if the hardware will have such things as built.in GPS, tilt and electronic compass to use Augmented Reality applications as well. And still waiting to hear if it has a built-in camera.
Dunno if they are really booting two different types of Linux at the same time, or if they are somehow able to modify Android to include all their multimedia specific features.
Try playing HD resolution DivX files on any other Android device, try recording DVB-T signals, use as a Tivo recorder, store 500GB on a built-in hard drive, you can't do that on other Android devices not even talking about any other smartphone platforms.
Also, Archos has before done devices with 4.3" screens, dunno if it would mean too much diversification for Archos to sell both 4.8" models and more compact 4.3" models. As said, 4.8" might be absolutely crucial to have a good internet and video experience, and Archos can differentiate itself better from the sub 3.5" 480x320 smartphone competition from Palm Pre and iphone. That means more than 2x larger screen and more than 2.4x more pixels on the screen for much less than 1.2x bigger device.
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