Archos 35 3.5" Home Connect - 4GB

BionicRasher

Anyone used one of these?
http://www.archos.com/products/ah/archos_35_hc/index.html?country=us&lang=en

Due to get this later in the week and would like some thoughts?

I was in the market for an Internet radio for the bedroom that could stream my music collection from my main PC and most units from the likes of Roberts, Logitech, Pure were all in the €200 - €250 bracket.

This little thing seems to have decent sound and has Android 2.2 on board and will do all of the following

Internet Radio via Tunein app
Stream music over WiFi or from Google Music
Will play pictures and even movies
Touchscreen
Alarms/Clock
Camera (can be used as a baby monitor/surveillance etc or for Skype)
$GB internal storage (SD slot for extra storage)
Lots of Apps - Remote control app available
Portable
Long life battery
And finally – way cheaper than any other option

The only thing I was also looking for was for FM capability but alas for the price it looks not bad at all

00sully

ooh this looks wicked actually I am in the market for the same thing (after using my nook color for this very purpose before I sold it!)

do you mind me asking where you are getting this? wonder is it too late to get somewhere before xmas?! looks cool, like a chumby but it's android so my nerd radar immediately perks up

BionicRasher

00sully wrote: »

ooh this looks wicked actually I am in the market for the same thing (after using my nook color for this very purpose before I sold it!)

do you mind me asking where you are getting this? wonder is it too late to get somewhere before xmas?! looks cool, like a chumby but it's android so my nerd radar immediately perks up

Got it ordered on Komplett.ie
http://komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_02TAB/01_TABLETS/productdetails/80003813/Archos_35_3_5_Home_Connect_4GB/501_744/default.aspx

There is only 1 left and if you order before 12 today they guarantee delivery in time for Christmas:)

You also get the 14 day cooling off period which is good just in case it is not what you expected but by the looks of a few Youtube vids it seems like a great little Radio/Streamer for the bedroom and is portable so it can be carried around from room to room if needed

BionicRasher

Got this (Archos 35)from Santa and very pleased indeed. Here are thoughts on the little yoke so far

To start the sound is amazing - couldn't get over how good it is for such a small device. Now I am no audiophile but it sounds great for something that is about the size of a 1lb bag of sugar. The Tunein Pro radio app is great and a breeze to set up and you can get any radio station you want. (We had Detroit FM Christmas Station playing all day on Christmas day!!) I like podcasts too so I am looking at a good podcast manager to install - Tunein works ok for podcasts but not great - maybe I will get something soon and will post feedback on that too

This thing looks nice and is solid enough too. Its ultra portable and my wife says she knows where I am in the house now as she listens out for the radio!
Have it set up on the bed side locker and it works great as a alarm for the morning. Also great to fall asleep too as it has sleep functions etc. You can set it to play radio for 30 mins for example and it switches itself off. Wakes you up gently too as it will gradually turn itself up to a set volume and not wake you up full blast.
It plays media from our stash on the PC/NAS no problem and will play avi video files too although I couldn't see myself watching movies on the 3.5 inch screen even though the screen is very clear for the price

Although there is no official market you can get apps through Appslib or 1Market so there is no shortage. I didnt get my Google account set up on it (as you would on a phone) to sync all my apps etc but I dont see that as an issue as its not really going to be used as a tablet or phone replacement.

it has a front facing camera and we plan to use it with Skype for a baby monitor. We will put it in nursery room and can see the video on our PC or phone - works great and with a bit of tinkering I am sure you could use it as a security camera and get it to auto answer once you call it for example.

We have experienced some WiFi dropouts (and I see some mention on the interweb of other Archos equipment having similar issues) but I think its my router and an IP conflict between the Archos and an Xbox we have. I have given it a static IP and have had no dropouts since. Will keep an eye on this too.

I have a few things that I think could be better on it but overall the Pros outweigh the Cons
The navigation (home, settings, Vol buttos etc) do not light up and are hard to see in the dark next to the bed for example. The screen is also very hard to get used to if you have a decent touchscreen phone or tablet as its Resistive rather than Capacitive.
There is no Android Market so it comes with Appslib (which has never worked for me so I uninstalled it) and I have installed 1Mobile Market and have found any app I need so far. Maybe I will work on getting official Market installed and try to sync my Google account to the Archos.


So far so good and very happy with Santa for giving me this


PROS

• Amazing Sound
• Works great as an alarm clock
• Streams music from NAS/PC
• Clear Screen
• Very portable
• 4GB internal storage
• Good battery life (lasts well over 48hrs in hibernation and about 4 hrs playing music)
• Looks great
• Easy set up
• decent price (€124 from Komplett.ie)

CONS

• Navigation buttons not lit up
• Screen responsiveness hard to get used to
• WiFi drop outs
• No Official Android Market

charlesjones

Three thumbs up:)

Santa also brought me a home connect 35 after much letter writing and pushing in the right direction.

I agree with everything tui0hcg has to say. Great sound, easy to use.

My favourite thing is that it has a battery, unlike most internet radios, so you can bring it with you. Also the way I can look up and play any song via Youtube is excellent.

I haven't worked out how to play music from my home server yet (but i haven't played with it for to long). and i did get appslib to work on it. It will only work for some apps as it is 2.2.

Over all I think I think its my number one gadget providing i can get the streaming to work. At the price of 130e I say buy one once you have good wireless broadband.

Mine came via Komplett.ie (i've always found them to be a great website), via the north pole, santa, my great girl friend.

BionicRasher

A few updates on this little gizmo

Still cant get over the great sound from it

Download the Android remote control for this - as the screen is not great and is a bit fiddley I find it much easier to do stuff on the phone and it has most controls you will need anyway for getting the radio or media playing (maybe its on iPhone also - not sure)

I found a great little podcast manager called Podkicker - you really can get anything at all on it and it will do all the autoupdates/remove listened too stuff you need

This really works great for a baby monitor with the front facing camera and I am trying to figure out of I can get it to auto answer a call through Skype from my phone to switch on a video feed to act as a security cam when we are out of the house

Wireless dropouts continue and its actually made my Vodafone router disconnect on a couple of occasions (requiring a router reboot). I am getting closer to getting it sorted and I believe it is something to do with 2FM (would you credit that!)

What seems to happen is that I can set the alarm for the morning and have it play 2FM (Hector and his buddies!) and it plays for a little bit - maybe 10 or 15 mins. I then get a 'Stream Over' comment on the Tunein app and if I try to reconnect to 2FM or another station it just gives me no connection. I have to reboot and turn off and on the WiFi to get reconnected again.
Now what is strange is that this dosent happen for any other station i.e I have tested a good few stations (Today FM, Classical 102, 4FM and some more) and they work fine with the alarm in the morning - wierd

I will post back if I figure it out

BionicRasher

Another little update

WiFi dropouts continued but I now think I have it resolved (I was almost going to return it as ‘not fit for purpose’)

Each morning I had the alarm set to wake me to 2FM and after about 15 mins of radio play the display said ‘Stream Over’ (now this only happened with 2FM for some reason – all other stations seemed to work)
It was killing my Broadband connection and required my Vodafone router to be rebooted to reconnect to internet. After a lot of troubleshooting it looks like the little thing is not happy with WPA-PSK or WPA2-PSK security on the wireless network so I set up WEP and have not had a drop out since (only issue is Windows 7 is not keen on WEP so that took a bit of tinkering to get it to work)

Anyway back to other matters

I loaded on the Official Google Market (See here or here for help on this) and now it picks up my Google account and I can use Gmail/Google Talk/Google + etc etc)

One of the major advantages of this is it now has my Google Music account loaded on board and so I can stream all my personal collection of music

Happy days!

Ste-

Just beware the risks of only having WEP on your router as it is easily hacked.

BionicRasher

Ste- wrote: »

Just beware the risks of only having WEP on your router as it is easily hacked.

Ya thats my only worry - but then again it aint that easy to crack WEP

http://lifehacker.com/5305094/how-to-crack-a-wi+fi-networks-wep-password-with-backtrack

and WPA/WPA2 is crackable too

http://lifehacker.com/5873407/how-to-crack-a-wi+fi-networks-wpa-password-with-reaver

however I am setting up MAC address filtering and will mask the SSID broadcast so as to add an extra layer of security

(Also I live in detached house and would hope i would notice some dude parked up outside my drive with his laptop!!)

dahamsta

Anyone hooked this up to PS3 Media Server or Subsonic?