There’s a new Android device on the market. On Tuesday, the French company ARCHOS announced the ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet, based on Google‘s open-source Android mobile operating system.

The ARCHOS 5 features 720p high-definition viewing, TV recording, and built-in GPS with 3-D navigation in addition to Net browsing. It has a five-inch 800×480 touchscreen, and the company emphasized that it has a full-fledged browser and integrated applications. Connectivity is Wi-Fi, or 3.5G from a mobile phone connected through Bluetooth.

Android a ‘Major Differentiator‘

Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for consumer technology at the NPD Group, noted that ARCHOS is already marketing a Windows-based tablet with a nine-inch screen that would probably provide “a more robust Net surfing experience.”

He added that the use of the open-source Android is a “major differentiator,” since the ARCHOS 5 is “one of the first Android products for consumers that is not a cell phone.”

Current Analysis’ Avi Greengart pointed out that the ARCHOS 5 “is not a large enough tablet” to really expand the tablet category. In fact, he said, “in some ways it looks like some of the phone devices we’ve been seeing.”

Whatever category it fits into, Rubin said the impact may be limited in the U.S., since mobile media player maker ARCHOS does not yet have a very high U.S. market share, despite offering technologically advanced devices.

Tablet computers are beginning to emerge as a category. Rubin noted that Toshiba showed one larger than the ARCHOS 5 at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year.

There have also been persistent rumors that Apple will bring out a tablet device in the next few months. Depending on the rumor, the purported device is a bigger iPod touch, an entry into the growing netbook market, a new kind of e-book device, or all three.

And the CrunchPad, a Net-surfing Android-based tablet from a company formed by technology blogger Michael Arrington, is reportedly being readied for release later this year.

Third-Party Apps

Rubin noted that a big advantage in the use of Android for this tablet is access to a growing library of applications for that OS. As the mobile-device market matures and expands, the availability of third-party applications is increasingly becoming a factor in purchase decisions.

ARCHOS also unveiled the AppsLib store, which will provide free and paid applications specifically for the new tablet device. The store can be accessed directly from the device and apps can be downloaded in one click.

A visit to the AppsLib store shows it’s still under construction, but it appears to be ready to offer Android applications for a variety of Android devices beyond just the new tablet.

Several applications will come preinstalled on the ARCHOS 5, including the eBuddy instant-messaging app, Twidroid for Twitter tweeting, Craigsphone for viewing and posting classified ads, ThinkFree for viewing Microsoft Office files, and Mewbox, a music download service.

The fresh version of the Sidekick LX ($200 in on a two-year contract, as of 5/1/09), T-Mobile’s popular messaging phone generally aimed at teenagers, sports grown-up characteristics this as 3G support, GPS, and an improved, a greater number of sophisticated design. But unfortunately the Sidekick LX that much has a few quirks.
For example, the mailbox stores one and only 6MB of memory, contrary the occurence who the Sidekick LX now has Exchange Active Sync support. That on-board storage is a paltry total sum wanting to the likely information capacity of right now multimedia messaging phone. Additionally, the Sidekick LX much has the same awkward-design problems as we saw on the 2007 version.

The hardware, made by Sharp, retains the iconic swivel design and faintly slimmer dimensions. The 3.2-inch (0.2 inch large as opposed to the 2007 model), 854 by 480, F-WVGA rating is gorgeous–one of the highest quality I’ve observed on a handset, particularly a midrange messaging device. The paints are bright, things are crisp, and animations render smoothly.

The keyboard, as expected, is excellent. The keys are nicely spaced and tactile, and properties hold the exemplary extent of clickiness. But I was disappointed to see so T-Mobile kept the sum keys at the top of the keyboard. On the 2007 example we at last found the current design selection awkward and counterintuitive, and I suffer to say it is the same story now. T-Mobile looks as if it’s to suffer put so significantly gas to the messaging capabilities of the phone the present it did not ponder the encounters of bringing about a hire through right now design. The level keys are virtually directly underneath the display’s hinge, and you ought to swivel the keyboard out to dial and coming back in yet again to talk, that can get annoying.

The majority of navigation on the device is finished investing in the BlackBerry-esque trackball. For the the majority of part, it functions rather far investing in the UI, clearly gliding in the a multitude of menu choices. In particular instances, however, the UI a bit slow but sure to respond regardless of repeated finger flicks through the trackball.

Call top notch for the duration of T-Mobile’s 3G network was good, but I heard a faint hiss on my end–something we have have had to deal with amid T-Mobile phones in the past, this kind of as the Shadow. Parties on the supplementary end of the string claimed this my voice sounded obvious provided extensive volume. A few noticed a hiss but stated it was not distracting.

The Sidekick LX’s OS, the Danger OS, is able to use a refresh. Though it is easy sufficient to navigate, it feels a bit out-of-date. It just now does not undergo a massive lot of aesthetic appeal, that is unfortunate on the a lovely display. The Sidekick LX comes preloaded through Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter apps. The Facebook app is truly good: You can view your News feed (which informs all of your friends’ activity), update your status, search engine for new friends and send messages–almost all of it you can do on your PC. The Twitter app is not as full-featured as a great deal more mobile Twitter apps, but it becomes the job done. You can, obviously, update your status, reply to your friends’ tweets, supply and mimic new users, and view a friend’s timeline.

Another new feature, the on-device Download Catalog, is regrettably a bit sparse at this moment time, but it has potential. You can download themes, ring tones, games, and a few productivity, social, and entertainment apps.

The Sidekick LX’s camera has been heard upgraded on a measly 1 megapixel to 3.2 megapixels in on an LED flash. And unlike providing the original, you can now store video–a must-have for a messaging phone. Image grade was rather clever overall, even though a couple of of my indoor pictures looked a bit grainy. Video quality, unfortunately disappointed. My videos came out basically pixelated and motions appeared choppy and delayed.

The Sidekick LX is very much an improvement for the duration of the 2007 version, but I feel similar to such upgrade would own arrive a bit earlier. Sure, 3G validation and a 3.2-megapixel camera are desired additions, but a good amount messaging phones out there are way down the road of the Sidekick LX. The Samsung Impression, for example, has an AMOLED display and a smartphone-like user interface. Sidekick fans would with out a doubt know such upgrade, and regardless of its sophisticated enhancements, I can see it making remarkably popular among the teenage demographic.

The hack requires downgrading your firmware to either the RC27 or RC9 images and connecting to the handset with telnet. The course is basically quite simple, especially if you are the kind of person who’ll get any software out of root entrance on Android. Instructions from XDA:

If you have RC30/RC8 or later, you must FIRST flash your phone to RC29/RC7 or lower to be able to exploit root access using the following steps. RC29 and lower users can skip this section.
Format the SD card to FAT32 mode (this is sometimes needed. The image is not always found if other files are on the sd card).
2. Unzip the RC29 or RC7 image file DREAMIMG.nbh to the SD card. (RC29 for US, RC7 is for UK)
3. Turn the device power off and insert SD card.
4. Hold Camera button, and press Power button to entry bootloader mode.
5. Press Power button to start upgrade procedure.
6. After finish, perform the soft reset to reboot.
Follow these steps once you have RC29 or lower:
On your G1, anything you type into your keyboard is also being run in a hidden console with root permissions. More information regarding that at the bottom of this post. But, to get root access, do the following:

Instructions:

. Restart your phone
2. Type telnetd and press enter – Yes, it will start up a Contact search, do not worry about this, just type telnetd and press enter (the enter button on the keypad).
3. Download an Android Telnet client (I have one on the Market) and connect to localhost.
4. you now have root!
[via  xda develpoers forum]