The Archos Gamepad.


Don't get me wrong - the Archos GamePad seems to have a good SoC (seems to be the first usable Rockchip ;) )), but a benchmark doesn't really tell much about the normal usage speed. And the chinese SoCs usually don't have much to offer except for raw CPU speed.
Well, it only counts what comes out of the Device at the end imho. ;) So if a "cheaper" Chipset may be simpler than a more "advanced" one but it's much easier to code for, why not use it? Look at the Pandora, may be a beefy and complex Chipset but we still have no HW accelerated Video decoding and other gimmics so what is the point to use an on the paper supa-dupa-power Chipset that makes it hard to pull out all the power?


I just would keep this in mind for future Projects like "Pandora2" or so. ^^ So not just looking for cheap or expencive or powerful Chipsets but at first of how easy the "accessibility" is. :) Maybe some are more "dev-friendly" than others?


Yes, I'm still against Craigs "use the best hardware we can get" for Pandora 2, but maybe we can make an alternative "ED-ora" instead? ;)
 
so I got an email this morning from Archos, confirming my item has been shipped "today"...


...get home, see a parcel, couldn't think what else I had ordered, some French wording on the package tape of the box, it had to be...


it was, my Gamepad, sweet, just in time for my few days off work too.


:)


got to run around a bit this evening, then will be checking this out in a couple hour...
 
so I got an email this morning from Archos, confirming my item has been shipped "today"...


...get home, see a parcel, couldn't think what else I had ordered, some French wording on the package tape of the box, it had to be...


it was, my Gamepad, sweet, just in time for my few days off work too.


:)


got to run around a bit this evening, then will be checking this out in a couple hour...

Nothing quite like new gadget excitement..


If you're not too busy, any chance of an impromptu review? it's odd but I can't seem to find any reviews for it on any of the usual tech or mobile gaming sites.


I'm particularly interested in emulator performance & how well the control mapping works, would also be interested in how it performs with the higher end games such as Nova 3, Horn, Dead Trigger, Shadowgun etc with all the graphical bells & whistles.
 
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yeah no problem, just booted it up, quick little wizard to set time/date, language and install some default bundled apps, just 5 3rd party apps bundled, though will uninstall a few of them, angry birds for one, will keep the officeSuite though.


first impressions, not too shabby at all. screen is pretty good, the game-mapping app icon is on the status bar along with the usual android icons like home, back and recent.


straight away can see the dpad is separate buttons, shame, can be used to navigate through the icons on screen though. ..save my grubby finger marks all over it.


give me a few mins to quickly d/l my emu and a couple games and I'll give them a go...
 
edit: battery is at 62% out the box... 9:31pm


lets see how quick this drains with some constant use
 
yeah no problem, just booted it up, quick little wizard to set time/date, language and install some default bundled apps, just 5 3rd party apps bundled, though will uninstall a few of them, angry birds for one, will keep the officeSuite though.

straight away can see the dpad is separate buttons, shame, can be used to navigate through the icons on screen though. ..save my grubby finger marks all over it.

Much appreciated, have to say I was a little disappointed to learn the dpad is separate buttons.. but I guess the real acid test is how well it performs (primarily as far as the emulators are concerned) if the responsiveness is up to snuff I suppose it matters little whether it's separate buttons or not.
 
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44% remaining at 10:12


just played some emus, have to say performance pretty much as is on my xperia play.


Mupen runs some games pretty well, like mariokart, just a little graphical issues when a lot on screen happening but very playable. Paper Mario though, not playable from the off, flashing graphics, backgrounds all glitching.


MAME plays good, when using the nubs.


the dpad is pretty bad, was not keeping up in terms of response, just playing Strider and sometimes I'd turn [press Left then Right quick] and it wouldn't do it... not good.


with the nubs though control is much better.


also both nubs control movement, so good if you left or right handed - dont know how people can use right hand for dpad control myself but if you wanted to use the right nub for moving you can do and map the 4 individual dpad buttons as the play buttons...


Another negative, at least with my Alex Kid, the sound was fine when controlling with dpad, but if I use the nub to control him the sound goes all scratchy... bit weird and lame.


The mapping app Archos have used for this is excellent though I have to say. so easy. can be activated in game even to switch em up mid play if you wanted to. works really nicely.


MD Emu also nice, no problems here so far.


going to d/l some Android game apps now
 
edit: just see your reply... as I happened to mention anyway, the responsiveness of the dpad is not perfect, it didn't keep up with me constantly and that was on Strider, something like SF2 I fear would be even worse, I'll check that in a bit as it goes, a beat em up with plenty quick action
 
so with SF2 on MD Emu the dpad was not as bad as with MAME, did action as I was pressing it, though as you'd expect with this style dpad pulling of shoryuken is nothing easy, for me at least it's not happening. the nub though, all good, you can also map both the dpad and the left nub over the on-screen dpad...allowing to use both, so dpad if you prefer then quick shift down to pull off a shoryuken on the nub - not perfect when timing is everything I know, but does work thanks to the mapping app.


just d/l the Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour app now.


battery 21% remaining at 10:42
 
nice one, hadn't seen that on XDA forum, good to hear.


I was a bit gutted as on my device the diagonal doesn't work at all.


great to hear this will be coming in a firmware update.


I'm feeling like that guy said though, slightly lame dpad aside this is a nice tablet, YT and general apps playing fine.


I do hope battery life is improved too.


my old Aoson M12 tablet had terrible battery life on stock F/W, soon as I flashed with Astroknight's F/W it was improved a lot.


Archos might somehow work some magic there with an update too
 
5% at 11:12


putting it on charge now.


Modern Combat 4 works well, with the dpad and the action buttons, the shoulder buttons working perfect for shooting.


can map the left nub as the main motion control, same as dpad, the mapping app lets you also set a 'target'... drop this into the middle of the screen and select the right nub stick to use as that and it's bloody good control then, right nub does my view/panning around, very nice.


so far not experienced any lag of graphic glitch or anything with this game, looks great
 
klumpen, I think that guy is holding it a bit awkward in order to show it to the camera, it's not that bad and I'm not having to claw up my hand like he is :)


the analogues could be a little more into the middle, but wouldn't then have the full screen size. it isn't bad though IMO, his right hand is at some 90degree angle compared to how I rest. where his

thumb is facing left mine is facing up/forward... the triggers are nice and can action even when just clicking on the very ends of them.

 
when's it expected to be available to you there, do you know?
 
A retail seller in Cyprus says it's in stock for 159E. I'll try and check this out, I expected a price tag of ~200E. My worries are the build quality mostly, I don't expect much from the d-pad but if it works well, why not?

edit: It's out of stock right now :(  I'll be watching for availability
 
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