Archos today announced the hotly-anticipated latest model in their multimedia device range - the Archos 5, which is their first Android device and in fact the worlds first commercially available Android tablet. It features a 4.8 inch 800 x 480 pixel display, WiFi, bluetooth, touchscreen, FM receiver and transmitter but no phone features. In fact the device comes in two versions: one with flash SSD storage and one with a real hard disk.

Archos' strength is multimedia, so it is interesting to see what they bring to the Android party. Tyhe Archos 5 can stream HD video, music and images to your TV and even record TV programmes locally.

The browser on the Archos 5 supports Adobe Flash 9, and will be compatible with Flash 10 when that becomes available. Multimedia-rich pages such as those at NewYorkTimes.com loaded quickly and looked great on the large screen. One nice thing about viewing Web pages on tablets rather than on smartphones is that you can see their full width rather than having to shrink the pages down or scroll them.

Preloaded on the tablet is a suite of Android applications such as eBuddy for instant messaging, Twidroid for using Twitter, Deezer for streaming music, and Tinksfree for viewing Microsoft Office files. You can, of course, download more apps from the Android Market or from Archos's own AppsLib store for the Archos 5 and future Android tablets to come.

Source: Archos