Back in May, Archos promised us an Android based media player.  Looks like they have delivered and are due to announce that their Flagship MID (Media and Internet Device) Archos 5 will be built on Android.  Since the original Archos 5 was built around Flash, it looks like Android’s burgeoning support for Flash has made porting across the software across a breeze.

Already Archos have been courting developers by launching Appslib their own market place for Android devices with larger screens.   From the way the website is set out, it appears that Archos are also trying to get other manufacturers on board with Appslib which will hopefully mean more Android Media Devices in the long term.

We know that Google has it sights targeted at the Iphone, but could devices like the Archos 5 with some juiced up user interface, like the HTC Hero has , offer serious enough competition to unseat the Ipod Touch dominance of the market?

The existing Archos 5 site offers a glimpse into what we can expect in September.

Highlights for me are

• Slimline design
• All touch screen access to huge storage (at least 60GB)
• Massive 5inch screen
• HD Support
• TV Recording Playback ( Via Archos DVR Station)
• Support for PDF, WMV and Divx Support

All that coupled with existing Android functionality and Apps installation and we could be in for a really great Christmas stocking-filler.  The only concern I have is how some of the apps designed for the smaller screen will scale up, however I am sure that this is nothing that a bit of tweaking can’t resolve.

Here’s looking forward to September.

(Thanks to Pocketables for the heads up.)

Popularity: 1% [?]

Related posts:

1. Official Android comes to large Huawei Android Tablet
2. Dell Streak Mini Tablet in the UK 4 June!