Archos Android "Home Phone" Coming to the U.S.
Archos is bringing its Android-based "smart" home phone to the States.
Last week the Archos 35 Android-based "smart" home phone showed up on the FCC website, indicating that the device may finally arrive here in the States early next year.
According to the Archos 35 specs, the device offers the "smarts" of a typical 1 GHz Android-based smartphone but stays rooted to the local old-school telephone line, shedding 3G and 4G connectivity. But it also keeps users "connected" thanks to integrated 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi support, granting access the internet for downloading apps and (possibly) making cheap international calls using Skype.
"With its sleek & stylish design and its 3.5 inch touchscreen the ARCHOS Smart Home Phone is finally a home phone that you’ll be proud to leave on your coffee table," the product description reads. "Its charging dock is separate from its wireless receiver so there’s no need for a huge dock right next to the phone line. And it’s compatible with any ADSL box or phone line and uses standard DECT protocols so it’s compatible with your standard DECT handsets and bases.
On the hardware side of things, the Archos 35 sports a 1 GHz TI OMAP3630 SoC with an OpenGL ES 2.0 graphic accelerator, 8 GB of internal memory and a microSD card slot for adding additional storage. The touchscreen measures only 3.5-inches and features a resolution of 272 x 480 -- sorry, no HD content support here. Video playback includes MPEG-4 AVI and most common video formats, and music playback includes MP3, FLAC, OGG and WAV.
Powering this home phone is Google's Android 2.2 "Froyo" OS, but there's no indication that users will have access to the Android Market or other Google services. The device also comes packed with a front-facing VGA camera for making video calls as well as your basic telephony features like a caller contact display, hands-free mode, GAP compatibility, an intercom for calling another handset, and more.
So far there's no word on pricing and actual availability, so stay tuned. Still, does anyone even have a land line anymore?
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I'd be more interested in a WiFi or Skype phone without the 3G appendage.
I wasn't aware there was a big demand for Land line phones, a low resolution android phone with no google market.
I'd be more interested in a WiFi or Skype phone without the 3G appendage.
Ummm - did you not read the article? That's exactly what this is. It says that it sheds the 3/4g but keeps wifi.
And yes, I too would be interested in this for my house, as long as the price was low. Hell, I'd get one for my parents and my inlaws to make it easier for them to skype without needing a computer or tablet.
I'm going to get a landline just for this phone or maybe OOMA.
That could actually be an interesting gadget to have around. Let's see if it is initially priced out of this universe or just out of this world.
I'd be more interested in a WiFi or Skype phone without the 3G appendage.
I'd be more interested in a WiFi or Skype phone without the 3G appendage.
Oops, meant to also add 'without the landline appendage (VOIP)'
If it's anything like most Archos devices, you can probably get the Android market on it fairly easy if you wanted to, not that you'd be able to run much on Froyo.
Archos is really blowing it up on the low end droid market. Stay tuned as Apple releases the "ILandline" next year at twice the price and suddenly it's revolutionary.
I've got a Magic-Jack line just for making those annoying 1-800 calls for bills, utilities, or support lines. I bought a $20 cordless phone from Wal-Mart and could barely figure out how to use it because it was too... simple? If that makes sense. I think an android landline device would be a bit much... unless it was like $50.. then maybe... (=
why smartphones are good is because they are portable and if someone has a smartphone, why would he need an exactly same device but only for landline
maybe a landline dock which lets you use your mobile phones (the ones you currently have) to make landline calls too would be useful
The screen resolution is a killer though.
Sounds promising, though technical spec might get further tweak to fit our own expectations, for me, living near trunk power line had ups and downs, up is canceled out pockets of wave-free zones and downs were signal noises especially problematic on analog cordless but much better on recent digital types.
But I love Bluetooth headsets. Look ma, no hands; that's a good allure for something like this.
I too have a Magic-Jack line, which of course requires an internet connection and a PC that is always on. (Though they just came out with a new version that doesn't require a PC). Works fairly well and saves my minutes on my wireless plan when I am at home. To me the reason to still have some type of home phone is you don't need a costly unlimited family plan from the wireless carriers. People pay 3x-4x the amount to the phone companies than they used to pay for a home phone to have cell phone service. Think about it. AT&T use to be in everyones pocket for $60-70 dollars a month, now it's 100-200 or more. You can almost by a cheap new car for what you pay for cell service each month if you have 3 or more phones on your plan.
Lame. I have an old Droid Eris running the latest Cyanogenmod build (took about ten minutes to get that running) it has a disabled CDMA/3g radio so the battery lasts days and days. I have a free phone number through a DID/SIP portal, free call negotiation on a SIP/PBX portal, and free software to tie it all together (SIPdroid and Google Voice). Now, whenever this little handset is within range of wifi it can take/make calls and TXT messages to anywhere in the US, and it's completely FREE. If i were so inclined (i have a wireless contract so i'm not, unfortunately) i could throw in a MVNO provider and buy a heap of wireless minutes for about $5/mo and have a fully featured smartphone that costs less than $10/mo to maintain.
Where are you now, Archos?
I love the last statement...does anyone have a landline anymore...ummm something like 73% of us actually!
The huge plus for this device is the contact management. The reason I use my cellphone so much more than my landline when I'm at home is because its so much easier to pull up my contacts and dial them. While the first device to market is typically not received very well I think that this application has an enormous amount of potential. you'll start hearing more about it when Apple starts producing them.
You see, some things are better kept the way it is. Like home phones.
I hope the touchscreen on the home phone version of Archos Home Connect is better than the touchscreen on their clock radio-- I've been working with the radio version since Saturday evening (when it showed up on my doorstep)-- it SUCKS-- even way worse than the Archos touchscreens of the past (and that's saying something). It requires you to literally pick the thing up, holding firmly in one hand, while "touching" (jabbing FIRMLY) with the finger from the other hand, akin to holding a ball of hard clay and punching a hole in it with your finger-- it requires THAT much pressure in order to get the screen on it to respond. HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE-- and I suspect it's how Archos got away with marking it with such a low price (US $149)-- by using such sub-par screen hardware.
I have netTalk and paying $30 per year!!No need PC! Amazing service!!! $150 for Local,Canada and 60 countries.Using from last six months without any problem.Available @ Walmart.