Archos Gen 8 units greeted with Froyo update, plus new Market hack
Back when Archos initially showed off their upcoming Gen 8 series of Android tablets, ranging from the tiny A28 all the way up to the 7-inch A70 and the even larger A101, their stance was that Froyo would be the launch OS, but something changed along the way and all models shipped with Eclair. Of course, Archos said all the right things and promised that Froyo would arrive before the end of November, which helped to calm new owners.
Well, lo and behold, Archos actually met its self-imposed deadline by mere hours yesterday, as the official Android 2.2.1 update started rolling out as either an OTA update or a download from its site. For those who have been lucky enough to get their mitts on one of the perpetually out-of-stock tablets, Froyo promises to bring the same speed improvements and Flash support we've seen on other Android devices, such as the HTC EVO 4G.
But all is not golden in the land of French electronics, or at least it wasn't until a certain "mystery man" quickly posted a new version of the Android Market hack that Eclair users had been using. Once again, user m4rk3t over at the Archosfans forums has come through with a new .apk that provides the entire suite of Google Apps to Froyo-infused Gen 8 tablets. With the exception of a few minor glitches, everything seems to be running smoothly for most users.
OK, Archos. Now that all of the models in the Gen 8 lineup have Froyo, could you please get your manufacturing issues sorted out and get these devices streaming onto stock shelves? For the price and the features, you have a winner on your hands if you can meet the high demand.
[Archos via Phandroid]
