The K-Zone: Zaurus on steroids? A review of the Archos PMA430 multimedia PDA

The PMA400 is the latest portable media offering from Archos -- a combined audio/video player/recorder and computer/PDA gadget. Externally it is very similar to the earlier AV420, but internally the differences are substantial, both for the better and for the worse. The AV420, you see, was a portable media player -- the PMA400 is a computer. To be sure, it's a computer that's highly optimized for multimedia applications but, make no mistake, it is a computer. It even has a built-in implementation of the notorious Unix text editor vi -- that's how much a computer it is. That makes it somewhat difficult to write this review -- should I be comparing it to other portable media players? Or to, say, a notebook computer? It certainly carries a notebook-sized price tag -- getting on for £600 -- so it ought to offer notebook-sized functionality. What's more, it's almost impossible to review this product without comparing it to the AV420, which I've also reviewed here. So, in this article, I will examine the PMA400 from the perspective of an end user, who is interested primarily in what it can do, and isn't much concerned with what's inside. In another article, Inside the PMA400, I'll take a look at the PMA400's operating system and hardware.
I should point out that, although the version of the PMA400 I have is a full, commercial version, I have no way of knowing when the unit will start shipping properly, or what it will look like when it does. Conceivably later models could be quite different from the version I have.

The unit

The PMA400 is the same size as the AV420 and will fit the same cases (more on the subject of cases later). It has a 3.5'', 320x240 LCD screen, and a removeable battery. The video output can be directed to an external TV or monitor with a single button press, and the video system adjusts accordingly. The hard disk size is 30GB -- 50% larger than the AV420. I'm guessing they've achieved this increase in capacity without increasing the size by sacrificing the built-in memory card reader. This is no great loss, as the PMA400 has a built-in USB host port, so you could attach a USB memory card reader if you need this functionality. You can also attach an external keyboard to the host port, which is handy. The PMA400 has the same button layout as the AV420 as well, although the function of the buttons is more PDA-like, at least with the built-in software. Because the PMA has a touchscreen, there's no need for the idiosynchratic menu system that drove so many reviewers of earlier Archos products into an irrational rage. So far as I can tell, this `feature' is gone completely. The PMA400 has built-in 802.11b (slow) wireless networking, and it is possible to connect to a LAN via a USB/ethernet converter.
      The PMA400 has all the same basic facilities of the AV420 -- it can play and record video in MPEG4 format, and audio in MP3 format. Windows audio formats are also supported, but I can't comment on this aspect of the unit's operations, as I'd rather walk on hot coals than use Windows. Unlike the AV420, of course, the PMA400 is a PDA, with built-in contact manager, to-do list, scheduler, etc. It has modest gaming capabilities, and a selection of demo games is included. What is interesting for tech-heads like myself is that the PMA400 runs Linux, and the operating system is fairly well exposed. The user interface is Trolltech's Qtopia -- a proprietary, but reasonably open, graphical environment for embedded Linux systems, which includes a small selection of PIM (Personal Information Management) applications.
      Whether the Linux implementation is sufficiently well concealed from the non-technical user is a moot point, because it's unlikely that a non-technical user would want a gadget like this. The user interface is instantly recognizable as Qtopia by anyone who's ever used the Sharp Zaurus -- a device with which the PMA400 has a striking similarily, even down to running the same applications, after a fashion (see below).
      Along with the unit itself, a connection cradle is supplied as standard (again, it's the same model as comes with the AV420). The cradle has a thick bundle of wires to the rear, for connecting to your AV/hi-fi system, and a neat, all-in-one plug on the side that connects to the unit itself. There's also an infra-red remote control and a selection of SCART adapters. There is a short movie pre-installed on the unit which describes how to integrate the cradle with a TV/hi-fi/AV system.

The built-in media applications

The PMA has the same video, audio, and photo applications that the AV420 has. The main difference is that these applications have somewhat different user interfaces, to accomodate the PMA's touchscreen. This is both good and bad. It's good in that the user no longer has to spend a month coming to terms with Archos's odd menu system; but it's bad because the odd menu system was actually quite handy when you got used to it. The AV420, lacking a touchscreen, had to expose all its functionality through button-presses. This meant that one-handed operation was possible. Relieved of the burden of creating a complete user interface with only one navigation pad and three buttons, the PMA400's developers have allowed some functions to be accessible through the touchscreen only, which means that you'll need to get the stylus out more often than you might like. To be fair, most of the basic operations can still be carried out one-handed.
      The built in audio application doesn't require much comment. If you've got MP3 files, it will play them. There is a rudimentary playlist management system, or you can organize your files into directories and play whole directories. There are the usual shuffle and random selection modes. Sound quality is reasonable for a portable device, and it's worth encoding MP3s at respectable bit-rates (192 kBits/sec or higher) to take advantage of the decent audio fidelity.
      The video application has the same strengths and weaknesses as the AV420 version. The video formats it understands get played very well -- playback is smooth and accurate -- but the number of formats it understands is very limited. As I've argued before, it's better to play a single format well, than a dozen different ones poorly, and being tied to MPEG4 formats doesn't bother me. In any case, because this is a Linux platform, the possibility exists to port one of the popular open-source media players, such as Xine or mplayer, to the PMA400. By taking advantage of the 30GB storage, it should be possible to accomodate codecs for just about every type of audio and video format that exists. I understand that work is underway to port the Helix player to ARM Linux, which opens the possibility of playing RealMedia formats as well.
      The built-in Web browser is Opera, and it works well enough. It's not as good as NetFront, in my opinion, but it's streets ahead of most embedded browsers. There is a PDF viewer, which is OK, but a 3.5-inch screen isn't ideal for viewing documents formatted for paper. That's not a limitation of the viewer software, but of the screen resolution and human eyesight.

The built-in PIM applications

And so to the PIM apps -- the address book, scheduler etc. The apps supplied with the PMA400 are part of the Qtopia product and, quite frankly, they suck. Whether they suck harder than the built-in PIM apps on other PDAs is a moot point -- they all suck. It's not even worth trying to establish degrees of suckiness (is that a word? probably not...) between the different products; they all suck, and that's that. If you don't think the built-in PIM apps on your PDA suck, you haven't tied using something like Agendus. The thing that sets Agendus apart from all the cheap, nasty built-in PIM stuff is that it presents the data in an integrated way. So, for example, if you enter into the to-do list that you need to call Fred Bloggs, the entry will automatically be linked to Fred Bloggs' contact details. This kind of integration is hardly rocket science, so why can't manufacturers provide decent PIM apps as standard? The Palm folks have got a bit of an excuse -- after all, the Palm platform has historically been extremely resource-constrained. But in a device like the PMA400, with a 30GB disk, there's no excuse for software like this. The PIM apps are completely un-integrated, operating on completely separate sets of data. To be fair, it's not unusable, it's just not as good as users have a right to expect for the money. With luck, somebody will produce a decent, aftermarket PIM product for Qtopia soon.

PC synchronization and integration

The PMA400 comes with an application called `Qtopia desktop', which is the counterpart of the built-in PIM software for Windows PC or Mac. A Linux version is available from the Trolltech web site. I understand that there is also built-in synchronization with certain Windows applications, but I can't really comment on that. The Qtopia desktop application is OK, as it goes. Getting the Linux version to synchronize with the PMA400 wirelessly was a no-brainer -- all I had to do was enter the IP number of the PMA into the Linux desktop application, and everything else just happened automatically. I assume that the Windows and Mac versions would work the same. I haven't yet tried synchronizing over USB, because I'm not sure I've all the necessary network bits installed on my Linux box. In any event, wireless sync works fine for me. Incidentally, there does not appear to be any security in the synchronization process -- it looks as though anyone on the same network who knows your PMA's IP number will be able to read and write your PIM data. Synchronizing over USB might be a better option in an open environment.
When the PMA400 is connected to a computer by USB, it emulates a removable disk drive. The drive is formated in vfat. (i.e., Windows 95) format. This format supports long filenames, but doesn't support file attributes (owner, group, etc), or symbolic links. Arguably the media storage functions don't need these capabilities, but the Linux operating system certainly does. See Inside the PMA400 for a description of how this is accomplished. Because disk emulation over USB is now an entirely standard protocol, specific drivers are not required for most modern operating systems. Because the PMA400 supports USB2, file transfer is surprisingly fast.

Battery life

My initial impression is that the battery life is slightly shorter than than of the AV420 -- about 10 hours for audio and 3 hours for video. Like the AV420, the PMA400 has a removable battery, and the batteries are widely available, and reasonably compact. So it's not difficult to carry a spare battery. You should bear in mind that changing batteries necessitates a reboot, and that ins't necessarily a good thing (see below).

Third-party applications

Well, so far I don't think there are any, although the PMA400 does include a software package manager for installing and removing applications. However, I have found that some Zaurus applications work very well on the PMA400, so it should not be difficult to port many of the huge range of Zaurus applications to the PMA400. For the full story on the code compatibility between the PMA400 and the Sharp Zaurus range, see the `C/C++ development' section in Inside the PMA400. In short, some Zaurus apps work on the PMA400 without any changes; some work with configuration tweaks, and some don't work at all, and presumably require modification to the code.
      Sharp are not marketing the Zaurus range in the UK any more, but the later Zaurus models, such as the C700, appear very similar to the PMA400 internally. I tried installing a couple of C700 applications on the PMA400 using the `package manager' application. Neither worked without configuration changes, but the important point is that I was able to get both to work without any code changes. Older Zaurus applications, particular those developed for the original Sharp firmware, generally don't work straight off. Most likely they would need to be recompiled at least. Some older Zaurus apps developed for the OpenZaurus firmware (an open-source Linux distribution that many Zaurus users prefer to the Sharp version) are code compatible, but they can't be installed through the PMA400 pacakge manager because the directory structure of OpenZaurus is different. I found it was necessary to split up the installation package, and manually deploy the various files in suitable locations on the PMA400.
      All this seems to be suggesting that porting Zaurus and other ARM-Linux apps to the PMA400 should not be that difficult. Of course, end users aren't going to want to mess about moving files from one place to another and hacking configuration files to get Zaurus apps to work on their Archos units, but it should be straightforward for the maintainers of Zaurus apps to support the PMA400 if they wish to.
      The other type of third-party software which the PMA400 supports, other than native Linux applications, is `Mophun' games. I believe that Mophun code is a form of platform-independent bytecode, so it should be straightforward to run games developed for the Mophun engine on the PMA400, even if they were originally developed for other hardware. The Mophun system was originally developed to provide a games platform for mobile phones, so it should be well suited to small handheld devices such as the PMA400. However, I know next to nothing about this subject, so I could be quite wrong. There is said to be a vast amount of Mophun software available for download, but I did not find any in the ten minutes I was prepared to spend looking for it. You may have gathered from the above that I am not particularly interested in gaming, and that is, indeed, the case. In any case, I'm not sure how you would operate a game using the tiny keypad on the PMA400.

Niggles

The version of the PMA400 I have has some irritations. Most of them are relatively trivial, and stem from the Qtopia implementation, I think, rather than design flaws in the hardware.

Wireless networking has to be stopped and started manually. This is a minor irritation, but it would be nice if networking operations automatically enabled the wireless network adapter and established a connection to the base station. Other PDAs, such as the Sony Clie UX-50, seem to be able to do this. I'm not sure whether it should be able to disconnect automatically as well, as the UX50 does, because that would make it difficult to call _in_ to the device (e.g., for synchronization). All in all, manual connection management is better than an unintelligent automated system, I guess.
Rather slow wakeup. The PMA400 takes about five seconds to respond to the wakeup button when it is asleep. This is a creditable wake-up time for a computer, but very slow for a PDA. Palm PDAs generally wake up in under a second.
Alarm is too quiet. At least plugging in headphones does not shut off the alarm to the built-in speaker as it does in, for example, the Treo 600. Whoever came up with that idea? But, nonetheless, the alarm volume is set by the same volume control as the headphone volume. If you've been listening to music through headphones at anything less than ear-shattering volume, the alarm won't be loud enough to wake you up. You have to remember to turn the volume up when you've finished using headphones. This is a drag, and ideally the alarm needs its own volume control.
Cheap, tacky case and stylus. The AV420 came with a case that, despite not being very usable was at least a case. The PMA400 has only a clip-on screen cover, which also houses the thin, bendy stylus. It's almost impossible to get the stylus out of its housing without it springing across the room. A unit this expensive ought at least to be supplied with a proper case! The stylus itself if small and bendy, and judders on the screen when dragging. Replacements ought to be inexpensive, I guess, but the stylus is quite the most horrid I've seen on any mobile device.
Even the meagre configurability of Qtopia is not made available. Qtopia is not a particularly configurable user interface at the best of times. The user interface of the PMA cannot be customized beyond changing the background colour without resorting to hacking text files around. This means that even the small amount of configurability that Qtopia offers is not accessible on this device. Even if you are prepared to configure the launcher by hacking text files, this process is completely undocumented; even if you do it the way that should work (that is, as it would work on other Qtopia platforms) you'll find that the next reboot destroys all your changes. You can't even change the way the application icons are distributed across the different pages on the launcher without hacking a text file. The launcher appearance can be configured through a graphical interface but, even though it appears to support background images, for example, there is no documentation where those images have to be stored. In short, if you don't like the user interface appearance and layout -- tough, you're stuck with it. Even if one of the third-party Qtopia configuration utilities can be made to work on the PMA400, the changes will still get overwritten on the next reboot.
The way that the Linux underbelly has been concealed from the end user is irritating to a Linux user. For example, the built in file browser can't navigate outside the media storage area and into the operating system files. This means, for example, that you can't use the built-in text editor for viewing configuration files. Now, to be fair, most users won't want to do this. But what is irritating is that it must have taken effort on the part of the the developers to remove functionality this way. Thankfully, there are a number of Zaurus file browsers that work on the PMA400, which aren't limited this way. The use of a `documents tab' to index and display references to files is wholely inappropriate on a device with a 30GB hard disk. In practice you have to store documents outside the documents area to prevent Qtopia trying to index them, otherwise it could take hours for the launcher to start up. If you use the built-in text editor to create a text file, you can't give the file a name of your choice -- you have to let the software pick a name based on the file contents and store it in the documents area.
I can quite understand why Archos wants to conceal the internal operation of the unit from non-programmers and people with no interest in Linux. The problem with this approach is that, for the unit to be a commercial success, people have to write applications for it, and that's not going to happen if Archos upsets Linux developers. Happily, there are third-party Zaurus applications that work on the PMA400 and which aren't subject to the same artificial constraints as the built-in applications. For example, `Zeditor' is an open-source graphical text editor which allows files to be read and written anywhere they are visible to the Linux system, and isn't affected by the Qtopia document model.
If you do have to reboot the unit (e.g., because the touchscreen has stopped working), the date gets reset back to January 27th, 2005), and any manual configurations changes you've made get set back to the factory defaults. This means that, although it is possible, for example, to move the Launcher icons from one tab to another by moving the relevant Qtopia .desktop files from one place to another, you'll lose all these changes if you have to reboot.

Conclusion

The PMA400 does everything the AV420 does, and much more besides. Mostly it does everything at least as well as the AV420 or better, but there are areas where the earlier unit comes out on top. Most obvious is the much quicker wake-up time of the AV420 -- usually a second or two, as compared to the five seconds of the PMA400. In addition, the battery life of the AV420 is slightly better. The crucial question for a prospective purchaser is that, given that a new AV420 can now be had from reputable UK retailers for about £300, and that that PMA400 is twice the price, is the PMA400 twice as good? That depends on what you want. I can use the PMA400 to read eBooks -- in PDF and other formats -- using Zaurus software, and this is a feature that is irritatingly absent from the AV420. Using the PMA400 I can take notes at meetings, set alarms, manage contact details, and manage my diary, but I could do all that that with a fifty quid Palm device. If anything justifies spending an extra £300 on the PMA400, over and above the price of the AV420, it is that the PMA is a single handheld device that can do the work of a collection of less expensive devices, and a laptop computer too at a pinch. In addition, because it runs Linux and is relatively easier to develop applications for, it should be possible to increase its usefulness even further. The convenience of having a single gadget that can do the work of a sack-full of separate gadgets should not be underestimated.
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