There’s a new Android device on the market. On Tuesday, the French company ARCHOS announced the ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet, based on Google‘s open-source Android mobile operating system.

The ARCHOS 5 features 720p high-definition viewing, TV recording, and built-in GPS with 3-D navigation in addition to Net browsing. It has a five-inch 800×480 touchscreen, and the company emphasized that it has a full-fledged browser and integrated applications. Connectivity is Wi-Fi, or 3.5G from a mobile phone connected through Bluetooth.

Android a ‘Major Differentiator‘

Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for consumer technology at the NPD Group, noted that ARCHOS is already marketing a Windows-based tablet with a nine-inch screen that would probably provide “a more robust Net surfing experience.”

He added that the use of the open-source Android is a “major differentiator,” since the ARCHOS 5 is “one of the first Android products for consumers that is not a cell phone.”

Current Analysis’ Avi Greengart pointed out that the ARCHOS 5 “is not a large enough tablet” to really expand the tablet category. In fact, he said, “in some ways it looks like some of the phone devices we’ve been seeing.”

Whatever category it fits into, Rubin said the impact may be limited in the U.S., since mobile media player maker ARCHOS does not yet have a very high U.S. market share, despite offering technologically advanced devices.

Tablet computers are beginning to emerge as a category. Rubin noted that Toshiba showed one larger than the ARCHOS 5 at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year.

There have also been persistent rumors that Apple will bring out a tablet device in the next few months. Depending on the rumor, the purported device is a bigger iPod touch, an entry into the growing netbook market, a new kind of e-book device, or all three.

And the CrunchPad, a Net-surfing Android-based tablet from a company formed by technology blogger Michael Arrington, is reportedly being readied for release later this year.

Third-Party Apps

Rubin noted that a big advantage in the use of Android for this tablet is access to a growing library of applications for that OS. As the mobile-device market matures and expands, the availability of third-party applications is increasingly becoming a factor in purchase decisions.

ARCHOS also unveiled the AppsLib store, which will provide free and paid applications specifically for the new tablet device. The store can be accessed directly from the device and apps can be downloaded in one click.

A visit to the AppsLib store shows it’s still under construction, but it appears to be ready to offer Android applications for a variety of Android devices beyond just the new tablet.

Several applications will come preinstalled on the ARCHOS 5, including the eBuddy instant-messaging app, Twidroid for Twitter tweeting, Craigsphone for viewing and posting classified ads, ThinkFree for viewing Microsoft Office files, and Mewbox, a music download service.

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The free service, announced in March, lets users unify their phone numbers, allowing them to have a single number through Google Voice that rings a call through to all their phones.

Sources could not say when the 1 million numbers may be assigned. Level 3 has been supplying Google with phone numbers since the introduction of Google Voice, so the 1 million numbers are an indication Google is close to adding a significant amount of users.

A Google spokesperson would only say “as a matter of policy, we typically do not comment on contracts with third-party technology suppliers.”

A public launch has been anticipated since Google said in March the service would be “open to new users soon.” There has been speculation that the service would begin today – June 18 – but Google has yet to make an announcement.

“I’ve only been using Google Voice for a few months, but it’s completely changed the way I use voicemail and communicate, just in general,” said Kevin Dando, director of digital and education communications for PBS. “When it goes public, I think the rush to grab Google Voice numbers is going to be stunning. I know some of my friends check the Google Voice page almost every day to see when they can grab a number and get started using it.”

Google Voice has a number of unique features including call transfer between a user’s devices, multi-party conferencing, conversion of voice calls to text messages, cut-rate international calling, and call transcription.

Google also has integrated the Voice service with Gmail contact lists.

But the gem is the fact that a user can have one phone number people can dial to reach them regardless of where they are located, either home or mobile. Google Voice uses VoIP to link collections of phone numbers.

Google Voice is a product of Google’s March 2007 acquisition of GrandCentral. For the past two years, however, it appeared the GrandCentral technology had been tossed into a black hole.

But on March 11, Google announced Google Voice and opened the service up only to former GrandCentral users.

Last week, TechCrunch reported that Google would add number portability later this year to Google Voice, which would let users keep one of their existing phone numbers as their Google Voice number. For example, users could make their cell phone number their Google Voice number.

The feature is significant because switching to a new Google Voice number comes with a cost such as having to distribute the new number to friends and family. In addition, outbound calls and text messages show the phone number you are calling from and not your Google Voice number.

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