The premise of the Archos TV Connect is simple: Run Android on your television. While this may sound a lot like Google TV, it's actually much different, for both better and worse. On the better side of things, the Archos TV Connect includes full access to the entire Android suite of apps, like Google Play, Gmail and, of course, gaming apps.
As for worse ... well, it's tablet software designed to be used with a touch interface. Instead, you're limited to the somewhat unwieldy "Remote," a gamepad with dual analog sticks, a directional pad, the expected suite of face and shoulder buttons, a full QWERTY keyboard on the bottom and a sensor which — coupled with the receivers on the actual device seated atop the television — provides a Wiimote-like pointer control.
All those myriad inputs are designed to replace the simple, some might even say intuitive, touch interface that exists on the stock Android 4.1 Jelly Bean firmware packed in the device. The directional pad can be used to navigate the icons on the home screen; the dual analog sticks can be used to "pinch" in and out for zoom; the "OK" button is for "touch" to drag; the pointer is used to replicate tracing your finger across the screen. It's a complicated substitute made even more complicated by the unique nature of each games' touch interface.
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