The best multimedia player (Archos 605 WiFi 4 GB)

Member Name: yackers1

Product:	Archos 605 WiFi 4 GB
Date:	02/12/08 (301 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very versatile. Loads of acessories.

Disadvantages: Bolt ons and plug ins required to get the best out of it at an additonal cost

****Features****

The Archos 605 is a fully functional multi media player that is controlled via touch screen technology enabling the user to play movies, record videos (although an additional bullet camera is required), listen to MP3s, look at photographs, carry out voice recording and browse the internet (with an additional plug in) amongst others.

****Video****

The video quality is very good and perfectly acceptable to watch. It is a vast improvement on the AV700, whose resolution was absolutely awful. The 604 enable the option to run in wide screen, full screen or normal modes. This is very useful for different sized videos. The frame rate is also very good, much better than many of its competitors, in my opinion.

If using just the video function I have found that the battery life is about 5 hours, which may present some problems. I find that if I have to travel to London for work the battery will just about last for the journey there and the journey back, providing there are no hold ups.

****Audio****

The user-friendly audio menu makes this function very easy to use (especially with the touch screen and stylus) and it is easy to transfer music in and out of the play list. You can browse all your music as you are listening to a track, just like you can with an iPod. There is the option to rate play lists just like on a PC or laptop. Whilst this is a great feature once all the music has been rated actually doing this can be very tedious.

In my opinion it would be better if the ratings that you had given the songs on the computer could be directly transferred along with the track.

The voice recording function is probably not of much use to most users, however, I have used it to dictate some work letters just to check how easy it was to do and the quality of the recording. Whilst it was easy to dictate and record, the quality is very poor, certainly no substitute for my Dictaphone, but it will be acceptable for those who like leaving themselves vocal reminders of things to do.

The audio quality is good but it is not up to the same standard as that of the iPod which is a shame, but then maybe that would be asking too much, especially given the price of the Archos 604.

If using just the audio function I have found that the battery life is quite good and generally lasts up to 15 hours.

****Photo viewer****

It is possible to store and view photos on the Archos. I have yet to find a digital camera which will directly plug in to the Archos to transfer the photos so this must be done via a PC or laptop.

There is the ability to display a slide show which is a nice feature.

****Wifi***

The Wifi function is a great idea, but in my opinion, it is not fast enough. Searching for networks can take a little time but transferring files or accessing work files generally works OK. I have encountered times when I could not get the Wifi to work but these occasions have been few and far between.

The internet browsing capability is OK for looking at emails and doing searches on Wikipedia and the like, although it is not that good for large, complex and detailed websites as it can take a while to load up. It should be noted that the internet browser does not come as standard and is an additional plug in that needs to be bought, and downloaded, from the Archos site.

Whilst internet browsing the keyboard is used (of course!). The keyboard is easy to use. One thing that I was unsure of before I got my Archos was how to type because I could not find any information about it at all. Basically, when ever you touch a text box the keyboard takes up half the screen and then you can just hit the letters and they are displayed on the screen. It is very easy to do and comes quite naturally after a while.

One function that I feel is missing is the ability to listen to music whilst surfing the internet, although I feel that this is probably beyond the capabilities of the Archos 604. It would, however, give the user something to do whilst waiting for the web pages to load up.

****The touch screen****

The touch screen is very, very good. The balance of sensitivity is spot on, i.e. not too sensitive (which I think renders things useless) and not so un-responsive that you have to press hard on the screen. It is possible to get near pin-point accuracy with the stylus.

****Recording from external sources****

When transferring movies on to the Archos you are fine as long as the video, clip or whatever is on your PC in the correct format.

It is possible to transfer movie content direct from a DVD player or a television. In order to do this the DVR station accessory is needed, and at £60 it is not cheap, but it is an absolute must have to really enjoy the full capabilities of this multimedia player.
The DVR station combines all video in and out. There are 11 ports on the back not including the one to charge enabling it to be used with almost any external video source you can imagine.

The DVR station also comes with a handy remote, which is very useful unless you like to sit right by the external device.

****Other functions****

It is possible to view PDF files on the Archos 604. This is easy to use and the user can zoom into the page to all necessary magnifications. It would have been good to have a text viewer to show word documents or such like and then have the ability to edit the documents using the keyboard but this is not possible.

****Accessories****

As you'd expect there are loads of accessories for the Archos 604 including cases, additional power packs, headphones, leads, adaptors, DVR adaptors and camcorders amongst other things.
The downside is that all these things come at a price and you need really deep pockets to fully kit out your Archos. The accessories are much more expensive than similar items for other types of multi media players.

As well as lots of hardware there is a lot of software and plug-ins, that need to be downloaded directly from the Archos website, available. Without this software you will not be able to do certain things (such as browse the internet or look at and use specific file types). Once again, this additional software is very expensive.

The additional software required is a bit of a con. I bought the Archos under the impression that it is a fully functional multi media player that could deal with all file types, and it can deal with all file types but you need to pay for this. I could not see this fact stated in any Archos literature. Once you have bought an Archos you will inevitably require additional software and Archos has the user bent over the proverbial barrel in these cases.

A good place to get Archos accessories is Newmp3technology.com.

****Transferring data to/from the Archos****

The file transfer to/from the computer is acceptable. It is not blisteringly fast, but then it is not really slow either. Its about the same as transferring files between a laptop or PC and an removable hard drives, which is effectively what the Archos appears as once linked up to a computer.

This allows you to drag and drop items as opposed to having to use file transfer programs, like iTunes in the case of iPods.

****Prices and availability****

Prices vary greatly depending upon where you get the Archos. I have seen these as cheap as £110 from Overstock.com and as much as £180 from Play.com.

****Final thoughts and comments****

The Archos looks sleek and stylish. Whilst the Archos has a large screen it is not too big and can easily be slipped in to a pocket.

****Would I recommend it?****

The Archos is a great multi media player and full of features and gadgets and I would recommend one.

Whilst it is reasonably cheap to buy the basic unit, the additional bolt-ons, plug-ins and accessories cost a lot and you will need deep pockets to get every thing. Provided you consider the additional cost of these then I can't see this being a problem and you won't get any surprises.

There are other multi media players out there but none have as many features, nor are they as versatile, as the Archos.

Summary: A great bit of kit but is the expense really worth it?

Processing/Quality:
Reliability:
Ease of use:
Features:
Sound quality:
Download speed: