Archos 5 250 GB Internet Tablet by Archos
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Digital camera reviews of Archos 5 250 GB Internet Tablet
Digital camera Review: Archos for a Non-Geek
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm not one of these people that goes out and buys whatever's new. I listen to a lot of music, so I like mp3 players but, prior to this was given to me as a Christmas gift this past year, I had a 20gb Dell that had a two color screen, was around ten years old, and cost me $50 used. It didn't have nearly enough space, so I wasn't terribly happy with it, but I also wasn't willing to pay $300 for a new one that had more space.
At first, the Archos, to me, seemed like too much. I don't really have an interest in the video feature and have a general bias against touch screen devices because I think they're automatically more prone to damage and general breakage than something with buttons.
But then I really got into it. I was able to upload all of the music that I had sitting around in mp3 format, including all of the stuff that my previous mp3 player couldn't hold. When uploading, I discovered one of the Archos' big, initial issues: the initial battery charge. When you're uploading, you're actually using more battery than the little USB can take in to recharge so, you'll get weird messages on your computer and, at times, your Archos will just outright turn itself off. This is obnoxious, and it caused some sort of data corruption where I now have a couple of folders on the device that I cannot delete. I thought my device was messed up when this first happened, but I found stuff online documenting the same issue, so I just take it as a device flaw. Lesson: charge it up fully before you try to upload anything.
A couple of things that I love about this thing: the disk space and the web radio feature. It not only scans those mostly awful internet radio stations, but also the usually great, independent over-the-air stations around the world that have streams. Most of the time, when I'm at home, I find myself just plugging in the local community radio here (KXCI), WBER in Rochester, WCSB in Cleveland, WSPN in New York, KCRW in LA, KEXP in Seattle, or one of the other great, independent radio stations that are out there. It's really nice to have them in one, easy to access list, and you can also add them to your "Favorites" so that they're even easier to access.
Now, let's talk issues.
I mentioned the battery life above and that comes up again and again. The wifi feature, whether used with the web radio, internet browser or anything else, sucks it up at a really surprising pace. If it's not plugged in, you're looking at, maybe, 1-2 hours of battery life, and that's if fully charged already. Luckily, the wifi does NOT use more battery than the charge can take in, so it won't die if you use it too long.
Then there's the "standby" issue. If you leave your device unplugged and inactive, it goes to a standby mode where it requires the "On" switch to be pushed when you want to access it again. Fine. Problem is, the whole time it's in that standby mode, it's using a surprising amount of battery. If you leave it unplugged in that standby mode overnight, it will be down to about 1 bar on the battery, or even right above dead.
Now, you can avoid this by actually turning the device off. Strangely, this isn't as intuitive as you'd expect. To do this, you have go into "Tools," then "Settings," then "Power," and only then you'll see a "Device Power Off" button that you can use. When completely turned off using that button, the device uses 0 battery and really does not take much longer to start up than if it were on just standby. Now, there is the power button on the side, but that's really only for hard resets and, just knowing how doing that on a computer can damage it, I don't like to use it. It will also turn back on when you do that sometimes.
The most obnoxious issue by far though is the hard drive delay. When listening to music, it often doesn't buffer the next track. When you hit the next track, the hard drive is often on standby and has to spin up (you can hear it doing this). I'd say 1 out of 20 times, it doesn't spin up fast enough, and you get a "File is corrupted" error on the screen. This requires you to push the "OK" button to the error, then restart the music. You can just play the same track and it will work (unless it really is corrupted), but it's really annoying, especially if you're in the car and can't look at it to navigate the touch screen.
The proprietary plugs are a little annoying. It comes with a single USB plug. I just happened to have both a car USB charger and a wall outlet USB charger, so I just use those as opposed to purchasing the Archos stuff. I did lose my car one (left it in a rental), so I had to buy a new one and paid $20 for it. Excessive, but less excessive than what the Archos store charges for the stuff. The down-side to that is that, of course, you only have one plug and, if you ever lose that, you're screwed.
All in all, I think it's a good device. I would say that it's not of tremendous quality, and that comes through when you start using it. It's cheaper than comparable products by quite a bit though, so you have to expect that.
Digital camera Review: Archos is my new best friend!
Summary: 5 Stars
I was in the market for a new mp3 player (my ipod bit the dust) when I came across this amazing little device. I was a little leery about spending that much money on a toy, especially after reading some of the other reviews. But, I am so glad I got it! It's perfect for long flights, boring classes, surfing the net while waiting for your food at a restaurant, and listening to tunes. The only down side to it is the price of the add ons such as GPS and the DVR. But, overall, it's 1000 times better than my old ipod. The picture quality of the screen is amazing and the touch screen is very responsive.Digital camera Review: Archos_5_Review
Summary: 4 Stars
it's a pretty sweet device....screen is very rocking. touch works fine, but the target can be too small, sometimes you wind up selecting right above/below what you are trying to select.
another weird problem is that you cannot put too many files into the root of a folder...need to nest items into subfolders.
i like the form factor and screen size, but device itself is rather heavy.
finally, a "lock" option and a random play option would be nice. can't seem to find that.
Digital camera Review: Archros 5 review
Summary: 4 Stars
The Archros 5 is a good quality video and audio player but what most reviews won't tell you is even though it plays WMV and AVI files it only plays certain WMV and AVI files. I had to purchase a separate Daniusoft Digital media software converter off the internet to convert my PC files to the Archros 5 type of files. Also if you want to use any options with the player you also have to purchase separate plug-ins as well. The picture quality is outstanding and the audio is great if you use the ear plugs supplied with the player. The external speakers aren't very good so using the ear plugs supplied is a must.Digital camera Review: Avoid at all costs...
Summary: 1 Stars
First of all, I'd just like to provide some context. I first discovered Archos back in summer '08 when my Elgato EyeHome died. For those of you who aren't aware of this product, it was basically a device that could be used to watch computer files (avi, mp4, etc.) on an old school, standard-definition television. When my EyeHome went kaput I was very disappointed to discover that the product had been discontinued. The search for a similar product finally led me to the Archos TV. At this point I've had the Archos TV for more than a year now. It's a fantastic product and, at least so far, has worked flawlessly - I couldn't be happier with it. In fact, it was because of this good experience that I decided to invest in the Archos 5 Internet Media Tablet. I think it's important to give this backstory because some of the more enthusiastic Archos fans on here and on certain internet forums seem to think that any criticism of their favorite company means that you're nothing less than a drooling Apple fanboy - blinded to reality and incapable of giving a competing product a fair chance or accurate assessment.
So, to continue, late last year I was in a situation that will probably be familiar to all of you. I was interested in buying a portable media player. Would it be an iPod Touch or... something else? Ultimately, I opted for the Archos 5 based on two main factors:
1) Greater storage capacity - 250 GB as compared to the maximum 32 GB on an iPod Touch
2) File flexibility - the Archos 5 can play just about anything, whereas the iPod Touch is restricted to the mp4 file format. This was an important consideration for me, since I already had a small library of avi files that I wanted to enjoy without having to convert to a different format.
I read some bad reviews right here on Amazon and elsewhere, but, because of my good experience with the Archos TV, I still decided to invest in the Archos 5. HUGE mistake.
To be fair, the Archos 5 worked just fine for the first few months. The problems seemed to begin after I installed the latest version of the firmware - 1.6.53. Basically, the unit seized up and became nothing more than an expensive paperweight. Pressing the power button would initiate the startup process, but, rather than going to the main menu, the introductory "Archos - Entertainment Your Way" screen would simply flash on an endless loop until all the battery power was drained.
Now, I'm extremely capable when it comes to tech. I'm the guy that friends and family call to help with stuff like installing an additional internal hard drive, deciding between plasma or LCD, setting up their Blackberry to get email from home... you get the idea. The Archos 5 is equipped with some rudimentary built-in problem solving tricks. I tried these as the instruction manual advised - but nothing worked.
At that point I went to Archos Customer Service - this, folks, is where things go really haywire. In a word, Archos' customer service is appalling. If you don't want to take my word for it, just read some of the other comments on here and take a look elsewhere on the net. Their sheer incompetence is legendary.
My experience with them is hardly typical, but I'll summarize here -
Step One - Contact customer service. Explain problem. Obtain an RMA (Return to Manufacturer Authorization.)
Step Two - Send unit in for repairs.
Step Three - Wait expectantly.
Step Four - Receive unit back from the RMA warehouse.
Step Five - Unpack unit and test. Discover that nothing has been fixed. Repeat process beginning with Step One...
My last round with Archos Customer Service ended when I received my unit back from the warehouse and found that they had simply given me another unit altogether. I knew this was the case because the new unit was mysteriously missing the sticker on the bottom that included the serial number. I'd also fitted the original unit with a Lexerd Screen Protector - something that was conspicuously absent from the new model.
Mind you, replacing my unit with another model of the exact same type isn't necessarily a bad thing - it might have worked out just fine. The only problem was, this replacement model has a damaged power button, and, on the rare occasions that I can turn the thing on, it has the exact same problem as my old unit - stuck in the "Entertainment Your Way" startup loop. When I called customer service to discuss these issues, they claimed that the unit was fine when it left the warehouse (big consolation, huh?) and that the broken power button was probably caused by someone at UPS unpacking the device and "messing around with it." Say what?
Now, to be fair, we all know that our electronic gizmos aren't perfect. The Archos 5 certainly isn't the first device I've had problems with and it won't be the last. The big problem is that Archos simply doesn't have the infrastructure to deal with issues like this when they occur. Just for comparison, I had some problems with my Mac G5 when I first got it - but a quick trip to the Apple Store for a tune-up solved everything. Archos isn't like that. The company is based in France and, by virtue of necessity, their North American customer service is outsourced to a shoddy firm here in the U.S. staffed with reps who can do little more than tell you to try pressing the reset button again and/or make pathetic excuses.
To all of those people who have a functional Archos 5 and enjoy it - terrific. I'm happy for you and I know from experience that when an Archos product does actually work, it's brilliant. BUT - God help you if you run into trouble, because you're basically screwed.
I'm writing this in the hope of convincing some of you still on the fence that you really ought to go with another product altogether. Pick whatever you like - Cowon, iPod Touch, whatever. Just don't get an Archos. Trust me on this, it's basically a crap shoot. And, at the end of the day, do you want to gamble, or do you want a product that actually works?