Archos 605 Wi-Fi Portable Media Player (80 GB) by Archos
|
List Price: Our Price: $129.99 You Save: $220.00 (63%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Network Media Player See more digital camera details and other models |
|---|
Digital camera reviews of Archos 605 Wi-Fi Portable Media Player (80 GB)
Digital camera Review: Better than an iPod!
Summary: 4 Stars
You can't beat this Archos 605, 80gb wifi product - it's the best and better than the iPods (or other similar products) that holds movies. It's compact, easy to convert and load movies, and best of all, the resolution is crystal clear. However, I did not give it a five only because there were many additional downloads required to make it operate even better. Preference would have been for company to charge more for the actual Archos player and just include all these needed programs. Hated the extra time and effort in downloading these additional apps. Regarding the case, make sure to get one BUT don't bother with the ones made by Archos - too flimsy. Just go directly for one made by Noreve. Worth every penny. Trust me, I am a big case person and will search high and low to find the perfect one.Digital camera Review: Buy an ipod instead
Summary: 1 Stars
For the price you pay for their merchandise you would think to get more than a couple of months out of the product. When you have to call tech support or customer service to get your product fixed they will lie to you to get you off the phone, say they are transfering you and hang up, and then just all together change their story just to save themselves from actually helping a customer. Horrible product + horrible customer service = find a different media player.Digital camera Review: Chose the flash memory version
Summary: 1 Stars
I purchased this as a replacement for my Archos 604, tempted by the high screen resolution. The picture looked great when I recieved the unit but it is impossible to stream video to this device without experiencing EXTEREME audio interference. This did not happen with the 604. Also, my unit's hard drive crashed beyond repair after about a month of use. Sent it back to Archos and received a beat up replacement unit 6 weeks later... after little or no feedback.
If I could do it all again, I would by the lower capacity flash memory model as there is much less likelihood of a hardware failure and I could stream without the audio interference on the flash-based model(according to other sources on the web).
Digital camera Review: Close, but no cigar, save your money
Summary: 1 Stars
Had problems with this product...and yes, the customer service was ATROCIOUS!!! First one I got, charged all night, booted up the next morning, and was not fully charged...1st call to customer service, was told I needed to charge for 24 hours or could destroy flash memory (WHAT???) second call was told only needed to charge it for 7-8 hours...they told me to send it back with no explanation as to what could be the cause of the battery prob??? Kept it for a week while waiting for my replacement, randomly re-booted for no reason, wiped out my music folder and had to re-sync everytime (20 minute job, battery drainer). Got my new unit, same exact thing with the re-sync, system re-booted, my music library empty, 20-minute re-sync. Called customer service and they had no clue(either lying or oblivious) since it happened to both units during normal operation. Find it very hard to believe no one else had this problem (ZUNE, IPOD SANDISK, whatever would have had an explanation for this) This product would be great if it worked properly and if there were issues, customer service could remedy the problem. Unfortunately they cannot do so; am planning on buying another zune or ipod with less functionality, but better durability and customer service. If you do buy one of these, monitor it for a week and return it asap if you have problems because $300 is alot of bread to drop on something that doesn't work properly.Digital camera Review: Coolest gadget ever!
Summary: 5 Stars
It's interesting reading reviews and what people don't like. I read the interface wasn't that good and buttons on the side were excess duplication. Hogwash! I read a critique of the battery and saw a shot of the Cowan interface with Windows CE. That was horrible. I like the interface. It's simple and to the point. I also found the keys on the right to be great. When I don't have a sylus in hand I may use a fingernail or opt for the keys. I got this for a trip to Europe for a geek conference and found out someone I know had worked on part of the interface. Small world.
Here is the good. The video is awesome. Mostly I was viewing video recorded through the DVR dock. I also had some camera videos and some downloaded video. It played whatever I handed it. I have an iRiver PMP120 which required a lowgrade rip and when I got it used it had one movie on it which I could not navigate. The Archos not only worked perfectly but it has bookmarking. You can turn it on and restore to your movie, but if you did something else with it you can go back to videos and every one of them can have their own bookmark! That's sheer genius. I played a lot of music on it in flight with an in ear noise reduction system and it was excellent.
I thought the wifi might be kind of cool. It's better than that. It's easier to use the Archos to buy hostspot time for a wifi phone than get the notebook out. The amount of internet radio and podcasts available is also huge. I haven't started using the network streaming yet, but the popup touch keyboard works nice and I've checked my email and composed emails with it.
I had problems installing a plugin and tech support was prompt and very helpful even on a Sunday. I had to reset it and thought the touchscreen was messed up but there is actually a menu item for calibration. I have a word for people complaining about the cost of plugins... Chill! Look at the price! I got the DVR dock, the browser, web radio and vidieo and the cinema plugin as well as a leather case. For this I have a Tivo with three times the disk space of my Tivo, all my music and pictures and I can check email in coffee shops and watch TV in the can... plus network it all. I spent around $400 for that and I can carry it in a cargo pocket in my pants. I'm amazed this exists, forget the price.
Now for my recommendations. I'm not sure about the battery life. I recharged for almost two hours between 7 and 5 hour flights. It was plenty for music. Video eats more battery. I got a USB lithium ion unit that is supposed to charge an iphone three times and it ate it every time. I recommend the battery dock for long flights as I expect it would work better. Also as far as I can tell the Cinema plugin may be able to play *.vob files but it looks like I still need to rip and due to copyright issues Archos isn't answering questions there. What is recorded onto the DVR station plays back on the TV very nice. I'm not sure the full benefit of the Cinema plugin as yet.
As to how much I like it, I'm thinking of getting a second one with the 160 GB drive if the wife wants to use this one to act as a Tivo on the second TV. It's not perfect, but closer to 5 than 4. I would like to be able to plug a camera into it without the dock as well as play into a friends TV without a dock. It has operated close to flawlessly. I was just viewing and downloading images from my camera on the TV with the remote. I think this is nearly the ideal personal entertainment device and it will impress your friends too.