Archos 605 Wi-Fi personal media player
The acme of PMPs?
Review Archos' 605 Wi-Fi represents the flagship model of the French manufacturer's fifth generation of Personal Media Players (PMPs). And although it may not look entirely dissimilar to its predecessors, the 605 brings plenty of new features to the table.
Archos' 605 Wi-Fi: hugely capacious
Arriving in reasonable 30GB, 80GB and enormous 160GB hard drive flavours, Archos has also seen fit to mix a 4GB Flash-based model into the equation. With plenty of music, movies and more ready and waiting to be uploaded, we snaffled the 30GB version from the sweaty palms of the Archos crew.
Aesthetically, the 605 is tailor-made for the iPod generation, garnered as it is with a smooth silver-white livery. At only 15mm thick - the 160GB model is a little more portly - it's also slim enough to slip into your (oversized) pocket or bag without concern.
The front is dominated by an indulgent 4.3in touchscreen that covers almost the entire surface area, only begrudgingly allowing a single line of responsive but sturdy keys along the right-hand side and tiny speaker grille on the bottom. It's a great looking layout that's both intuitive and easy to get to grips with, our only qualm being the spacing around and behind the keys that don't look like the easiest areas to clean. We wonder how long before that silvery finesse is besmirched with greasy fingers and bottom-of-the-bag detritus.
There's a slick little kickstand on the opposite side of the screen, which is well placed and sturdy enough to hold the player up without fear of it toppling over in a light breeze - a feature most PMP manufacturers seem to genuinely struggle with. There are also two styluses provided should you be blessed with butter-stump fingers, though there's no slot to keep one or both in.
Build quality is in general superb, and the 605 feels like it can take the knocks of everyday use without difficulty.
COMMENTS
How about SDK?
If only there was an SDK available, or SSH I could manage my web sites without a bulky laptop...
Archos and EXTRA stuff needed..
I personally get very pissed off at all these reviews and their constant complaining about how Archos wants to charge you for the Browser or the Dock or something as opposed to bundling them.
Not ONLY are you getting the Archos for the same price as previous models EVEN if you bought the DVR station, plug ins or whatever but you also get MORE for your money than previous models.
Why the hell is that so hard to understand?
When you do a review and you harp about this fact THREE times, you are effectively misleading the people and getting them to think the way YOU think which is not necessarily correct.
Objectiveness would be nice. Say something like, "I don't like the fact that they do this...but in all fairness, the initial price IS much lower than it would be for bundled..." now THAT would be more accurate..
I think it's a good idea and you HAVE a choice. NOT going to record from TV? Save yourself $99.
Hell, I had the station with my AV500 and only used it a couple of times.
I don't see how it's better to ship it all with the player and charge $150 more and besides, the review would look a lot better if you quoted the actual cost for the player and not the higher cost you quoted.
Second, it's head and shoulders above the pathetic offerings from Apple. It's simply in its own league as the apple only Plays music and video, that's it.
George
@Nicolas Charbonnier
I'm sure you know what you are talking about as far as you are privy to the information - but I doubt that will include the intricacies of the deal struck with Microsoft...
foxyshadis: pity that document doesn't even mention that royalty-free options exist.
Codec license fees:
http://www.musemagic.com/papers/licensinginfo.html
It's just a nickel & dime profit center for Archos, you have to decide for yourself if it's worth it on principle.
I am not a representative
But I am webmaster of http://archosfans.com and http://forum.archosfans.com
So I know what I'm talking about.
I guess Ogg can technically be added, though it might not be easy to add, but probably that the firmware engineers have a ton of other priorities.
