Photos and reviews: Archos 405 & 605 WiFi
Whatever Apple's bringing, the Archos 605 is ready to meet it head-on. Click the photo to launch the Archos 605 WiFi slide show.
(Credit: Corinne Schulze / CNET)Jet-lagged travelers of the world rejoice! The latest portable video players from Archos promise new cures for inflight boredom, and the prices are staggeringly cheap. We've just posted full reviews of the (CNET Editors' Choice Award-winning) Archos 605 WiFi and Archos 405 portable video players and regardless of what next Wednesday's announcement reveals from the Apple camp, I think it's safe to say that these new Archos players will top more than a few holiday wish lists.
The Archos 405 may not have WiFi, but the little guy's price tag is too good to be true. Click the photo for the slide show.
(Credit: Corinne Schulze / CNET Networks)How can we be so sure? For starters, the 605 WiFi includes a shortcut for wirelessly downloading purchased or rented movies from Cinema Now, including all the content from Cinema Now's adult site (alladultchannel.com). iTunes is great and all, but I seriously doubt that Apple is ready to integrate porn into the squeaky clean iTunes universe. Secondly, both the 605 WiFi and 405 can switch between multiple USB modes, making them platform agnostic while maintaining their ability to play DRM-protected music and video content. Don't get me wrong, I love my iPod, but I also love companies like Archos that let my ripped DVD files and DRM-protected WMA files live on the same player.
To take a closer look, check out our separate slide shows for the Archos 605 WiFi and for the Archos 405.
Donald Bell is CNET Reviews' senior editor for MP3 players and portable audio, and one half of the MP3 Insider blog and weekly podcast. He also likes getting his hands dirty with digital audio tools for musicians and DJs.
Screen and UI:
The screen quality is very high and is higher than what I have seen on any other player currently on the market. The screen shows amazing detail and the coating for the touch Screen is great because it decrease glare. The touch screen is very responsive and UI is simple through the touch screen and slight less easy through the buttons on the side but having both touch screen and side buttons seems to aid in navigation and makes this the easiest player I have ever used.
Video:
The videos are clean and clear. Amazing quality and since you are able to adjust videos to multiple sizes screen you are able to see videos in great quality. Also when you highlight a video in your browser the icon gives you a preview of your video which is a great little touch and the Archos 605 is filled with little extras like this.
Music:
The music interface is great and with the touch screen you get amazing search capabilities similar if not better that the ipod. The sound quality is good but I do wish the volume could be higher, but I also tend to play my music a little too loud anyways.
Photos:
The screen quality assists any displaying your pictures in the best possible way. Touch screen gives you an easy way to zoom in and out and to go from picture to picture. You can also save your pictures to the main screen and you can even zoom into a particular part of a picture and save that. You can play music during your slide shows which has multiple transition effects and you can download and save pictures from the internet (web browser plug-in needed).
Content Portal:
Archos comes with its own content portal which you do not need to purchase the web browser to connect to. The Content Portal gives you content where ever you can find wifi. You get cinema now which allows you to buy or rent movies, TV shows, music videos and Daily Motion which is like youtube and is free. And other providers are on the way.
Wifi and Web:
Connecting to your wifi is easy and you can also connect your network and stream music, video, and pictures to your player. The web is a fun and easy to use but you will have to buy a plug-in to utilize. The touch screen is easy to use, and the screen quality makes it very easy to read pages without zooming in, you can also double tap on any screen and enlarge a page. The pages load at a decent rate and you can view pages like youtube (that run on flash 7, future firmware upgrades will allow for higher levels of flash) and view the videos on full screen. The Web Browser is a plug-in so it will cost extra but I figure if I did not want a web browser and I had one I would dislike having to pay for one, especially when I could have saved the built in cost of 30 dollars.
DVR:
The DVR is easy to use like all Archos players to have owned. I purchased the travel adapter, so I just plugged in the AV into my TV and pressed recorded. Record quality is very high and process is very easy. The DVR function is great because you can copy anything on TV and take it with you on the go. But it should be known that the Travel DVR does not come with a charger.
Overall the Archos is the best PVP out now. Everything functions at a high level. Other bonuses are you can also connect the Archos as a Hard Drive (which I have always preferred) or allow Window Media to manage your files. The Archos can view PDF and while I do not buy music for I tunes the Archos can play AAC files and there is a plug in to play video podcast I may get in the future. I like the idea of buying plug-ins instead of having features I would not use but have to pay for. I would have preferred that the battery life was better but it is also not terrible. I have always dislike proprietary connections and that is a big minus in my book but since most players if this capacity have it now, I guess it is just the way thing must be. I would have also liked a built-in FM turner. I also hear the internet radio will be coming out later this year. I do not see how anyone can still be interested in other players that are in the PVP market ? Apple (including the new touch), Creative, Cowon and all other challengers have a lot of catching up to do.