Archos 605 WiFi 4GB Flash

tanayrizal

first, a disclaimer: i'm not an audiophile, so my views are strictly from an average guy, who likes to listen to music, and watch movies when on the road to kill time (i.e. shopping with the gf), and internet surfing when available.

btw, here's a comparison review from cnet (archos vs apple itouch), but maybe outdated? as they compared the 30GB hard drive version of the archos 605 wifi to the all-flash apple itouch


Apple iPod Touch vs Archos 605 WiFi - CNET Prizefight - CNET Reviews

my setup:

archos 605 wifi 4gb flash ($198+ from amazon)
additional memory: a-data 8gb ($29.99 from ebay + shipping)
firmware: 1.7.13 with web-browser plugin ($30 for the plugin)
v-moda vibe modaphones (using the same one i use for the meizu m6)

appearance:

it came in a really nice, sturdy box. the packaging was put together, well, and protected the device during transport. there was a nice carrying pouch included, which is what i'm using until i get the 1 i ordered from ebay.

the unit is much bigger than the m6, and the dimensions are listed out there, but the thing to know is that you can hold it in one hand comfortably. watch a movie while holding it in one hand, then switch to the other hand, then when u get tired of holding it, you can put it on a table as it has a built-in kickstand.

the brushed metal feel is nice to the touch and gives it a classy feel to it. the screen is huge and very clear. overall, i give it very high marks for look and feel and overall build quality. it's not gonna win over the masses, as it's definitely not as sexy as the itouch, which i got to play around with last week at an apple store. good for me i wasn't looking for sexy. i was looking for a PMP with wifi capability and all-flash.

audio:

forgive me, but i only have .mp3's, so i can't give a full review of the different formats it supports. there's a plugin that costs $20 to allow for all kinds of formats, but i think the m6 still has more audio support. anyways, i didn't buy the plugin as i don't need it.

my audio usage of the archos is also very limited. maybe about 1 hour (if that) as my suspicion was proven correct. i still listen to my m6 most of the time, because of quick navigation to the songs. one thing i do is i listen to my m6 when i'm driving on the freeway (highway). i tried doing it with the archos and it didn't work out for me. with the m6, there are only 4 buttons for navigation, so with random mode on my playlist, i can quickly forward to the next song, or go back to the previous song. i couldn't do that on the archos, as it has a touch screen which you have to look at, plus it's bulky so i can't just put it on the "door handle" of the car like i do with the m6.

audio quality of the archos is excellent. very realistic and clear sounds. it's embarrassing (dunno if it's the right word to use) as i have the virtual 3d spatializer on the m6 and when i listen to the same song on the archos, i am very sure that the archos is the correct version of it. makes me think if i should try to equalize to get the same or as close to the archos as possible, but at this time, i've left the m6 as is, knowing there maybe a better way to set it to at a later time.

how easy to copy the music to it: no brainer. just copied the contents of my \music folder from the m6 to it, and ran the arclibrary update which took less than 15 seconds. done. i had to edit my playlist files, though. for some reason, the archos uses / instead of \ on the playlist file. i just opened my playlist files using notepad and did a search and replace of \ to /. done. how long to load/play a playlist? 2-3 seconds :D

video:

well, come on, now... i can't possibly compare the m6 to this huge screen and high-resolution and full-video speed. i've watched a few movies on it and i'll just say it's hard for me to go back to the m6 for watching a movie (or anything video). this is archos territory. period. but, there is a price! it eats up battery life like crazy. i'm sure i can watch 2 movies on a full-charge, but the 3rd one's very iffy. i know i've watched 3 movies on a full charge with the m6.

there's a series of threads on the archos forums on how to get extended play while away from a power source. same techniques will actually work on the meizu products and will actually work much better coz of the low power requirements of the m6. check this out:

Tekkeon - TekCharge MP1550, emergency power, emergency battery

i put 10 full-length .avi movies on the 8gb sd card. archos will play divx/xvid as long as the audio is not AC3. if it is, then a plugin is needed. another $20-30. damn these archos plugins! they nickel and dime you . the good thing about archos is that no need to convert the .avi files like with the m6. the bad news about that is a movie is about 700mb. the good news is that with the optional archos dock(s), you can project any movie from the archos to your TV, and not lose anything in terms of quality, i'm speculating as i don't have the dock(s), yet, although i'm almost convinced i'm gonna get the mini dock for $20 very soon.

wifi internet:

woohoo! when there is a wifi available, the archos is the bomb! because of the native 800 x 480 resolution, there is really no need to resize, unless you want to read an article with bigger letters. there is flash 7 support, and of course, we're dying to get the update for the flash 8 or 9 which has been promised last month. sound familiar?

the touch screen is not always responsive to the double tap (zoom in/out) and at times for clicking on a small link, but for sliding up/down or side/side on a webpage, it responds perfectly. the touchpad for keyboard input is extremely accurate and is enjoyable enough for actual usage. it takes a little bit of getting used to it, but not much...

conclusion:

i'm glad i didn't wait for the meizu m7. i'm very happy with the archos 605 wifi. at the same time, i would have preferred a smaller screen and smaller footprint. if the m7 is 3inch, i'm gonna be sorry for buying the archos. maybe sell it on ebay, and buy the m6, haha.

if i think of anything more, i'll just post a reply to the thread... i'm getting sleepy at this time :D

DusL

True, it owns both the resolution and a/v-playback of the m6/m7/m8 for the price of an ipod touch.

Only drawback if the not-so-compact size and battery life because of the hdd instead of flash. I can imagine decoding video on such high res pulls out juice as well. But Archos is a top-brand for sure on the pmp-market.

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Owns a 16gig iTouch and 16 gig iPhone3G, everybody must hate me right now :D

DimaMP4

The Archos is a nice player. Although iPod Touch 8GB from amazon for $259 is more worth it because I like the player to be more portable, have good battery time and so on. Btw, the OS in the touch is just awesome.

But if you really want to watch movies without converting them, then archos is better.

lite

Thats 605 Is nice but they dont compare on portability. Its alot larger. And More likley the DPI on the touch'es screen is higher.

That being said that Archos is a great player and Has great expandability , IE the Video dock. But you cant beat a jailbroken touch on features/Apps(Due to such a large community)

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SteveMB93

??? The Archos has a CRYSTAL clear screen. I'm sorry but the Archos has an 800x480 screen and 16.7 million colors. It also has an SDHC slot so you can expand the memory by up to 32GB. The Archos has the best DVR, hands down. It is actually rated that it gets MORE battery than the iPod Touch, when playing videos.

tanayrizal

r u guys sure u don't have an archos? u guys are all right on with the comments haha, except the hdd comment from dusl, because they do sell an all-flash one, which is the one i have. it's expandable with an SD slot.

dinamp4, u have no idea how correct u are with that $259 comment for the itouch from amazon. i was so close to buying that one! the archos has already cost me more than that with the 8gb and the web-browser plugin. in the end, i just couldn't, wouldn't accept the fact i have to use itunes for putting my media. copy and paste, baby. how easy is that.

oh, and i forgot to mention you can transfer files using wifi. and stream music and video from a shared folder off the network! and it supports upnp (which i have no idea how to setup, and will not even bother, as sharing a folder off my desktop is so easy, i really didn't have to set it up as i already had the shared folder)

re: battery life, im gonna try to address that real soon with the purcchase of a battery pack from tekkeon. it's all i can do

but i do love the itouch, so i really cant put it down. if i had bought one, i'd probably be a happy itouch owner right now. it's the right size and it looks so nice with that glass look. i just hate itunes...

roelandb

i was tempted by the archos also, but than i heard about the m8, and the extreme high screen resolution, now i am saving up for the m8, i'm happy it is not released yet, since i have time to save my money now :-)
i hope it comes out around september/october, by then i will have enough money to get it
if it turns out that it will not be released yet by begin november i'm probably getting the ipod touch or somthing, becouse my current mobile phone needs an update ,
my corrent onse is nokia 6230, with 2gb mmc, wich is almost as slow as the m6 to update the library :-( (wich is several minutes)

i really hope m8 will not have this problem of the long wait times.