|
Archos 605 WiFi 30GB Portable Media Player 4.3" Touch Screen
|
| Price: | £126.99 |
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Dispatched from and sold by MyMemory
9 new or used available from £72.99
Average customer review:
Product Description
Featuring the highest quality screen resolution, video quality, touch screen, WiFi capabilities for streaming content to the device or a TV, the ARCHOS 605 WiFi is the top product in the line-up for flexibility, portability, features and price.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #8489 in Consumer Electronics
- Brand: Archos
- Model: 605 wifi 30GB
- Released on: 2007-10-21
- Dimensions: .42 pounds
- Display size: 4.3
Features
- When it comes to portable multimedia, the ARCHOS 605 WiFi player is setting the bar higher
- It packs several upgradeable featuresand wireless connectivity, all into one stylish, portable device
- With its 30 GB of storage space and its superb 4
- 3" (10+ cm) LCD touch screen handling 16 million colours, the ARCHOS 605 WiFi is the ideal choice for enjoying your personal videos or favouritefilms (in MPEG-4 or WMV formats) when you're on the go
- Theuser-friendly touch screen makes it easy for you to access the audioplay (MP3, WMA, WAV), photo (JPEG, BMP, PNG) and PDF functions
Editorial Reviews
Manufacturer's Description
The Archos 605 generation 5 portable media player comes with a convenient WiFi feature, an attribute that offers the fastest and easiest way to access digital entertainment. You can use the built-WiFi capabilities of the Archos to download online media content from the Archos content portal: All you need is a usable WiFi connection, and you're good to start downloading (fees may apply). With the Archos in hand, for the first time you can download favourite movies, TV shows, and music wherever you are, without being tied to the PC or Mac. Other great features include a full-colour 4.3-inch touchscreen that crams in an amazing 800 x 480 picture resolution for superior picture quality, 30 GB of built-in memory, and multiple options for additional storage (the player accepts SD mini and SD micro memory cards).
 The Archos 605 features a touch screen, high quality screen resolution, and WiFi capabilities. . |
 Download your favourite movies, TV shows, and music, and bring it with you. |
With full Internet access, the player's Opera browser plug-in offers Adobe Flash support, which lets you access and enjoy YouTube and other Web video sites on your Archos device. By using the player, you can view and post YouTube videos wherever you are with an active wireless connection. In addition to downloading media straight from the Archos content portal, you can stream and watch videos from your home PC or laptop. For added video playback versatility, the player is compatible with MPEG4, AVI, and WMV video files. The player features robust music playback features, too. On-board music file playback capabilities support MP3, CBR, VBR, WMA, protected WMA, and WAV files.
To help round out the player's multimedia superiority, the Archos even comes with photo viewing capabilities. JPEG, BMP, and PNG files are 100 percent compatible with the player, and the player can pull up PDFs for portable review -- an ideal means to take bigger documents or e-books in PDF format on the road with you. Because of the Archos's USB 2.0 compatibility, files can be quickly transferred to the device in the absence of a WiFi network connection. Charging the device can also be accomplished with an active USB connection. (An AC adapter is sold separately for additional charging options.) Other great features include mass storage capabilities, automatic firmware downloads, and a 3.5-millimeter headphone jack. With an advanced Li-Poly battery, the player supports up to 17 hours of continuous music playback, and 5.5 hours of continuous video playback. Weighing in at a scant 6.7 ounces, the Archos generation 5 605 measures 4.8 by 3.2 by 0.6 inches.
What's in the Box
Archos 605 WiFi portable media player, headphones, USB cable, adapter for optional DVR Station Gen 5, protective pouch, quick start guide, and legal/safety notice.
 The device comes with photo viewing capabilities, supporting JPEG, BMP, and PNG files. |  Play any content that resides in the Windows Media Player library of your home PC or laptop. |
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
(1)On average; based on 3.5 mins/song & 64 kbits/s WMA, on 1000 kbits/s MPEG-4 audio/video encoding and 1h30/movie (for near DVD Quality), on JPEG, VGA | ||||
Customer Reviews
Excellent Travel Entertainment / Portable Hard Drive
I bought this to keep me entertained when I'm travelling. I find the touch screen great to use compared to earlier models without this feature. 30gb is perfectly fine as I use an ipod to play music so it's main use is for films and photos. With the use of the docking station (Optional Extra) I managed to connect my camera and download all the photos I had taken that day. It's excellent to be able to view these straight away without having to wait until I got home.
Downside = Everything for the Archos is an optional extra (all rather expensive), you don't even get a power supply. The Archos arrives with only a USB cable to charge it with from your computer!!
Some films that you download will not play on the Archos so you have to buy the Optional Extra software! The Internet will only work if you buy the Optional Extra internet browser software.
Be warned that the Archos DVR Travel Adapter only records from the TV/DVD it does not allow the Archos to play back to the TV so you may as well buy the full DVR Station.
Apart from the fact that can spend about the same amount of money again on optional extra's its a great product!!
Two steps forward, one great leap back?
I am slightly disappointed with my new toy, I'll try and explain.
I'm a gadget freak! I buy things that I don't really need from time to time (I'm not the only one, right?).... but when I do fork out the best part of week's wage (after the plugins, docking stations etc) I get a little peeved when it doesn't live up to my expectations.
What's the problem? well, the main thing that bugs the hell out of me is Archos have upped the screen resolution on the 605 (great?!) and indeed it is a mighty nice resolution however they have somehow sacrificed colour saturation in the process. The 605 has a pretty 'washed out' look when viewing video content and there's no option to raise saturation levels either - everything I have viewed on the 605 looks lacking in vibrancy and when compared to my brothers 604 with the same files - it's quite noticeable, better resolution yes but poorer colour.
One other slight gripe I have is with the wifi connection - it's not great and takes around 12 seconds to connect up on my home network & pretty slow I have to say - my laptop & even my iPod touch connect & browse much, much faster with the same router/connection. If there's any flash content on a webpage (i.e. You Tube) the 605 crawls before finally sorting itself out, so frustrating!
It's fine as an occasional web instrument, just not as good as it should be and imho nowhere near as good as Apple's latest gizmo's for the web browsing side of things.
As has been mentioned in other reviews you will need to buy the browser plug-in for another £20 or so, pain in the bum but not exactly a shock if you read reviews before buying.
OK, so I've slagged off it's video & web abilities? No not really.
Video playback (apart from the colour issue) is truly stunning!!! the 605 is without doubt the best PMP I have ever used in that respect, it's played everything I've thrown at it, even 1080 HD encoded DIVX/XVID files - the pain in the rear comes when you chuck a VOB or MP4 file at the unit - then you have to purchase the 'cinema plug-in' for 20 euro's then there's the other plug-in for certain audio formats for another 20 euro's, both of which I knew about before getting the 605 and won't be buying as almost everything I want on the device will be in DIVX anyway.
I mentioned the iPod touch earlier and I'm not an Apple fan boy by any stretch of the imagination but there are comparisons between the devices to be made - I'd read a few reviews on the 605 where it was claimed the touch screen was as good as that on the iphone/touch - I guess the people who wrote those reviews might have something against Apple? (or simply have never compared both side by side!) - I own both devices and have no affiliation to either company whatsoever but I can, hand on heart state here and now that the touch screen on the 605 is exactly the same type of touch screen you will find on 1000000 sat nav units, it is nowhere near as nice to use as the screen on the iPod touch - on the Apple devices you barely need to touch the screen but on the 605 you have to prod and push or resort to using the stylus. It's simply not as good so I wish people would stop saying that it is, don't get me wrong the 605 touch screen is NOT bad but again it's just not as good as it should and could have been!
The device itself is pretty solid feeling although being all plastic, no metal casing as on earlier models here and the buttons down the right hand seem a little delicate to be honest and would not take much 'snapping back' if one wasn't careful.
As for the case that comes with it, it's fine! nothing amazing but it's rigid and fits well and I certainly don't feel the need to spend another 20 or 30 quid on a leather one anyway.
One other thing, charging the unit - it comes with only a usb charger and takes 12-24 hours on it's first charge, no idea of subsequent charge lengths but they are likely to be very slow via usb - I've a mini-dock coming!
The 605 has many cool features that I'm still exploring and if you want the best handheld video device out there with occasional web use/MP3 playback then there is non better despite my concerns above, it's much better than the iPod touch in respect of video playback certainly but nowhere near in terms of internet use or indeed MP3 usage (storage yes, ease of use no).
I'd still buy the 605 though, I wanted a good video playback handheld device and do have one but just not the perfect gadget quite yet, maybe the 06 series? shame.
Excellent value and quality
Okay, the bad points first. After buying this I had to spend a further £60 to get the software necessary to play movies from DVDs, to get the web browser plug-in and to get a decent case (because the supplied pouch is worthless). I'd also recommend the DVR station for a number of reasons, quicker charging of the 605 being one of them.
Now the good points. Fantastic display, way better than the iPod touch. Very easy to use, either with buttons or the touch screen. The web browser (once you've bought it) is excellent. WiFi is easy to set up and works well. Photos are crystal-clear and the slide-show feature is easy to use. Battery life is pretty good. Overall quality of the device is very good.
