Archos 605 Wi-Fi Portable Media Player (80 GB)
by Archos
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Archos 605 Wi-Fi Portable Media Player (80 GB)
Customer Review: archos 605
Summary: 5 Stars
these is the most beatiful portable media player ever ,fantastic no troubles easy ,for setup and both dvr too same very nice .Customer Review: The archos 605, 80GB media player
Summary: 5 Stars
I like all the capabilities of the 605 player, but you have to pay for all the different wifi programs on it, not like the Ipod.Customer Review: A fine piece of kit, with the usual Archos eccentricities
Summary: 4 Stars
Some updates after 4 months of ownership of Archos 605 WiFi 80GB - In short, I love it. Extreme geek tech heaven. Why I bought it:
I own an Archos Gmini120. Apple products are trendy, well built and aesthetically pleasing but way too much money for the functionality they offer. I also think iTunes is hideous. The iPod touch is the best of that bunch, but the screen is only just big enough and a few GB of flash memory isn't enough for me.
I was considering the Creative Zen Vision W 60GB Slim, but it seemed expensive considering no WiFi and a much lower res, lower colour depth screen. Also, a Compact Flash slot is fairly useless nowadays.
People complain about Archos' customer support and product reliability, but I never had problems with my Gmini and the build quality on that is terrible. It is now 3.5 years old and still going strong, after a DIY battery replacement. I hope the A605 lasts as long.
- Size/Weight portability-
It's fairly slim, but quite heavy. I can put it in my shirt pocket, but wouldn't want to. Measured at 10.5 oz, which is 1.5oz heavier than my old 'brick' Gmini. The one I saw in Circuit City was lighter and thinner - must have been the SD card / Flash only version. The HDD version has a dark grey expanse sitting out the back of the unit, unlike the one I saw, which was totally silver.
There is a single metal leg that folds out the back of the unit, which stands it up perfectly on a hard, flat surface. However, plug in the USB power adapater and the leg becomes useless. I wish they'd included a mini USB socket.
The build quality looks pretty nice. No sharp edges or misaligned case parts like the Gmini. I think the case is all plastic, except for the HDD back cover and screen bezel. It has already picked up a little ding in the bezel. Don't know how it got there because I am meticulously careful with this kind of kit. I have also noticed that the paint finish on the rear cover is wearing through where the 4 little feet bumps are. White plastic underneath - eek!
- HDD -
The HDD is quite noisy - I can't hear it without sticking my ear on the case, but can feel the vibration through the player or my pillow if I'm listening in bed! It shuts down completely when it gets bored while playing MP3s, videos or web browsing. The HDD appears to get quite warm, since the case is cool when playing MP3s or just charging the battery. HDD activity when playing movies varies, dependent on encoded data rate. Playing DVD .VOB files directly is the worst. Encode your video as MP4 or AVI and you should see a marked improvement in battery life over DVD files (MPEG2).
- Battery / Power -
Battery life appears to be pretty bad, as expected. This doesn't seem to be one of Archos's strong points. The Gmini was advertised as 10hrs but the most I've ever got is 6. Creative and Apple seem to go the other way; underestimating their battery life. Of the 5 segments in the battery meter, the first disappears after a few minutes of use. Only 0.5 hour of use and the 2nd bar is gone. 2 hours of .VOB video playing and it's in the red. The WiFi doesn't clobber it as much as video. I got a 4AA to USB battery pack for $10 from Walmart which helps, but the power drain while watching videos exceeds what can be replaced via USB. I have the mini Dock, but that takes a 5V DC 2.1mm mini jack for power. It charges way faster than from USB, but still takes ~3 hours for a full charge.
There are several shutdown modes. When externally powered it will only shut down the HDD and screen. HDD shuts down when no activity as a USB storage device. When on battery power you can 'suspend' or switch off completely. It boots almost instantly from a suspend but takes about 30s from 'off'. Annoyingly, you cannot 'suspend' when on ext. power, so you have to chew a few seconds worth of battery charge to power it down after a full charge.
I wasn't too bothered about the lack of removable battery pack, since I already replaced the one in my Gmini. The A605 actually has screws on the case, so it should be a cinch once someone on eBay starts selling replacement batteries. It would have been nice to be able to buy two (or more) batteries and swap them when one runs out. Advantage: Zen Vision W.
- WiFi -
The Wifi is not as sensitive as a typical PC, but not surprising since there is no external antenna on the A605. Also the WiFi 'Available Networks' UI is a bit annoying, as it keeps shuffling the list of access points, dependant on signal strength. This makes it tricky to connect to any particular one, since they keep jumping around in the list! Several times I've tried connecting to the wrong access point due to this. Fortunately it remembers your default AP setting. On many occasions the unit has locked up and needed a hard reset when browsing on a weak WiFi connection.
- Streaming A/V files from a server -
This works perfectly. I haven't tried streaming from Windows Media player, because I hate using extraneous software. I can stream directly from my Linksys NSLU2 NAS device (original firmware). Player finds all devices on my LAN and even lets me login to the NSLU2 with my username/password. Then it's just a matter of browsing to the folder you want and playing the files.
- Plug ins -
Player can connect to the Archos server without you buying the Opera plug-in, but I couldn't buy the plugins from there. Resorted to doing it on my desktop PC and transferring the .AOS update files to the A605 via USB. The Archos website was annoying in that although I'd entered all my personal details when signing up for a user account, the plug-in buying pages were not linked to my account info. I had to type it all in again to buy the codecs.
- Video quality -
I've played .FLV, .MPEG and DVD folders (.VOB) on it so far. Screen resolution is pin sharp. Black levels/contrast aren't as good as my $1800 Samsung LCD TV (which isn't as good as a CRT), but it's perfectly watchable in most situations. Is not watchable when sitting outside in the sun however. LCD backlight has only 3 brightness levels; the lowest of which isn't really low enough to prevent eye strain when viewing in the dark. Tweaks to the contrast, brightness and gamma controls improve that. Annoyingly, the unit doesn't allow you to save presets so you have to manually change 4 settings for different viewing environments.
- Sound quality -
Sound quality is pretty good but not awesome. There's a slight hiss noticeable when no audio is playing, which is a shame. My ancient Gmini didn't do that. I can't hear any HDD-induced noise that others have reported. I can however hear substantial noise induced by the WiFi chattering. This makes listening to streamed content from the headphone socket useless. The mini dock A/V output is immune from the WiFi noise.
The built-in speaker is surprisingly clear for its size, but doesn't play that loud. You need a quiet room. Headphone level is perfectly OK for efficient headphones; not quite enough with cheap 'on-ear' headphones in an aircraft. I use some cheap Koss 'The Plug' earbuds most of the time, since they are LOUD and block out most external noise.
- User interface / Firmware usability -
Intuitive UI - no need for a user guide for that. There's a home page with icons for the various things you can do - Video, Music, Photos, Web, etc. You can browse the hard disk folders or use the 'ARC library' (music library) to select content to play. The library sometimes updates itself automatically and you can get it to manually update.
When you plug the USB cable in (to a power supply or PC) the A605 asks whether you want to enable the USB or just charge the battery. This is very useful, since you can't do anything on the A605 itself when it has a data connection to a PC. You can choose to have the A605 be a media player compatible with Windows or a generic USB mass storage device. I chose the latter, because I like to be in full control of my files and don't need automatic syncing. It's also great that you don't have to segregate part of your HDD to work as a USB mass storage device - the whole thing is one!
The user interface is fast enough, but not super fast. The only crashes I've seen are WiFi related, although sometimes it reboots itself when attempting to play a corrupted video file. I have discovered that holding the power button in for about 12s does the same as pushing the hidden reset button. This saves having to carry a sharp pin around with the unit. A hard reset means it boots up again from scratch, and loses the time setting. The A605 can set the system time from the Internet incidentally, which is a nifty feature.
The device plays MP3s in a folder sequentially, without a playlist. It used to make a very short glitchy sound when changing tracks but I reported this to Archos and one of the recent f/w updates fixed it.
The device automatically bookmarks the last media file that you stopped playing. if you hit the resume icon on the main menu, it starts playing from that point. You can also manually set bookmarks in up to 32 files, but have no access to the list of bookmarks. To access them, you have to browse to a file you bookmarked, then hit resume on that file.
Other, minor annoyances -
* When the device has the keylock on, it still accepts inputs from the keys or touchscreen. The LCD backlight comes on, an egg timer appears and then a message to tell you the lock is on. This is pointless, since if you put the device in your pocket while listening to MP3s, your battery will still get drained by the LCD coming on.
* Volume levels 1 thru 4 (out of 33) are actually all level 0.
* If you leave the player on pause, it will never shut down. Bye bye battery!
* There is no sleep timer. Most MP3 players nowadays can power themselves down after a set period while playing. Useful for bedtime listening.
Hopefully these issues will be fixed in future firmware updates. For me, owning an Archos is like owning a British sports car. It's a fine machine but definitely an enthusiast's product. You have to accept that some quirkiness comes as part of the deal.
Customer Review: It's not perfect, but I'm happy with it
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this to replace a Creative Zen Vision:M 30 GB MP3 and Video Player (Black) that had been stolen. I really liked my Zen, but I wanted to see what new stuff had come out in the time since I bought it. This led me to getting the Archos 605 80GB instead, mainly because of the optional TV hookups. I've never liked to watch movies or TV shows (or even music videos) on my PC monitor because I can't relax and enjoy something passive while I'm at my computer. I'd also never used the Zen's video capabilities much because the screen was too small. The Archos 605, on the other hand, could be hooked up to a TV (with the DVR station or other accessories--I bought the DVR station), which would allow me to watch downloaded TV shows and movies in comfort--and even better, with other people (it's difficult to crowd around a computer desk to watch a movie), plus I'd be able to watch stuff on the go with its larger screen.
The wifi access, web browser plug-in and PDF reader also helped sell me on the Archos 605. I particularly looked forward to being able to read ebooks in PDF format.
So when I ordered the Archos 605, I was thinking of it as an MP3 "with benefits."
When the Archos 605 arrived, I found out that its screen was totally large enough to watch video comfortably. Shortly after I got it, I watched two and a half seasons of Weeds on it. It's fantastic! I can carry a TV show into the kitchen to grab a snack, etc. When I'm home alone, I'm even able to rely on the built-in speaker--for TV shows, I don't need fantastic sound quality; I just need to be able to hear what they're saying. It's very cool; I'm very addicted. :)
Like I said, I bought the DVR station with it. I had wondered how a video file from the Archos would hold up enlarged on a TV screen, but no worries--the picture quality is good (we have a 32" set). I've recorded some stuff from our TiVo onto the Archos, and the picture quality is good in that direction, too. Since we do have a TiVo, I haven't used the Archos as a DVR (with the downloaded TV listings and scheduled recordings), so I can't say how easy that is to use, but it's definitely easy to manually record something, and I was happy to see that I could tell it how long to record for.
As an MP3 player, it's not as good as the Zen, simply because it's not, primarily, an MP3.
One way the Zen (and probably most other MP3 players) is a better MP3 player than the Archos is that if you power the Archos 605 off while you're playing music, it doesn't automatically start up where you left off when you turn it back on. Instead you boot up to the main screen, and then you have to tap the "resume" icon; otherwise nothing happens. In this way it's less "plug and go" than my Zen was; sometimes if I'm only going to be driving for a few minutes (like a hop from the grocery store to the gas station), I won't bother starting it up at all. Also, the way you lock the controls takes a few seconds longer than the Zen did. With the Zen, you just slid the switch to the lock position. With the Archos, you hold down the TV button until the lock icon appears on the screen.
If you're playing from a playlist when you turn the unit off, and then you hit "resume" after you turn it back on, it doesn't seem to resume the playlist--it does indeed play the song you were on, but it's playing it from the album instead of the playlist, so the next song after that is the next song on the album, not the next song on the playlist. Possibly this is glitch that will be fixed in a firmware update (or perhaps has been--I haven't updated my firmware in a couple weeks).
Finally, changing the play mode (normal, shuffle, repeat one, repeat all), takes a lot more navigating around than it did on the Zen. It really shouldn't take that many clicks.
Sound-wise, the Archos is good as the Zen was, and its drawbacks as an MP3 player aren't so onerous that I'd consider buying a separate MP3 player. The Archos does well enough.
The PDF reader, however, turned out to be a disappointment. First, it takes several (loooong) seconds to go to the next page. Second, there's no way to bookmark where you are so that you can pick up where you left off. I figured I could just remember what page I was on and use the Go To Page feature to get back to it, but the Go To Page feature uses a slider, which is nowhere near as quick as if they'd let me type in a page number, and it takes a long freaking time for it to then load that page. Ugh. So this thing definitely hasn't replaced my Palm Tungsten for e-reading.
I haven't used the web browser or wireless much. It seemed pretty slow the times I have, and there's no "tap feedback" in the Content Portal, so when you tap on a link, you often don't know whether the tap has registered or not because the screen stays the same while the Archos (slooooowly) downloads the data for the next screen. That's frustrating. The web wasn't as frustrating as the Content Portal; I just haven't had much of a need to use it.
Another downside is that there aren't any cases for it that will protect the unit while allowing you direct, immediate access to it, the way the skin I had for my Zen did. Instead it comes with a padded, envelope-like case that you have to slip the unit completely out of if you want to use it. (To be fair, it's much better than the cloth pouch that came with the Zen.) Leather case options are limited, and all the ones I've seen require you to open the case in order to view the screen or access the navigation. The one from Archos won't even let you turn it off with the case closed, which isn't very handy if you're listening to audio and want to shut it off quickly.
I don't know how many hours I'm getting out of my battery. I did listen to music for 10 hours on a recent road trip without it giving out on me, but I didn't keep going to see how much more I could get out of it. I've also watched a couple hours of video without it running out of juice--and again, I ended up dropping it in the DVR station (which charges it) before it did run out, so all I can say about the battery is that it's lasting long enough for my needs.
Despite the caveats I've listed above, I LOVE my Archos 605. I love being able to take TV shows and movies with me everywhere. I love that I can finally watch bootleg concerts and other stuff I've downloaded on the "big screen." It's easy to use. The DVR station is easy to use. The two work together seamlessly. The Archos holds a ton off stuff. It plays my music. It lets me browse the web if I need to.
I'm happy with it, definitely. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed that future firmware updates will make me even happier with it.
Customer Review: Definitely satisfies the gadget freak in me
Summary: 4 Stars
The Archos 605 is a good device. Not perfect, but what is? Comparing it to it's obvious competitor, the iTouch, it is nowhere near as slick. No 2 finger zoom, no automatic switching between vertical and horizontal orientation (unnecessary with the large screen of the Archos), not even in the same league in terms of user interface. The Apple wins hands down...
...but where the Archos blows away the Apple is in features and functionality, 2 things near and dear to my heart.
Multiple audio formats, multiple video formats, a real browser (additional $30 purchase, an absolute must) that you can actually see and read either in full screen or zoomed. Zooming is just a double click of the touch screen away which is fine with me. Browser displays flash too (iTouch doesn't). Favorites are easy to set and get to, a keyboard automatically pops up when you click into a text field. Unfortunately you can't listen to music and browse at the same time and I find that quite odd. Who knows, Archos may (please, please, please) fix that in a later firmware version. If not then they should have put in a better processor/ram to overcome this obvious deficiency. You can view photos and listen to music though.
I love that I can just plug my Archos in via USB and copy files over to it using Windows Explorer. I could also use Windows Media player, but one of my computers is running Windows 2000 and so has an old version of Media player that I don't think syncs devices. Haven't tried and don't care. I prefer the former method, but thank you Archos for the CHOICE.
I use the buttons sometimes, though I don't think you can do everything via the buttons only. Again, haven't tried, thanks for the choice. I use the stylus for most operations. I hope I don't lose it because there's no place to store it in the unit. I guess that's why they gave me 2.
You can also stream video, images and music from a wi-fi connected computer. Useful if you have one of the smaller GB players, but with the 80gb probably not necessary. If you leave all your media on your base computer, it won't be available when you leave your house. Did I mention 80GB (or 30 or 160!)? Exactly 5x (or 2x or 10x) larger than the iTouch which would hold less than half my music collection. I need access to it all because I use it as my digital music receiver at home.
I looked for a long time and couldn't find a better device. I have all my CDs ripped to mp3 format and the CDs are in a box in the basement for backup. With the DVR device which is available as an optional accessory (again a must have for me), I can place the unit in the DVR and with the included DVR remote, control every function of the 605 and have the screen from the 605 projected to my TV. This also allows you to surf the web with the remote and see it on the TV. Also watch videos, YouTube, photos/slideshows & music. The DVR is a digital media receiver that actually works. The DVR is just that too (a DVR!), with the ability to download a tv guide and just click on the show you want to watch. The Archos will record it. Setup is a little cumbersome and so I will probably not use it for that purpose. I use it for the docking/charging/video-to-tv option.
If the battery doesn't last long enough for you, you can buy the battery dock which is nice and small and probably doubles the battery life. There are numerous additional work-arounds people have come up with for additional battery life as well as charging (archosfans forum). The USB charger is really slow apparently. This is because USB inherently provides very little power and the battery is relatively large. So it takes a long time to charge. Do yourself a favor and decide in advance which of the 4 docks you find most useful and purchase one when you buy the 605. Any of the docks charges faster than USB.
It has a tiny little speaker that does work in a pinch, and is great for showing someone a video or slideshow with music. Not something you'd want to use regularly.
Get it. Now.