The Archos Gmini 402
By Peter Rojas 
posted Jul 26th 2005 10:19AM
posted Jul 26th 2005 10:19AM
Archos just officially introduced the Gmini 402, a new iteration of their iPod-sized personal video player that probably won't give anyone who just bought a Gmini 400 a raging case of buyer's remorse. The Gmini 402 keeps the same 20GB hard drive and 2.2-inch LCD screen found in the Gmini 400, but they've added support for PlaysForSure so you can use all the different "To Go" online music subscription services (some bad news: they won't be offering an upgrade for Gmini 400 owners) and ditched the CompactFlash card slot in favor of USB Host capability for copying files directly over from a digital camera (which is either a plus or a minus depending on your sitch). Retails for $329.95.
what happened to the 40gb gmini 402??
no cf drive? of course, i'd much rather have a dual sd/cf slot, but if this is what's planned for the new av500 line that should be coming out in the next few weeks, then count me out.
ya... ditching the cf slot would be a huge minus for me. they should be putting a sd and cf slot in there.
they really should have improved the battery life.
unbelievable, i only ordered the gmini 400 last night!!but not much has changed, its all good...infact i'm happy i aint buyin this one
jup, would have been much better to improve the battery live and leave the cf-slot alive.
Erm. I hate to point out the flaws in everyone's logic about dropping the CF slot, but it is 100% undoubtedly a *good* thing. If you have a compactflash card, buy yourself a cheap USB card reader, and as if by magic you can read directly from a CF card to your gmini. If you have an external USB hard drive, then guess what? You have another Xgigs of storage that you can connect *directly* to your gmini. You can even play movies directly from the external drive. I own one, and I have tested both of these concepts quite happily. Of course, feel free to keep your CF slot - I'm sure its much better.
Dave
How is the sceren quality of Gmini 402? I want to buy one, but I'm worried if you can actually watch full movies on 2.2".
hi, right, so can you put videos on this? like films? its not very clear to me, basically would i be able to copy dvds or things i have on to this as you can with some others, or would i have to download them? please reply i am in desperate need of information!
yea, you can put movies on this, last year in my study hall class, one of my freinds had one of these, and it was awsome, he only had 6 movies on it and tons of music and it worked fine, to transfer movies to it, you have to correctley format them and reduce the size, or otherwise you waste space, watching movies on this is suprisingly nice for the screen size, so far I've seen matrix 1,2,3, the italian job, farenheit 9/11, music videos, and more, If you don't really care about having games, this is a great alternitive to a psp as a video player, and if you don't care about a fancy UI or great asthetics, this is a great alternitive to an iPod due to the movie capabilities, also if you have kids, or you are a kid this is great for trips, doctor's office visits, train rides, etc.
Q?: so this Gmini can't read my SD card direct without another little fidgety widgit, so if my camera has a USB cable connection, can I download photos and MP4 clips direct?
Overall, which is better the gmini 402 or the 400.