[Rob Fleming @ Nov 14th 2007 5:25PM]

Their is zero innovation at Archos. Their build quality is poor. The battery life sucks. It feels 'cheap chinese' at best. They are currently (in the '5') series, and doing nothing more than using old designs and the touch interface was never meant to be used on that layout.

It is a middle school effort at best. Pickup an iPhone or a Zune, thats how u design a media player.

[dwaede @ Nov 14th 2007 6:16PM]

Wow, the fan boys have come out of the works. Obviously the last Archos product you held was the jukebox series.

The battery life is great. I have the 604 and I never have trouble with the battery. About 5 hours battery on a 4.3" screen? Far more time with music. How is that bad, the tiny screen on the ipod classic lasts the same amount of time on video. How is it such a small screen can't outlast a screen nearly twice the size.


The new line from Archos feels far more solid than the ipod touch. I would be afraid of cracking the screen on that little thing.

The touch interface is laid out logically and works great. You don't need little tricks to zoom in and navigate as the resolution and sheer size of the display is so much better than anything Apple has ever produced.

Why is it the fanboys are the only people who have trouble recognizing a superior product? Three years ago having video on an mp3 player was stupid, then apple did it and its cool. Last year having a touchscreen on an mp3 player was stupid, then apple did it and its cool. This year having wireless streaming video, dvr functions, flash video playback, and more is stupid; I guess when the new ipod does everything the Archos can already do, those things will be cool too.

[mushrooshi @ Nov 14th 2007 7:53PM]

Truth be told apple will likely be on the top of the market.

I am a fan of apple, but I am not an annoying fanboy unless someone goes out and says without explaining "OMG APPLE SUX".

Anyways, the reasons are:

The iPod has a huge market share
The iPod already has it's place in Pop-Culture
The iPod is the most popular, and therefore it is the "cool" thing to go with.

If the Zune came before the iPod, it too would have the marketshare.

This PMP looks pretty good. I wouldn't get it though because I am very bad with screens (I accidently crack alot).

[EvanG @ Nov 14th 2007 7:57PM]

As an iPhone owner I would commit several unsavory acts to get a 605 wifi...especially one with a SIM slot on a device with a flash enabled browser.

:(

[tekdroid @ Nov 14th 2007 8:43PM]

Rob Fleming @ Nov 14th 2007 5:25PM

Their is zero innovation at Archos. Their build quality is poor. The battery life sucks. It feels 'cheap chinese' at best.
---------
Which model are you talking about? I dunno if zero innovation would be accurate, they seem to be doing some things others aren't. I can't say anything about their quality, tho. I have never used their products.

What I've found strange about Archos is their lack of support for FLAC and Ogg Vorbis. Cowon's A2 and many others already do that, without claiming themselves as being the most advanced PMP, which Archos does here:
http://www.archos.com/products/gen_5/index.html?country=global&lang=en

...which is made all the more odd since they have a 'plug-in' system but don't play any open formats:
http://www.archos.com/products/plugins/index.html?country=global&lang=en

[dwaede @ Nov 15th 2007 2:29PM]

Personally I think when you make a product that is more advanced than anything else in the world, you are allowed to call it the most advanced pmp ever.

The cowon has the archos beat on 2 formats and an fm tuner.

The Archos has the cowon beat on a touchscreen, wifi, flash video player, bigger screen, higher resolution, cable guide for recording shows on the dvr, HD size up to 160GB, pdf viewer, download service to download directly to your pmp and start playing after a few seconds buffering, supports widgets.

The fact that noone else in the world can do all that stuff makes it the most advanced pmp.