Archos 5 gets the hands-on treatment

Archos has only just taken the wraps off its new Generation 6 "internet media tablets" but, right on cue, the folks at Generation MP3 have already turned out a pretty extensive hands-on with one of 'em, the Archos 5. One thing that was immediately apparent to them is that the device's shiny new black casing is a lot more prone to fingerprints than the metal casing of the Archos 605 that it replaces but, as they point out, the near lack of buttons (just three on top) at least means there's less of that casing to get smudged up. They also found that the screen is not as "soft" as the 605 but, unfortunately, it's not multi-touch, and there's no accelerometer to allow for quick changes of orientation. Of course, if it's pics your looking for, they've also got plenty of those, and you can find 'em at the link below.

[phanbouy @ Aug 19th 2008 4:37PM]

giBBerisH%!

[Cash @ Aug 20th 2008 5:16AM]

Fingerprints? Who gives a flying crap if the thing shows fingerprints?! I'm watching a movie, not trying to impress women with the stupid thing.

Hey Frenchy, when you're reviewing a video playing device, hows bout sticking to the important bits like, I dunno, hot movies look maybe? My iPhone is a fingerprint magnet too, but seeing how it's encased in a silicone protective sleeve anyway, it's kind of a moot point anyway.

There is one thing I don't get though... in the list of addons on the website, one of the options is hidef 720p support. If the screen resolution is 800 by 480, how can it display true 720p? Are they saying the screen is artificially gimped at 800x480, and can be upgraded via a pay-for software patch, sort of like putting an electronic speed governor on a car that won't allow the thing to go faster then 55 unless you purchase a speed upgrade from the dealer?

[thethirdmoose @ Aug 20th 2008 10:23PM]

It can display 720p when connected to an HDTV.

[John @ Aug 19th 2008 4:37PM]

En Français, no less, it seems

[Nanard @ Aug 19th 2008 4:39PM]

Also live pics at Archoslounge

www.archoslounge.net

[phanbouy @ Aug 19th 2008 4:43PM]

what's a live pic?

[JohnTitor @ Aug 19th 2008 5:54PM]

Its like one of those pictures in Harry Potter dude

[deyanimay @ Aug 19th 2008 6:08PM]

You mean a .gif? =)

[JohnTitor @ Aug 19th 2008 9:03PM]

yah that's it, good lookin out

[Bakersdozen @ Aug 19th 2008 4:40PM]

kinda disappointed. come on archos, u got the codec support and common sense that other manufacturers seem to lack. make something worth the money

[phanbouy @ Aug 19th 2008 4:42PM]

ya archos and put teh grammar check intoo

[matt @ Aug 19th 2008 4:44PM]

if it's grammer your failing at...

[Jason @ Aug 19th 2008 4:53PM]

...

[BigDaddyM @ Aug 19th 2008 4:48PM]

The old 605 had multi-touch, granted it was really slow and not really advertised, but it was there. I was expecting a better execution the feature.

I just wished they did more with this refresh of teh product line. Sure it is a big imporvement for new users, but old users, like me, may not upgrade from the 605...

I would have loved more 720 support and more codecs... Chargeing for each is silly but acceptable if they had many more but at cheaper prices... I do not mind paying for hardware add one like the dock or helmet camera, but media software should be included in a PMP...
M

[matthew Crawford @ Aug 19th 2008 4:48PM]

..if it's grammar your failing at....

[Rogue_Genius @ Aug 19th 2008 5:04PM]

I'm sorry, my sarcasm meter is on the fritz.
1.) Did you intentionally replace "you're" with "your" ?
2.) Are you the same "matt" with that (also grammatically incorrect) post, two threads above?

[Lowest Ranked @ Aug 19th 2008 5:05PM]

This guy made sure to put his full name in his double-post so we can track him down and spam his inbox that much easier..

[Backlin @ Aug 19th 2008 5:29PM]

Git off teh internetz

[Yayaja @ Aug 19th 2008 4:51PM]

Is there still a big market for these? I bought a gmini 400 and i still love it, but since then my windows mobile phone has taken care of all my portable media needs. I would love to see Archos come out with a full featured phone.

[Nanard @ Aug 19th 2008 4:57PM]

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=0P5Jc1GOep0

[Benhur @ Aug 19th 2008 6:27PM]

Thanks!

[Benhur @ Aug 19th 2008 6:31PM]

Just saw the video, the device sure has potential, shame they got the cleaning lady to design the UI. And lets just say I wont be surprised if it started screaming directions at me, as it was obviously ripped off some dashboard. But the part with the photos was pretty cool. Come on iriver, you can do better than this.

[2Shea @ Aug 19th 2008 6:04PM]

I personally have a Archos 605wifi, which I do enjoy quite a bit. The only part that pisses me off is that Archos CHARGES for extra codecs. This device could play all the media types I use, but it doesn't because they think they should charge an extra 10 to 20 dollars for codec support that should come out of the box with the player. Same thing goes for their web browser application which they charge for as well. If I'm going to be paying this much for a device, I expect it to have all of it's features readily available out of the box, and not have to go download up to $40 or so of extras online.

[John @ Aug 19th 2008 6:30PM]

well, if it came with those and the price was built in, we'd have someone complaining they don't want those features and don't want to pay for them, wouldn't we.

[Juxtah @ Aug 19th 2008 6:54PM]

I kind of agree John, some people may not need some of those codecs and be happy they don't pay extra on the player for them. However charging for a web browser on a WiFi PMP? That's just bad design and should be included as standard, especially when one of the only reasons for going for the player is WiFi.

[Jason @ Aug 19th 2008 8:12PM]

The Archos product line has always intrigued me but I never wanted to buy one as in-store models would keep crashing for me. With that level of instability, perceptually, it wouldn't have worked very well.

I was partly intrigued by it's possible use as an ebook reader, given the nice resolution screen. No one device has arrived that does 'everything' I want but this may be good enough once more reviews come out to expound its features. I'm ready for a device that serves the purpose of being a laptop-type computer but in a handheld space. Something to actually use when out and about instead of having to hunt for a place to plug in/sit down with a laptop (and hope I had battery power left) or return home. The battery is indeed sad with this device, but it does have the benefit of likely having low power draw, so one of those universal external batteries would probably work alright.

Like many I am disappointed by the use of a hard drive instead of, say, an SD slot. (Admittedly you would get a higher throughput with a hard drive for movies, but bitrate loading from memory cards is not the bottleneck I complain about on other devices. Yes, you'd have to buy at least a class 6 card, but that's not hard anymore.)

[Lee B @ Aug 19th 2008 6:58PM]

Includes a web browser this time, but still does not include a mains power supply, just usb charging which I think is a mistake. Also can't see Divx support? Starting price is £279 which also seems steep. Might go for a Pandora at £199 instead as it should do much more for less cash.

[LTM @ Aug 19th 2008 9:07PM]

@Jason

Based on what you've written, I'd say the Nokia N810 tablet fits your needs. I use it as bookreader with its rotatable screen. I'm carrying 50 movies, 35 TV shows, 35 e-books, 400 songs on an internal 2GB memory and 8GB card plus I've got two extra mini 8GB cards that fits into the Nokia's carrying case. I'm using it for listening to internet radio and I'm also using it with LastFM. It'll also play youtube full screen. It has skype, chat, a rss feeder, abiword for word processing, gpe for calender, to do list and contacts. The sound out of it is actually pretty good with a pair of UE superfi 5 pro's. The batteries also are removable and I'm getting 7 hours of use and 10 days in standby per battery. There's actually a 3600mah battery for it that will double that time. It also comes with GPS ( it's been much improved ) and I'm also playing games like ID software's Quake and Quake 2 on it. Added to that I'm also using a slingbox type player on it called Hava letting me watch cable on it as well as control my DVR from anywhere. It's open source, so that gives it a good community in which to add future software and its not tied down like Archos.

The reason I mention all this is even though the next gen archos 5 an 7 are just coming out, I previously owned a 605 wi-fi and after comparing it with the Nokia, I found the N810 had more to offer other than just lots of media content. If that's your thing, then that's great, but if you need something that is compact, is productive enough with it's built in keyboard to do e-mailing, light word processing, web surfing, as well as having media capabilities like video, music, games and streaming video, then the N810 makes a good case for itself. If this makes me a cheerleader for the N810, then so be it.

[LTM @ Oct 18th 2008 11:32AM]

@Jason

Based on what you've written, I'd say the Nokia N810 tablet fits your needs. I use it as bookreader with its rotatable screen. I'm carrying 50 movies, 35 TV shows, 35 e-books, 400 songs on an internal 2GB memory and 8GB card plus I've got two extra mini 8GB cards that fits into the Nokia's carrying case. I'm using it for listening to internet radio and I'm also using it with LastFM. It'll also play youtube full screen. It has skype, chat, a rss feeder, abiword for word processing, gpe for calender, to do list and contacts. The sound out of it is actually pretty good with a pair of UE superfi 5 pro's. The batteries also are removable and I'm getting 7 hours of use and 10 days in standby per battery. There's actually a 3600mah battery for it that will double that time. It also comes with GPS ( it's been much improved ) and I'm also playing games like ID software's Quake and Quake 2 on it. Added to that I'm also using a slingbox type player on it called Hava letting me watch cable on it as well as control my DVR from anywhere. It's open source, so that gives it a good community in which to add future software and its not tied down like Archos.

The reason I mention all this is even though the next gen archos 5 an 7 are just coming out, I previously owned a 605 wi-fi and after comparing it with the Nokia, I found the N810 had more to offer other than just lots of media content. If that's your thing, then that's great, but if you need something that is compact, is productive enough with it's built in keyboard to do e-mailing, light word processing, web surfing, as well as having media capabilities like video, music, games and streaming video, then the N810 makes a good case for itself. If this makes me a cheerleader for the N810, then so be it.

[LTM @ Aug 19th 2008 9:10PM]

My bad, it did a double on me!!

[dos @ Aug 19th 2008 9:28PM]

do not go near archos....i have a 605 and its useless. the OS is so buggy it crashes all the time. wifi cannot pick up a signal when im 5 feet from the router. and now its broken, which is no surprise given the build quality. on the forums just there are heaps of people who have had a broken 605. but my problem is worse.,....i have been emailing tech support for 3 weeks to get it repaired and so far have been ignored. BE WARNED!!

[Techpest @ Aug 19th 2008 9:29PM]

Cowon's Q5W is still sexier than the new Archos. And I bet it sounds a lot better too. The 605, for instance, sounds worse than an Ipod. I have yet to encounter a PMP or DAP which sounds better than a Cowon.

[LeeB @ Aug 20th 2008 5:04AM]

I think i would be happy to buy if:

1. It included a mains charger
2. Had SD card ports - or even a cut down model that just had 2 SD card slots and no HDD
3. Replaceable battery pack - would be an idea to make these compatible with PSP battery packs and they are so cheap and available - you can carry 2 on holiday then.
4. Divx support
5. The CPU seems powerful so it could support things like emulators - so we need a usb plug in controller as well.

Thinking about it, if they just supported Divx on the PSP and put a good fast browser like firefox on it I would not need to be looking around!, or the Pandora project seems to do much of this as well!.

[MAK @ Aug 20th 2008 4:18PM]

as a owner of 3 Archos devices (AV420, AV500, 604wifi, 605 120gb) i can honestly see myself picking up this new device. for those of you with the buggy OS issues archos put that "repair" option under systems for a reason. secondly do NOT transfer any files with the .sfv extension to the device, something about these md5 check files bothers them. other than that the device is solid. i do have to agreee upgrading from my 604 to my 605 was a slight disappointment (on A/V output through headphones jack, poor design having headphones jack on opposite side of buttons and the not being able to turn off the screen and still use the buttons to conserve battery life) but all in all a solid device. maybe archos should consider making a hold switch instead of holding that darn button, it would make locking the buttons/screen that much easier. once this device comes stateside i will definitely have one!

[Alex @ Aug 20th 2008 9:45PM]

I'm pretty sure the MPEG-4 support includes Divx. I know I've encoded a bunch of my DVDs with Divx and played them just fine on my Archos AV480, which also says it supports MPEG-4. Unless I'm missing something here.

What IS sad is that my AV480 came with a wall charger, TV-dock, built-in mic, and built-in CF reader. It sounds good, it holds up well and the only issue I've had with it was I had to send it in to get the battery replaced once (after over a year of heavy use). It also uses a standard mini-usb connector for data.

That said, assuming there is nothing like very poor sound quality or a completely unusable interface, I'll probably buy one of these and pay for the mains plug, FM tuner and mini-dock. At least they're not charging for the browser any more.

[Kent @ Aug 24th 2008 8:53AM]

I own a 605wifi and I'm fairly happy with it and may consider upgrading to the new device. I've had mine for a year and haven't had any major problems but it has locked up a few times. So has my iPhone at least once. I do think that with what is being put into cell phones that Archos could include a lot of features in the main package for little more than (GPS, mini USB, built in charger and definitely a replaceable battery). The lack of a sim card slot for 3g on all but the smallest also seems sad.

I don't mind paying a bit extra for codecs but 3 different codec packs for 20 each seems very inconvenient and definitely pricey. A singe codec pack might be better. They don't even include a lossless format which with 250g I'd be very interested in and Flac shouldn't cost anything to add. It would be nice if they opened up the device for other developers.

The sound is pretty good too though I'm comparing a 320kb/s file to a lossless on the iPhone which is definitely better but not by that much.

[dentaku @ Sep 7th 2008 12:03PM]

Looks better than the 605 I own. Allways wondered why Archos wasn'nt abble to do it 'full screen'. The bigger the screen the better IMO, as long as it fits in my pocket and is less heavy than the 605 160 GB.

My enigma for now is when Archos does introduce a solid state version in stead of those heavy harddisks,

Optional codes are a good thing IMO, so you do'nt have to pay what you don't want. Biggest mistake for the 605 is the poor soundlevel. Have bought a noise cancelling headphone from Sennheiser, which actually amplifies soundlevels Only after that Quality is good enough,
Do wonder if the accessoires for the 605 - like the dvr dock and the powerpack - will fit the new 5 serie. Knowing Archos, it will propably not.
And what the hell happened to the promised tv-portation tool for the 605. Don't need it, but it was announced for months and has now seems to have died a quiet death

[engadget @ Jun 30th 2009 1:40PM]

Just a friendly word of warning regarding Archos customer service.

I just bought 2 Archos 5s in a clearance auction. Both new, one was ex-demo.

Both had exactly the same fault - wouldn't charge using the supplied USB cable, unless you put extra weight on the connector.

Both returned to Archos for repair under warranty.
Once in their possession, Archos wouldn't honour the warranty and tried to charge me £166 each for the repairs.
(Toshiba and Samsung, in the same situation, both repaired without quibble.)

I just hope that they return the units in as good a condition as they received them, but somehow I doubt it.



It's worth mentioning at this point that Archos batteries aren't removable, nor are the hard drives.
And the hard drives are locked, so you can't just stick a laptop drive in.

If you get a fault, your only option is to send it back to the manufacturer for a good fleecing.