Archos 704 80 GB WiFi Portable Digital Media Player

• Portable media player with 80 GB hard drive stores up to 70 DVD-quality movies
• Integrated 802.11g wireless networking for connectivity to desktop PC, downloading videos from online stores
• Bright 7-inch LCD touchscreen for input from fingers or included stylus
• Plays MP3, WAV, WMA and protected WMA music files; also compatible with JPEG, PNG and BMP image files
• Measures 7 by 5 by 0.75 inches; weighs just 22 ounces

I like this player a lot. 3 minutes out of the box I was connected the home WiFi. 2 minutes later it found my Infrant ReadyNAS (ReadyNAS NV+, 1.0TB (4 x 250GB pre-installed Seagate Barracuda ES SATA HDD), X-RAID, 256MB memory, Silver, SFF desktop NAS) and was streaming MP3s and video to the player flawlessly.

Size:

It's thick and heavy. It has a similar footprint to a Sony ebook reader, but much deeper and heavier. It's just about as wide and tall as a DVD case, but again, much deeper (almost 3/4 of an inch deep).

Formats:

I do not have any media formats that this won't play. I did purchase the optional .VOB codec from the Archos site. It plays my WMV (including DRM stuff), Divx, AVI, MP3(all kinds).

Accessories:

It comes with a nice woven nylon case and a 120V power adapter. It has headphones (with inline volume) and USB in and USB out.

Connections:

It has audio out (headphones), power, USB (mini in, mini out, two Archos plugs for docking and that's it. Everything else needs a dock to work.

Screen:

The touch screen is vibrant and very bright. I have big fingers so I do better with a stylus for controls. The high resolution is amazing.

Sound:

The speakers are "OK" but headphones could be louder. I took this on a plane yesterday and the included headphones were not loud enough to hear over the engine noise. I had to use my Sure E5c headphones to hear anything on videos and MP3s (Shure E5c Sound Isolating Earphones).

Internet:

It comes with Opera and surfing was fine. A great device for webmail or shopping (it comes with am eMusic 50 free MP3s certificate). I will take this (instead of a laptop) on my next vacation.

Sync:

The platey can snyc (USB) as a Windows Media Device or a USD hard drive. I love that option (it asks you each sync).

Issues:

1. I would have liked a place to "plunge" the stylus in the device for storage (the case has a tiny pocket).

2. I would have liked Svideo out without buying a dock.

3. Audio out should be louder.

Wishes:

1. I would love to see this use a bluetooth phone as a DUN to the hit the net.

2. I would love to have and SD Card reader on board to help move media on the road.

Other Issues:

1. Be careful with Unbox video. The resolution of this player far exceeds most mobile players. One of my goals was to start buying Unbox videos instead of ripping my DVDs all the time. Problem: the "mobile" size of Unbox video looks very poor on the screen (please try an inexpensive one for yourself)due to low resolution. And Unbox does not allow you to sync (no snyc rights) the larger video that you download. So I have a video that I "bought" that I cannot use on this device because the low version looks so bad, and the high-res version has DRM restrictions that won't let it play on the 704 Wifi. Not terrible, but it will keep 704 owners from renting or buying from Unbox for sure.

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I orignally purchased this as a companion to my A504 so I can watch videos from a further distance while at a hotel (I travel A LOT). The first thing I learned is that the screen is a fingerprint magnet so using a stylus is the best bet. The included stylus is okay (one extra is included) but I've been using a pen/stylus combo that works just as well and isn't as liable to get lost. The case is acceptable, but could use a little more rigidity for my taste.

Video clarity is pretty good; not as good as the A504 but it is still decent with less glare than the A504. The screen is also nice and bright and can be seen under most lighting conditions (except direct sunlight which I encountered while flying to southern California recently). I was also happy with the embeded speaker volume as it didn't need to be jacked up 100 to be heard in a mildly noisy room like the A504.

Video & Audio out are just as good as the A504 while using the DVR station. One little nitpick would be the adapter for the DVR station could be a little deeper to make the connection more secure.

PC connection is very good as you can use a cable from another AX04 unit or a standard USB mini-plug with the choice to sync as a Windows device or use as a hard drive. I generally use it as a hard drive as the files I transfer are all Xvid or Divx and I don't want WMP11 to re-code my files. The only gripe here would be the lack of USB charging. All other 4th generation Archos units are USB chargeable, but this one isn't.

Using the unit as a web tablet was a real suprise. I didn't think that I would use it in that capacity very often, but I found (on a recent trip) that I could do almost everything on the web with the 704 that I can do with a laptop. It came in very handy during a recent conference where I needed to get to some .PDF files off my corporate website to show a customer. It isn't the fastest unit in town, but it works quite well in a pinch. I've found myself using it at home with my wireless connection almost as often as I use my laptop. One thing I would like to see is the ability to connect a small keyboard for data input as trying to write an email using the onscreen keyboard is a bit of a pain. Also, trying to access streaming video off of a webpage is an effort in futility.

Battery life is very good for a unit this large. I turned it on and let it run through my video folder (at brightness level one which is the default and at 75% volume) and it took just over 4 1/2 hours to deplete the battery. I haven't noticed if using the WiFi drains the battery any faster but it doesn't seem to.

All in all, I am very happy with the unit. I'm a huge Archos fan (except for their customer service, but I digress...) and I look forward to getting the spare batteries as soon as they are available.

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I've eagerly waited for a device that could do all the things the 704 says it can do. And believe me I've had all the devices out there. 1st gen I=pod to Video I-pod and the Archos 704 Wifi blows them away. If you are a true techie like myself you'll have to agree that nothing comes close to this little baby. The screen is excellent especially if you have Divx files, not to mention that it can handle almost any video file out there with the plugins of course. Mpeg, VOB, WMV, Divx and even Apple Mp4 files without a hickup. I used to own the Archos 504 but when I saw this baby, wow was I sold. Connecting to my home wireless network is a breeze and using it as a file server took a bit longer than I expected, but once I was up and running it was easy! What I'll be looking for next is the ability to watch streaming video or music and then I'll die happy! In a nutshell, an I-pod is nice to have if you're just into music and paying for one at $299 is not the best way I like spending my money. I hooked it up to my plasma and it was like renting a DVD movie, clear and sound was pretty good. I also hooked it up to my LCD projector and was surprised that the quality was also good.

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This is a great device. As previous reviews mentioned, it took me less then 2 minutes to get on the internet, check weather and read the latest news on the BBC. The browser works a lot better then I expected.

Displaying pictures is extremely fast, even large jpgs of 4-5 MB load under a second. This was for me the main purpose as I often do extensive trips where I take lots of pictures. Bringing 30-40 1gig memory cards is just not practical nor is bringing a heavy laptop.

I had no problems playing DIVX files and jumping to the middle of the movie was extremely fast, better then my current PC. The sharpness of the screen could be improved a bit, but it is far better then my old AV400 (which I am replacing because it only has a 20GB HD) and above all it is nice and large.

There are a few things I wish they would fix/add.

1)viewing PDFs is slow since only one page is loaded at the time, even for very small PDF files.

2) No way to view or type up a quick text file

3) The device is Linux based and has a browser, so I wish they would release some limited utils/games for it. A text/notes editor, Sudoku, solitair... Or at least allow the user to point to the 704's drive to pull up self made web pages.

Oh and I almost forgot, it played my MP3s flowlessly.

I can't wait for my next vacation trip and really test it out!!!

Let me start out buy saying that I have always been a huge Archos fan. This is my third one and it is GARBAGE. It arrived borken (from Archos). Instead of taking the broken unitback and sending me a new one, they insisted on trying to fix it. It came back still not working. I was told to wait 5-6 weeks for a firmware update, that would fix my issues. When the firmware did finally come, it did nothing to address any of my issues. So called them. Still wouldn't send a new one; wanted to try to fix it again. I paid, again, to have it sent out. Came back broken again. Keep in mind, each time you send it to their horrible tech and customer service, it takes 4-5 weeks to get back. So now I called them and told them I just want to return the item for a refund. I was told I was past my 30 days! hahahhaha. I told them I haven't had a working unit for 1 day and the only reason I have held onto the unit is because you guys told me your firmware would fix it. So I now have mailed the unit back a third time and it has been sitting in limbo with them for 4 weeks now. I ordered this unit the day it was released. It is now months and months later, and I still have no working item; even worse, the nest generation 705's will probably been weeks away when I finally do get a wroking unit. This customer support is pathetic. I am a huge backer of Archos, and I am telling people to avoid this company like the PLAGUE. They got to big to quick and can't keep up with what is going on around them. They don't care what their customers think as long as they haveyour money. You will hear a ton of people say that "mine works fine I don't know what he is talking about". Trust me. Go to any Archos site dedicated to Archos, and there is just one horror story after another, talking about broken units and zero help in getting them repaired or replaced. If you happen to get on of these lemon units, the company will acts as if it is your problem and you must have done something to cause it. As stated...I have always been such a huge Archos fan and have heared the horror stories, but now that I am on their side of the fence, I know completely what they are talking about. STAY CLEAR OF THIS COMPANY. Purchasing anything from them is like putting $500 down on black in roullette -you have a 50-50 chance of hitting with a winning unit, but if you don't your out %500. Because they will not give you your money back and it will pretty much become a second job getting it fixed (they put you on hold fo HOURS at a time and then they eventually just let the phone system disconnect you. At which point you have to call over and get back into the waiting line which will take hours again). Please do yourself a favor. Look at Cowon or some other company.