- The 160 GB Archos 605 Wi-Fi bridges the gap between the PC and the TV; for the first time, you can stream content from the PC or the Internet to the TV or PMP--all through a wireless home network, the Archos 605, and the DVR Station
- Play all your digital entertainment: movies, TV shows, photos and music
- Record your favorite TV shows
- Stream and watch videos from your PC
- Download movies and music directly on your PMP using the Archos Content Portal
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.
Buy Archos 605 Wi-Fi Portable Media Player (160 GB) Now
I have owned this device for about a month now (after waiting for quite a few weeks for the backorders on Amazon to fill). Overall I am pleased with it, but I cannot say I endorse it whole-heartedly. There are enough little quirks and annoyances that I would caution anyone thinking of buying one to reconsider before clicking that Purchase button.
Don't get me wrong: the nice features are very nice indeed. The screen is bright and clear and the capacity can't be beat. The UI is pretty and the wi-fi works well. As others have addressed all of these points, I'll concentrate on the things I found somewhat surprising upon opening the box. The quirks range from minor annoyances to serious issues, ranked below accordingly.
The audio is indeed *much* too low. It's fine for quiet situations, and usually not bad if the particular audio track is recorded at a high level. However, I have tried to watch certain movies on a commuter train (with what I would call a moderate noise level) and the audio track is completely indecipherable at max volume. If you're going to use this out in public (and isn't that the point of the whole device?), you're going to need noise-cancelling headphones at a minimum.
This is a portable device, but I would not call it a "pocket" device. It has some serious heft to it (especially the 160 gb version) and it's pretty big. Fortunately, most of the device is taken up by the screen, which makes it more worthwhile; still, this is not at all something you stash in your shirt pocket.
Plenty of others have mentioned the short battery life, but it bears repeating. This is especially notable since the battery is non-removable, so you're completely stuck with it unless you're using some external power. I find it reasonable for most uses, but don't forget to recharge at the end of every day or it will become a doorstop on your next commute.
Generally the OS works well, but sometimes loads very slowly (hourglass or splash screen for quite a few seconds) and occasionally outright crashes. I have had to reset the device a handful of times already.
The audio track on large video files (2+ hour movies) can get out of synch with the picture if you jump around too much using the controls. This is especially sad because there is absolutely NO "resume" functionality, so you are forced to load the file from the beginning and jump forward if you are resuming watching a file.
The touchscreen works well overall, but the smaller buttons can be fairly difficult to press. (The pop-up USB activation button sometimes requires some serious button-mashing in particular.)
The unit comes with two plastic styli to use on the touchscreen, but there's absolutely nowhere to store them. (i.e. they don't attach to the device as is the case with pretty much every other stylus-using device.) It's nice having a stylus but this screams "Lose me."
The PDF browser is *extremely* slow. It can take upwards of 30 seconds to draw each individual page, and any slight navigation or zooming can cause it to redraw forever again. Not to mention it seems like they are just "printing" the content to a PostScript file and then displaying it, so protective "print only" watermarks actually show up on the screen. I was looking forward to this feature for browsing scans of some graphic novels, but the load times make this far too frustrating to be practical.
The DVR function is somewhat of a joke. I'm not even sure why they include the "TV Guide" and timer functionality, since it won't record anything unless your TV and cable box are on the right channel at the right time. It will record TV shows, but I'm not sure what functionality the "DVR" adds since it's pretty much the same as just connecting the device and pressing record when your show is on.
On a related note, the optional "DVR Station" is also somewhat of a joke. I think it flirts with false advertising to label a device as a "TV recorder" when it doesn't even accept a cable signal. It's really just a docking station with some additonal outputs, and doesn't get around the fact that you have to manually set your TV and cable anyway.
The manual that explains the functions of the device is wrong in many places. For example, the placement and function of the LEDs is completely different than the diagram. (In fact, for some inexplicable reason the HDD light is on the *back* of the device, so you never really see it.) I suspect they cut and pasted the diagram from another device (the 04 series?) and didn't update. Somewhat minor, but there are enough functions on the device that this is annoying when trying to learn them all.
All in all, you might find this device useful if the above quirks don't really bother you. It's still fairly nice to have on a long commute, but it's not quite the "wonder device" that some have painted it to be.
Read Best Reviews of Archos 605 Wi-Fi Portable Media Player (160 GB) Here
While I'll probably never use this as an MP3 player (I have smaller devices for that), it makes one nice video player. I've been playing with one for a little while and here are my impressions thus far:
Positives:
1) The video. Wow!!! I doubt there is anything this clean and crisp out there that is this small and portable. The video looks fantastic and I've yet to have any hardware lag while viewing it.
2) 160GB. That is massive and just the right size for carrying around video.
3) Intuitive user interface. I've got a Zune for my mp3's and I often find that complicated (and irritating) to navigate around but this is quite easy to figure out. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to get this to work the way you want it to. Navigating around a movie is fantastic as well because it is so easy to pause, fast forward, or do anything else you would want to do on a video player.
4) Responsive Touch-Screen. Using the touch screen was quite easy... I don't think I even touched the buttons on the side much. I had no problem even though I've got some thick fingers.
5) Sound quality. This thing sounds great some with nice earphones. I can see why some might use it as an mp3 player as well. It sounds awesome!
Negatives:
1) No standard USB Connection on the device? Come on, if you are going to be this large then give us a standard USB interface, please. For one, it is smaller than this ending. Also, if we are near a computer we can use the USB to charge it without having to carry the proprietary cable around. USB is just sooooo... universal... I'm flabbergasted anytime somebody doesn't include a USB connection.
2) Battery. First, this isn't removable so you can't carry a spare pack around. But it doesn't last that long when playing video. This wouldn't be too much of a concern if it had a USB connection because there is always a way to charge it that way. But if the battery doesn't last as long as a laptop... there isn't much point.
3) Browser is not good. You can download video from Youtube and a few other sites but you can't just get out on the web and grab stuff. I've read you can buy a browser to do this, but something decent should have come with the device. If you are going to have Wi-Fi, why not make it as functional as possible?
So, if you are willing to shell out the cash this is an excellent device for video. I'd have other preferences for music but this is quite capable of handling that as well.
Want Archos 605 Wi-Fi Portable Media Player (160 GB) Discount?
Like many others, I gave up on my Amazon order and got it directly from Archos. I've been happily playing with it for the last couple days and really quite happy. To be fair, I am upgrading from the Archos 604 Wifi so I am already pretty well familiar with Archos' little quirks and such. I also have a brand new iPod Touch which is a great product in its own way. Overall I think this product is worthy of a 5 star rating because it offers the most bang for the buck as it were, amazing features at a moderate price.
As is my wont, I start with the things I love:
1) 160 GB, whats not to love about that? My brand new laptop has only 80GB, crazy to think that this little handheld PMP has more storage than my laptop or my desktop either for that matter!
2) Awesome screen resolution: Wow thats a lot of pixels for such a small screen.
3) Touch screen interface, very sensitive, and quite usable with or without a stylus (unlike the Touch which is not so sensitive).
4) If you purchase the Video Podcast and Cinema plugins from Archos ($40) you can watch just about any video on this baby without any tedious conversions (unlike the iPods).
5) Beautiful and colorful user interface, nice improvement on 604. I especially like being able to see what the next and previous songs on the playlist are, the Now Playing screen is nicely laid out.
6) Wifi is amazing, you can play videos off of your desktop computer or copy files from other computers. In fact, I was even able to automatically upgrade the Archos firmware just by connecting to Wifi.
7) Opera browser ($30 plugin) is very nice browser, works well with touch screen and supports YouTube and some other streaming video interfaces.
8) Fantastic DVR dock allows you to output to pretty much any kind of cable and watch at nice resolution on the monitor of your choice. This also includes a great remote control with a Blackberryish keyboard; again this is something I don't see available for iPods.
9) Dedicated volume button (not available on Touch or 604).
10) You can actually edit, rename, delete, etc music, videos, playlists etc. on the 605 itself, you don't have to hook it up to a PC every time you want to make the slightest change or delete something you don't need anymore. This is perhaps one of my biggest gripes about iPods in general.
11) Built-in viewing stand, how clever is that?
12) Indicator lights: I like the fact that you can see when the battery is charged, when the hard drive is running, if the TV-Out is on or the power is on without flipping through menus or turning the device on.
13) Playlist editing/saving etc seems to work a lot better than it did on the 604. Just the fact that you can do this on the unit itself is a nice feature in comparison to iPods!
14) I can use the drive as a data backup and it doesn't messup my music or cause undue delays like it did on my 604.
15) The Archos seems to have the most knowledgeable and helpful user communities I have ever seen, you can get lots of help from sites like Archosfans.com for example.
Of course, for me anyway, 5 stars doesn't mean perfection because there is no such thing in the world of technology. 5 stars means top of its class in my mind. So with that disclaimer in hand, here are things about the Archos 605 that could use improvement:
1) Hidden expenses: To really get the full experience you should expect to spend an additional $100 to $150 for plugins and DVR dock etc. Archos, like Apple, just gives you the bare minimum accessories with the product; not really enough to set you up in style. To be fair, its the same deal with an iPod Touch! In fact, apple has taken to charging for their new software features too :O For myself, I still think this is a good deal but its good to know what you're in for ahead of time.
2) Accessories: don't expect to be able to walk into any electronics store and buy accessories for this baby. I have had to order just about everything online -btw I highly recommend the Noreve case for this player which can be bought on Amazon.
3) Size: with a screen this big and a 160GB disk don't be thinking this is just going to slide unobtrusively into your pocket like a Touch does. It will fit in your pocket but you'll know its there.
4) No built-in USB port, you have to use the special cable provided or a dock to connect USB (this is a gripe I have about iPods too)!
5) Volume is a bit on the quiet side, I just run all my songs through "mp3gain" and set volume to 95dB and is plenty loud enough for me. Or you can use the battery dock which removes volume limiting restrictions.
6) Battery is not removable like the 604 was, its the price we pay for a slimmer profile I guess. To be fair, this just makes Archos like Apple but I do miss being able to swap batteries. Fortunately, you can use the battery dock to good effect or other external battery packs such as ones made by Tekkeon to extend the battery life of the unit.
In summary, this is not the most user-friendly player in the world. But the features are spectacular and cutting edge. This is not a player for the faint of heart but it is a very rewarding experience if you are willing to take the time to play with it. Feature by feature it really blows the iPod Touch away. If you are aware of the quirks of buying an Archos ahead of time, I guarantee you will be quite happy with this product.
Update after 4 months of ownership: still very happy with this product. I've removed a few negative points because I feel that they weren't really relevant anymore, I get carried away with negative points sometimes! I have had zero problems with this (making it more reliable than my Touch!) and it continues to be a great product. In addition, firmware updates have added widgets and seem to have improved the sound as well as fixing bugs relating to ID tags and such.
8 month update: I'm happy to report that the recent firmware release has finally resolved the playlist issue. Now fully compatible with Windows Media Player playlists and works seamlessly with Media Monkey. Also, it is possible to keep the display on all the time when plugged in! I'm still very happy with my 605, using it as my primary home music player. The battery died but Archos has offered to replace at no charge, still under warranty which is a real positive since it's not easy to replace the battery. I continue to recommend this player highly, especially if you want a nice big screen and a wonderful DVR dock.
The Archos 605wifi is, for the most part, a great product. The interface is easy to work around in, and its out of the box capabilities are decent. Moving files to and from the hard drive, while not as easy as say an iPod, is a lot more of an open ended system that doesn't attempt to protect you from yourself in terms of locking the player to a certain computer. What you have here is a portable hard drive that lets you view your pdfs, movies and photos as well as listen to your music. It does each of these tasks efficiently and really begins to prove its worth when you take it on longer trips. Out of the box it also comes with a good file management system that allows you to delete files directly through the system menu, which allows you to make space while you are on the go and don't necessarily have a computer handy. This defiantly proves worthwhile when you access the expanding Content Portal and want to download a movie while you are on the move, but don't have enough hard drive space to support it. When you are around PC's networked wirelessly and have access to them, the 605 also allows you to stream audio and video directly from them, as well as download new files.
Now... to be honest, while those features are all nice, after I was done playing with them I never felt like they justified the price of the player as a package.
This is where the plugins come in. Most people will likely drop the $29.99 for the Opera browser, which is steep, but again is nice to have. The browser is quick and easy to use, and works better then most portable web browsers I have worked with. If you have used an iPhone, it is very comparable to how Safari works on it, which is defiantly a good thing.
The player only truly ever justifies its purchase though, when you connect it to the DVR station, which is bought separately. In any home theater system, this is a godsend of a budget component. The dock outputs to your TV and accepts inputs from many devices (in my case a cable box). What's nice about this is that you can use the combination as a more open ended Apple TV system that allows you to use all the wireless streaming video/audio/picture capabilities of the system, while having it connected to the TV. This saves a lot of hassle, say if you have a divx file you want to watch on your computer and do not want to go through the process of burning and converting it to something your DVD player would accept. With this system, you just connect to the network, navigate to the folder on your computer where the file is, and viola, it streams to your TV!
For those who don't own a DVR or want to make their recordings more mobile, the DVR station when connected to the Archos also accepts schedules of your cable programs from a list that is updated by Archos, and allows you to record from the TV either automatically or manually. You then have a mobile version of your favorite show that can either be moved to your computer, or watched like one would any DVR/Tivo program, with all the pause, forward and rewind features to get rid of those pesky adverts.
The Archos certainly has its faults though. Without the DVR station the battery takes forever (no joke) to fully charge. Furthermore, not all the features have been implemented yet, the content portal is slow to get the new suppliers, the widgets system is nonexistent as of writing this review, and current accessories are virtually barren aside from a helmet camera (that lets you record what you see while on the move), the DVR and some batteries. Even the official cases for the generation 5 line aren't released yet, leaving all current owners limited to using either the only supplier on the market (over priced and generally not a great case) or protecting their Archos with the factory supplied case which is quite possibly one of the most unpractical cases the company could have made. Finally it doesn't have the fun gimicky ease of use an iPod touch would have. It's bulky, thanks to the hard drive, and the buttons on the side (while very useful) don't do anything to help the 605's dire need for a little sex appeal.
They used to say in the Apple vs IBM wars, think about the software and then pick your computer. It's the same in Palm vs CE devices. 
