Archos 705 Wi-Fi Portable Media Player (80 GB)

I reviewed several video players prior to purchasing the Archos 705 160 GB. Then once I chose the 705 I had to wait about 2 months to actually find one in stock (more time to see other options). I have nothing but the highest praise for this device. But it is not one to carry around everyday in your pocket. This is a big 7 inch screen and rather heavy but it is exactly what I wanted. I can put it in my briefcase or just use it around the house. If you know what your main reasons for purchasing this is, then you will easily decide for yourself if the 705 meets your needs. If it does, the product is very nice.

I read through all of the reviews of this player before I bought it, and if I were to sum up the other reviews, they were 50/50. I felt like I should give a little back so here is my experience:

Battery Life - I just don't understand what problem people are having with the battery life. When I got my Archos 705, I plugged it in overnight and then transfered some Xvid's the longest movie I had was 2.5 hours long. I unplugged the player and put on the movie, it made it through twice plus 30 minutes... so I got about 5.5 hours out of it (FWIW it was a letter boxed movie so maybe since there where black pixels use less power and make it last longer, I donno know but I thought I would mentioned it). I also picked up a "double" battery" that is twice the size with twice the juice. Watching movies/shows while flying across the country I never dipped below 50% power. On a side note why is there not an option to see how much power is left or estimated time?

Add Ons - Ok this is a gripe I can agree with I spent another $70 to get the web browser and 2 additional codecs. Seems pretty crappy that after spending $500 to get the player that I needed to spend anther $70 to get the features that I really wanted. Like I mentioned before i spent another $35 to get a "double battery" (we are planning to fly to Hawaii from the East Coast, seemed like a good investment). So in total I spent another $105 on things to get what I originally wanted.

Stylus - Ok perhaps this is just me, but there is not place to put the stylus on the player. The player comes with a case (nothing special) that has a little pocket in it. I just got back from a trip using it and when watching the player I just stuck it in my shirt pocket when watching videos and put it with the case when I was not it.

Video Quality - Maybe I have just have lower expectations, but I think movies look great (yes my eyes are fine). If anything when the size of the video was not close to the specs of the screen, it did not look awesome but that is my fault not the player. When I have ripped shows that are close to the screen specs, it looks great.

Web Browsing - I have not played around with this too much, but so far it looks nice. I will play with this more and report back... But it was no problem to get on my WPA2 wireless connection. Again with the screen, it looked really sharp.

Wow factor - I have to say, on every leg of my trip, people asked me about the player. If you are watching it in public space, expect to talk about it.

Touchscreen - So I have to agree a bit with the other reviews that the screen is not the most responsive (I have never played with an Apple Touch so don't really have a comparison). There are times when it seems a little "touchy" or rather "not touchy" where you have to press the screen multiple times to get it to do what you want. But really this is not the end of the world when watching videos since you so rarely need to touch anything when watching videos. When I was playing around to explore the machine it was annoying from time to time, but nothing to stomp my feet over. Note that it is very important that you read how to select things from the manual. Sometimes it is a double tap, sometimes a single tap, etc...

Volume - It is not awesome, I will agree with this. While watching videos I had it full on the player and almost full on my headphones... this was loud enough for me, but that is almost maxing it out to get there. Seems like it should get louder than it does.

What I have not tried - I have not played with the content portals, I have all my own content to move over on the machine. Games - you can pay money for games... I might get around to it, but really just like watching videos for it. I have transferred a few MP3s to it, seems to play nice but I already have an iPod Nano that I use for music.

Wrap up - I bought this player to watch videos, everything else is just gravy. I am not a video snob so 200k colors versus 16 mill, does not bother me at all, all I know is for what I watch it looks great. I hated bringing a portable DVD player around with DVDs and this is a very nice solution to that problem. I would gladly recommend it, with the cavet of spending the extra $105 to get the additional plug ins and the double battery... if you are not going to do that you might feel limited... I gave it 4 out of 5 stars since it is not perfect, but it really does everything that I bought it for, though there is room to grow and do these things better. Also I bought mine for $499. Not sure why this is currently priced $850....

This product is just great. I will recommend it to anyone. The only thing that I would like for it to do is to go faster on the internet, but overall the product is a great product to buy.

I mainly bought this device as i work the graveyard shift and needed something to occupy my time... had to go with the 160gb version because its 160gb, need i say more? lol...

pros:

1) plays xvid divx movies
2) wifi works, not the fastest but still decent
3) big screen
4) can change picture background and theme colors

cons:

1) sometimes unit will freeze when opening a file, usually it is a bad media file i guess? not sure but they work on PC but unit locks up... these were new encoded video files i was testing... only a small % didnt work
2) battery life isnt good, need a spare batter for plane trips
3) if the audio/video file doesnt have high audio, dont expect this unit to amplify it... the built in speakers are sub-average but work.... the headset is your best bet for higher sound...
4) need to buy cimena codec if you have AC3 files or some video formats..
5) need to buy web browser if you plan on using wifi
6) touch screen needs firm touch or use the pen that comes with it (better)

not tested: DVR functions

Overall i am still very happy with the unit even with the cons, for $449 shipped to the door by amazon, i would recommend this to anyone...


RECOMMENDED: get a warranty, i went with squaretrade, they have been really good in customer service and replacement/refunds

I owned an Archos Av700. I liked it but it had a lot of limitations. But this time Archos really made an improvement.
The Wifi connectivity, the web browsing (after paying for the Opera plug in) and the fact that this time every file I uploaded to the device was recognized and working perfectly , all what you could expect for such a device. The resolution also improved very much. I was amazed about the UPNP capabilities !! I use it a wireless media server too !!
No comparison with other device in the market.