November 29, 2006 - Review: Archos 604 WiFi
I've now been playing with the Archos 604 WiFi for 6 days and seem to have a handle on all of its new features. I misunderstood when purchasing the device that it didn't come with the docking station like the AV700, although I'll get to that later. For those not quite familiar with the 604 WiFi, they seriously packed the features into this one. Sporting a 30Gig hard drive, the 604 has a slick new interface including some fancy animated graphics, 4.3 inch screen, MP3 player (including MP3, WAV, WMA and WMA protected files), Photo Viewer, and MPEG 4 Video player. Oh and I won't forget to mention WiFi!
Shit, WiFi! There is one major thing I thought the AV700 needed when I first threw down a review about it. For some reason I'm not as thrown back as I was when I got the AV700, but this is a remarkable next for Archos in the evolution of their products. They really seem to be going for what users ideally want and building the Ultimate Portable Multimedia Device. The LCD screen like previous devices is clean and clear. When you plug the 604 into your computer it prompts you with a choice to just charge or how you want your computer to connect to the device, via Windows Media or as a Removable Drive.
The touch-screen featured in the 604 WiFi is a really nice added feature which hopefully will become a permanent feature in all of their future devices. The AV700 could have benefited from this. Archos includes a stylus for navigating the web, however, its touch-screen seems more suited for finger navigation for its native features.
The WiFi and web browser is quite nice. Opera was an okay choice, though wouldn't Mozilla been a smarter choice? My experience with Opera is always the same, its good, though it still isn't up to IE and Mozilla standard. So much JS and XML right now; Opera limping behind. I haven't been able to find specs for the processor inside of the 604, however a Flash plug-in would have been wise.
There is always a downside to the latest and greatest and the touch-screen is where is ends. I was really disappointed when I discovered there was no way to record or play video through an RCA connection out of the box. All previous Archos media players had that capability. It gets worse from there. The 604, 504, and 404 charge via USB now, however it’s extremely slow and there is no alternate method 'out of the box'. Their propriatary docking interface in the new model is its biggest drawback. Personally not including the standard Mini USB port was a huge mistake in the Archos 4 Series.
Archos became serious about up-selling accessories with the new series and it sucked some of the fun out of Archos. To people who are people who are considering Archos for the first time, don't worry you won't be disappointed, just make sure you don't forget the docking cable if you plan on hooking it up to a friends computer.
Even with the 4 series short comings Archos is still number one in my book. After 4 years and as many products (including a 104 I bought for my girlfriend) other brands and products are only a complete disappointment.
Okay, now for my Archos wish list. Most importantly Instant-On! Yes, Archos, I’m talking to you. New GUI's and touch-screens are nice, however, with a 24MB ROM image and 8 second boot, its time. Next, propriatary docking connections are fine; just don't take away the mini USB connector. It's nice when your not media player isn't rendered useless by forgetting a 14" cable. Third, I'm sure I don't need to mention the need to whip out with a 704 WiFi, do I? The AV700 was the slickest thing since Xvid, just add a touch-screen and WiFi. Keep the storage size above 40GB, please, movies aren't getting any smaller. Finally, if its going to charge via USB port include a USB wall adapter so people aren't waiting 2 days for it to charge 4 bar.
-Hap
Back to ...the Fuck stops here!; fuckthemedia.org