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"One Major Flaw" on by amsbestbuy
Pros: Exceptional Build Quality, Smooth Operation.
Cons: Grainy Screen.
Summary: I actually own a 504 (80 GB) and had previously owned a 604 (non-WiFi version). I loved the 604 and the screen was crisp and clear. The 604 WiFi has a very grainy screen appearance, much like on the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet (which I returned as well).
This was disappointing to me to say the least as I had been waiting for the 604 WiFi for quite some time. (Wish I hadn't already sold the 604; I just expected the screen to be as good if not the same).
It's not an issue whereas the 604 has a glossy screen and the 604 WiFi is not since it is a touch screen. I have owned plenty of handhelds that had a matte screen that were very sharp and clear.
I might be a bit on the picky side, but if you viewed both the 604 and 604 WiFi side by side, most people would undoubtedly pick the plain 604's screen as being superior. Maybe it's kind of like when you listened to your first higher-end stereo system; you really thought your compact system sounded great until you listened to music on the higher-end system. At that point, your old system sounded like crap! -
"one of the best gadgets, but has some minor flaws" on by bentzi.axl
Pros: touch screen, Wi-Fi, replaceable battery, tv recording
Cons: slow pdf rendering, low battery for Wi-Fi, internet a little slow
Summary: I'm giving this product 9.5/10
review:
I bought the 604wifi + dvr dock in one package,
and I paid around 470 for it.
which I believe is a very reasonable price.
features:
screen:
the screen is amazing. very sharp and crisp, and very large, making watching videos very pleasant. I've seen a lot of comments that the touch screen reduces the quality, but from personal experience it's not true. The touch screen makes its easy to navigate, and you almost don't need to use the keys on the side. the touch screen is very responsive, and archos recommends that you use the stylus or your finger. the screen isn't a magnet for fingerprints and is intended to be used with your fingers. I give the screen 10/10
video:
the videos look really good on the screen, again it's easy to fast forward or rewind, using the keys (10/30 second intervals) or using the touch screen to control how far you want to fast forward/rewind. very intuitive and easy. sometime, the player gets "stuck" for a second, while it reads from memory.
It supports almost all of the major codecs, and it played almost all of the movies that i have on my computer. however, if you want to play vob or Ac3 encoded videos, you need to buy the plugin ($20), and there's another plugin for .mov and support.
overall 9/10
audio:
I personally didn't buy this player to listen to music,(i have a ipod nano) so there's not much I can say here. overall, the quality is not much different than my nano. when playing music you see the album art (if the mp3 comes with one) and it looks great. overall 9/10
wifi: the best feature after the touch screen. Since I already have a home network, It was easy to set up, reception is excellent. My router is in the basement and the signal was very strong on the 2nd floor. but I guess it depends on the router. you can easily share files, transfer them to and from the 604, and even stream video and music from the computer. very nice feature, and very useful at home. If you hook it up to the tv, you can "stream" videos from your computer to the TV. overall 10/10
tv recording: if you have the dvr station or the travel adapter, you can record from your tv. there are a lot of settings and options that you can change, from quality to saturation, to volume. Using the default settings, the quality is really good. It's very easy to set up, and use the scheduler to record when you are not home. if you have the
dvr station, it has an IR emmiter that can change the channels, and turn on/off (I have a cable box, so this is usefull), but I haven't tried that yet. overall 9.5/10
battery life: If you charge from usb, it'll take some time, but I only charge using the dvr dock, and it's very fast.
playing videos from the hard drive, the battery lasted 5 1/2 hours
streaming videos over the networks: 2 hours
using the internet: 4 hours.
I didn't try audio, but I assume it's 10+
since the battery is replaceable, you can theoretically double these numbers or triple them. overall, the battery life is decent but not amazing. 7/10
Internet: a very nice feature, most websites load up in a reasonable time and it looks good. However because it's not a 19" screen, there a lot of scrolling that need to be done. There are two rendering modes: desktop or smart. In desktop, it loads up the websites as if you are surfing from a regular pc, so you need to scroll sideways too. in smart mode, it fits the website to the screen. No flash support, so there's no youtube or google videos. basic java support,
so there's no web messengers that you can use. Websites that are designed for mobile use look really good. you can scroll down and to the sides using the touch screen, but if you hit a link on the way by mistake, it would load it up, so i use the keys instead. One thing that was really anoying, is that, if you download a file, you have to quit the web application before you can view the file.
overall 8.5/10
coolness factor:
watch the reaction when you watch a video on this thing in public and you'll know what I mean. people will stare, people will say wow that's cool!!, and some will ask where you got it and will buy it themselves.
10/10
size:
for a 4"+ screen, the package is very small and attractive. It's fits in you pocket, but you wouldn't o running with it. a sturdy fake leather case comes in the box, and it protects it when in your pocket or bag.
10/10
processor: I was disappointed to read the cnet review, when they wrote that the processor is sluggish. If you update to latest firmware, it removes some of the problem, and it's not that slow. while playing video it takes some time to load, but on par with other video players out there. It takes like 10 sec to load up.
7/10
that's my review
I'm very pleased with this product. Archos has proven themselves to be the champions in portable entertainment, with this first wifi enabled, touch screen pvr -
"Not what I expected!" on by kelleyseiler
Pros: Movies look great.
Cons: You must spend extra $$ to get the most out of it.
Summary: I purchased the 604 wifi at Sams Club for $386.00. It was an easy setup. Easy to load my music although it wouldn't take all of my music (bad files it said). When it came to movies you have to purchase software from the Archos website to be able to put certain files on it.
Price for the software $19.99.
To be able to record TV another $149.00. Travel charger $99.00.
So when it is all said and done you can spend $650.00 easily.
Another thing was the sound quality, I have been use to my 30GB Video Ipod the sound quality on the 604wifi didnt even compare with the Ipod, it was dull and just didnt have the crispness of my Ipod.
All in all it is a very cool little device especially the ability to surf the web (which is very sluggish) but very cool. I actually retuned it after 7 days. Not worth the $. -
"Hats off to Archos" on by alankayser
Pros: Beautiful screen, easy networking and WiFi
Cons: Keyboard a bit clumsy
Summary: This is my fourth Archos product and I must say my hat is off to them for their continued efforts in improving their products. The only downside so far has been follow up as they have forgotten about older products. Promised upgrades to the PMA430 never happened, and were left up to the fan base community. The 604WiFi seems to be their answer. The PMA has many features that are absent from the 604, but the 604 surely makes up for the lack of pda type features and Linux OS. The screen is about 1/3 larger than the PMA and very crisp. The photo browsing feature is nice with thumbnails displaying quite quickly, though I liked the ability of the PMA to group photos in folders first then display. Music and video folders are easily accessed. Videos are very crisp and bright and can be displayed in numerous formats. And of course there is the network feature which allows me to be in bed on the second floor and watch a video residing on my PC on the first floor. This expands the hd to unlimited capacity. Very cool! One downside is the very low audio output, even through headphones. I do hope this will be corrected by Archos, which has limited output to European standards. Charging via usb is slow, so I ordered the docking station which includes an ac adapter. I have not tested the docking station yet, but I think Archos made a wise move in giving the consumer the option of what to buy. The PMA was quite expensive and came bundled with accessories that I have never used. With the 604 I can pick and choose, and the base price was quite reasonable (you can find it discounted at one of the large big box retailers). The built in kick stand, button layout, easily replaced battery show that Archos is paying attention to consumer usability. The included case isn't too bad, either. Again, hats off to Archos.
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"Its just great, Cnet needs to add .5 to te scale because 9 is to low its a 9.5" on by YayAreaYeeYee
Pros: Its screen, sound quality, touch screen, wifi
Cons: Only because I can't make a review without this spot filled... battery could be better
Summary: Look everything about this relly is great. Adding songs and Videos wasn't hard and it comes with a video converter (and you can purchase the best plugin ever from archos.com) which allows an almost endless list of playable video formats. The screenist AS bright as the 604 or 504 but thats only because the touch screen. Its scren is still better than the iPods and the Toshiba Gigabeat S. The wifi is my favorite thing ever. Its great for being a PVP and its as good as my PSP's wifi capabilities if not better.
The battery is not all that bad. It will not crap out while your out and because most people have access to a computer no matter where they stay charging is not a problem even if you don't have a wall charger. The only negetive with USB charging is the time it takes to charge but since I charge it while I'm sleeping that is not even a real issue.Updated
I would like to say I'm sorry for the typos in the review.Updated
I forgot to mention that you can watch a slideshow while music is playing and that the video is 100000000% better is you spend $20 on the cenima plug in.
Archos 604 WiFi user reviews
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