Archos 705 WiFi user reviews (160GB)

Pros Downloading of movies & watch on the TV with the help of the DVR (purchased separately), downloading free music from different cultures, and can get files from home pc to view on TV thru home networking.

Cons Battery goes out quickly when watching movies, have to pay for all plugins to get the net or radio

Summary I love it. I've had it since April 2008 and I love it! I have lots of movies that I've recorded from my cable with the DVR that you can purchase separately. I haven't used the WI-FI much because I like the movie recording better. The only problems are the battery time. It runs out very quickly if not plugged to a power source while watching the videos or movies. Overall, I still love it and wouldn't trade it for any other device out there right now and I have an 80 gig IPod.

Pros Wireless g. Decent touch screen. Screen resolution and viewing angle is good. Plays back 80% of my video collection which is pretty good in comparison to other products out there. Syncs with any program. Feature rich. Long battery life.

Cons Crashes constantly and randomly multiple times every single use! Support is useless. Content portal is too expensive to be realistically used. Nickle and dimming for things that should be standard.

Summary On paper it's fantastic and when I show it off to my friends, they're amazed at how much better it is than an iPod and they had no idea there were other options instead of iPods.

In practice though, and after owning for over a year, I can honestly tell you it's useless. It crashes constantly and randomly for no reason. I'll boot it up and play a song, plays great, then it goes to the next song in the list and freezes. The only thing I can do is hold the power button down for a minute to turn it off, then turn it back on. Then I play the same list over again and it plays the whole thing fine. It's completely random! Also, when I plug it into my computer it freezes randomly when transferring files. It freezes so often, every time I use it, that it just turns this awesome device into nothing more than a paper weight. Archos support just said to run a disk check on it, which I did and there were no errors. So it's just the programing... And after a year, no firmware update has fixed it.

I used to be the proud owner of the old Archos AV500 PVR, upgraded to this, and this has just been the worst disappointment and biggest waste of $500. It would be worth 4 stars, if it worked. But it simply doesn't.

Pros Nice product to listen to music and watch movies, if only it would work properly and actually lasted without being corrupted or freezing problems.

Cons Does not last long, has multiple product defects, freezing and heating up. All accessories have additional cost. Tech support is lousy in resolving problems, and slow to response.

Summary If only the products are fully supported and stable functioning and long lasting, this would have been a great gadget to have. But with all the problems it will give you in terms of functionality, spare yourself the heartache and get another product instead of this expensive useless item.

Pros everything but the screen

Cons the screen is the con

Summary What the Hell is wrong with Archos? The screen resolution is the same for the 4.3 inch 605. Common sense states that you should have a better resolution for the bigger screen. I passed on the 605 to patiently await the 705, but after seeing the screen resolution which will be lower than the 605, proportionately speaking, I guess I'm buying the 605 this Christmas. Since I'll be saving a hundred bucks, I may as well get the DVR station. I've been waiting 3 years for the perfect mp3/PVP but I'll have to settle for the 605. If the 705's screen res was better, this would indeed be perfection. Yet again another tech company can't use common sense and ends up pissing off their potential profits and consumers.