Just when you thought that no-one else could possibly squeeze themselves in, along comes the Archos Wi-Fi, sidling its way into the room. The WiFi comes from a long and distinguished line of video-enabled players. In fact French firm Archos has been making hard disk players for longer than most other companies have been selling plain flash-based music portables, and while others are only just beginning to incorporate video into their products, this is its fifth generation of players.
Its sharply-dressed aluminium chassis is slim and that brushed finish is a lot more practical than the ever-popular gloss finish of some products. And the headphone socket is sensibly placed away from the controls in the bottom left hand corner. But the beauty of this product is not just skin deep. The list of capabilities, specifications and abilities you get for your money is simply staggering. At that size you can watch movies in complete comfort with no eyestrain at all.
Not satisfied with it amazing screen, the adds a couple more killer features. This lets you browse network folders, copy files back and forth, and stream video and audio from devices and other locations on your network. The optional web browser based on the excellent Opera even lets you browse web sites from the comfort of your sofa without having to drag the laptop out of its bag — and it has Adobe Flash player support, which means you can browse video sites such as YouTube and watch videos directly from the site.
And it all works extremely well. The interface is well-organised and logical, making it easy to get to grips with and skip around from screen to screen. The touchscreen makes it easy to scroll up and down long lists of files, you can build playlists on the fly, and you can even make basic edits to video files, cutting out sections and cropping lead-in and trailing footage.
Video and audio quality is excellent too. Our Verdict. For Capacious storage top-drawer video bags of features. Against Quite large still not very pretty. Cons - Quite large - still not very pretty. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands. Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors. Thank you for signing up to What Hi-Fi?. You will receive a verification email shortly. Rated at 16 hours for music and 5 hours for video, Our lab tests came up a little short of Archos' expectations, with just The results aren't bad considering all the power that gets sucked up by the 's high-resolution 4.
Although similar products such as the Creative Zen Vision:W have better battery-life scores, they also work at a lower resolution than the and don't have the power demands of a Wi-Fi antenna to deal with. Final thoughts The Archos WiFi is one of the most impressive portable video players we've seen all year and its low price tag makes it very hard to resist.
While many of us are waiting to see what Apple conjures up for the holidays, its doubtful that anything in the iPod family will include the 's drag-and-drop hard drive support, wireless music and video rental, or DVR functionality.
Donald Bell. Aug The Good With top-notch video resolution, incredible viewing angles, and integrated support for wireless movie downloads, the Archos WiFi is the best of its breed.
Battery life is only average. Many users will need to shell out extra for software and hardware accessories they'll wish were included.
The Archos WiFi portable video player is one of the best mobile distractions money can buy. Nothing makes watching a movie more impractical than having to hold your PVP in your hand for more than an hour.
The Archos WiFi's hearty fold-out metal kickstand is a small but essential design touch. Score Breakdown Design 9 Features 9 Performance 8. See full specs.
0コメント