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General discussion

Experienced buyer seeking some insight...

by raju0588 Sep 23, 2007 2:06PM PDT

I have had many mp3 players, from Creative's ancient Zen Extra to the Zen Micro and then finally with my most recent Zen Vision M. I have only had 1 I-Pod, the I-Pod U2 special edition. No, I don't break all these or lose them, I simply sell them back and upgrade or give 'em away and upgrade.
I am in the market for a predominately video monster and it must have a removable battery. Which was the only drawback to the Vision M, which is IMO the best portable (easily pocket-able) player ever. I dropped it and the screen internally cracked from the middle, killing all sight from the right side, yet played songs beautifully and video's flawlessly, but clearly impossible to view. Then the battery completely died on me, and why replace a nearly destroyed machine.

I'm kind of torn between the "godly" Archos 605 and Creative's Zen Vision W. I love Creative and surely pledge allegiance to them, but the Archos Wifi is just too amazing to pass up. Creative has a better screen, IMO, their screen is a lot more glossy, though Archos shows off its better screen resolution, 640X480 compared to Creative's 480X272. Screen resolution means nothing to me because I loved the Vision M's movie display, I must of watched over 1,000 hours of video on that player, actually more like 10,000.
After thinking long and hard, and looking at Archos boasting a 17 hour audio playback, 5.5 hour video(especially that!!) http://www.archos.com/products/gen_5/archos_605wifi/tech_specs.html?country=global&lang=en, I was hooked. But!! I've been reading from other reviews and even on CNET that Archos has an average battery life, and is less than that of the greatest battery life players, Zen visions.
So please someone with a Archos 605, rate it as objectively as possible, something I suck at, and tell me about the battery life. Thank You.

Discussion is locked

4 Posts
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One more thing!!
by raju0588 Sep 23, 2007 2:09PM PDT

Oh, I understand the Archos doesn't have my demand for removable battery, but if its battery life lives up to its official websites specs, then I can look past it.

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battery
by JonTitor Sep 23, 2007 2:20PM PDT

Cnet recently posted their battery lab results for the 605WiFi
4.5 hrs for Video and 13.5 hrs for Audio
so year average, but they didn't say what kinds of videos, obviously an HD video with high bit rate would drain the battery faster, so it could be a little better

the battery wasn't removable this Generation to make the device smaller than last year, the 604s have removable battery
but instead this year they only have an extended battery accessory

also the screen resolution is actually 800x480 on the 605Wifi, and 16 million colors, its really impressive for surfing the web
the Vision W has 262,000 colors and 480x272 res (so does the 604)
only thing is, the screen won't looks as bright on the 605 as it will on the Vision because of the 605's touchscreen layer

the most important thing I'll tell you though is that you should be able to get the 605WiFi 30GB for $240 from Archos's online store with the Discount code mspace

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Battery reply
by raju0588 Sep 23, 2007 3:49PM PDT

Do you find the inability to remove the battery an annoying aspect of the 605. I'm not talking about when it has no charge left, I just don't want to have to pay $100 for someone to change my battery, when most batteries cost $40 or so and I can do it myself. I know batteries don't completely ware-out for a long time, but since I have a 1.5 hour-3 hour round trip to work everyday, god knows I can kill batteries in a matter of 8-10 months.
Apart from the battery, the Archos actually looks a bit smaller and thicker, and it also has the web-browser. The only pluses over the Vision in my view. Video viewing is important as well to me and Archos's can't hold up to Creative's screen, for the reason you mentioned. The screen is also the main difference between people who want the touch or the Archos. The touch has a much brigher screen than Archos.
Is the browser really worth it, in terms of start-up and speed?
Thanks again.

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I'm not sure what you mean
by JonTitor Sep 23, 2007 4:36PM PDT

I actually said the Archos screen is better than the Vision resolution and color wise
the only thing being the lower brightness due to the touchscreen layer
The reason the iPod Touch has better brightness is the glass screen

the 605 just came out, but I have an older Archos player for about 1 and a half years and the battery is still ok

the Web Browser is built by Opera, and in the 605 they included Flash so you can watch flash videos from sites like YouTube directly

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