The baby brother to the fully-loaded Archos 605 WiFi, the Archos 405 is a lean little portable video player (PVP) with a price tag that's hard to believe.
While the Archos 405 can't boast the WiFi connectivity or high-capacity of its big brother, the Archos 605 WiFi, its smaller size makes it much more portable. This Flash-based PVP is also exceptionally lightweight.
While a touch screen interface would have been a nice touch, the white contoured button navigation lining the right side of the screen is intuitive enough to operate blind.
There's no built-in kickstand to prop up the Archos 405, so don't be surprised if your arms get sore from holding it through a movie. Archos does sell a battery pack accessory, however, that doubles as a stand.
Placed side by side, the differences between the Archos 405 (left) and 605 WiFi become clearer. By stepping up to the Archos 605, you get a larger screen, built-in speaker, and access to internet features such as the Web browser, Content Portal, and configurable Web widgets. Still, there's something to be said for keeping things simple with the more basic Archos 405. For starters, there's the attractive $169 price tag.
On the far left of this photo you can see the SD Flash memory card slot. With only 2GB of built-in memory, you can bet that you'll be loading extra memory into the card slot. Thankfully, the 405 accepts SD memory cards up to 16GB.
One of the biggest mistakes PVP manufacturers make, is putting a glossy screen on their product that creates so much glare that video is either impossible to watch, or you spend half the time distracted by your reflection. Archos really nailed the anti-reflective screen on their 5th- generation players. The fact that you can't see our photographer's camera reflection in this photo is a testament to that.
