I am somewhat of a collector of personal media devices and by far this has topped the bill.
First thoughts about the device when I opened the box was how strong and tough the device actually is! Stainless steel outer shell which you could probably hammer nails in with protects the whole thing excluding the wide touch screen. It does have a bit of weight to it but I prefer that as it doesn't feel like I am holding a matchstick model that could fall apart in a second. I switched it on and in all its full screen glory amazing colors flashed around and before knowing it I was grinning like a cheshire cat. When I got home I plugged it into the ol' computer and set about sticking movies and songs into it. As all archos owners know its as easy as well... dragging and dropping. None of that "download software and give it a name" rubbish. Away I went.
Now it has been about four months since I got it and not one day has gone past where I regret it! I forked out a little more for the optional dock. Which I think could be a little cheaper but worth it anyway. I have it constantly hooked up to my p.c. and my stereo so it can charge and play at the same time. I was going to buy a case for it until I looked at the given one from the box. It is hard leather and does just fine. One thing I have done is swapped the stylus from the ones supplied to an old one I had from an old xda. I found that the ones supplied seemed a bit sketchy on the screen. Rubber tipped one works so much better and feels a whole lot safer! Wanting to get the most out of the device as well as my massive tax rebait! I bought the hedcam attachment and the optional vob dvd player plugin. I was annoyed that the plug in wasn't in the firmware but once I payed boy did I play! Converting and playing dvds from a device in your pocket has never been so easy! High quality sound and vision is superb and there is no need to hold the device under your nose when you do it as the screen is big enough. I have even tried playing the darkest of all horror dvds I own as I have found in the past that dark lit films seem to just turn the screens of some devices black, But not this one! Perfect. Only the higher the quality of dvd rip i.e. vob... the more memory it takes up on the hard drive. I managed to fill it within a week of owning it. So be aware of how much it can actually hold. If you are going on a long journey you may have to sacrifice space of mp3's or vid's. The battery on the device has never let me down and I use and abuse it enough out and about but it still shines through. The userface is nice and simple enough and The opera web browsing is no where as good as a computer but for checking emails or the important "myspace" it's fine. Although filling in forms can get very annoying with the digital keyboard. Viewing pictures is great but I never really look back at them much. I only use this function for showing off photoshop projects and I am happy with the look of them on the screen of the 604 so all is well there.
In short summary:
The Archos 604 wifi is a amazing entertainment system. Packed with things to keep anyone amused and wowed. BUT if you are planning on getting one set aside a good £80 in order to buy those much needed extras such as the dock, the plugins and even the head cam. That way you will get the most of the device. After all you wouldn't buy a car just to listen to the stereo?!
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I am somewhat of a collector of personal media devices and by far this has topped the bill.
I bought the hedcam attachment and the optional vob dvd player plugin.