Archos 605 WIFI 80GB

I ordered my Archos 605 80gb wifi from curry's digital and went to collect in store. After the first charge which takes forever using the supplied usb connector (48 hours for the charge light to flash fully charged) I was ready to start using my player.
One of the first things i discovered is that to get maximum usefulness out of the 605 you will need to hand over more of your hard earn cash. these include cinema plug ins, web browser around ...
...it will fit. The provided archos case is a little lame but helps protect the screen from scratches and provides storage for a single stylus.
Overall I am pleased with my purchase, the archos is ideal for me as a personal media player, Media station for streaming onto my Tv and as portable Internet browser. Though as i said at the beginning the second two of those function's have cost me in addition to my purchase price.  ... more

I ordered my Archos 605 80gb wifi from curry's digital and went to collect in store. After the first charge which takes forever using the supplied usb connector (48 hours for the charge light to flash fully charged) I was ready to start using my player.
One of the first things i discovered is that to get maximum usefulness out of the 605 you will need to hand over more of your hard earn cash. these include cinema plug ins, web browser around 20 euro's each. Then if you wish to use the player to play videos on your tv or record from a video source you will need to shell out around a further £50 for the DVR station. This I seriously recommend as it charges the 605 when docked much quicker than the usb cable and allows you to charge it without a computer.
But back to the player itself, the screen quality is great i can find that it is susceptible to reflects due to the gloss finish though. Films are easily watch on it despite my first impression of it being to small and i have had no issues with the touch screen.
The side buttons provide you with another way of navigating through archos's menu system. I do think that they are one of the things that let the look of the player down, computer grey against the shiny steel finish of the rest of the player a step back from the 604 that had matching buttons.
The wifi does allow you to connect to your home computer this can be used to stream media onto the player without have to copy it onto the 605. This function i find very useful and combined with the browser and some 3rd party software on your home pc I can connect to the Internet in a hotspot and stream media from my home computer.
Sound wise the external speaker and provided headphones provide ok sound but when hooked up to a my surround sound system or decent headphones i found it had not issues. I do however occasionally get a interference on the headphones if i leave them plugged in when using the headphones , its low level but enough to make me disconnect while i don't need them in.
Battery life i found is around 4 hours for me watching movies, though if you where to turn the screen back lighting down I'm sure you could extend this. I find it very portable though a tight fit in your jean pockets it will fit. The provided archos case is a little lame but helps protect the screen from scratches and provides storage for a single stylus.
Overall I am pleased with my purchase, the archos is ideal for me as a personal media player, Media station for streaming onto my Tv and as portable Internet browser. Though as i said at the beginning the second two of those function's have cost me in addition to my purchase price. 

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