Rediscover Archos
Portable video players are becoming the in thing to have and even if you have had a bad product experience with Archos, please read a bit more. A product can always stand some improvement but the Archos 5 still has a several things you might enjoy.Most of the Archos 5 is crafted solidly out of heavy gunmetal that has only two plastic pieces that can be found on the right as well as left sides of this device. The gunmetal is very susceptible to fingerprints which is a bummer. The Archos 5 also will show a scratch much easier than many other products.
If you are gung ho to protect the unit, you can use the case that comes with the Archos 5. However, the best thing to do is simply enjoy the product, scratches and a few fingerprints never hurt anything. You will likely want a screen protector though; a scratched screen is a real shame on a video player. They are simple to use and easy to get, and put it on correctly and you will not even know it is there.
The screen is fantastic! It is quick, bright and its colors are quite accurate. The color screen is 800 x 640 pixel 16.7 million. The display quality is quite good and crisp images are produced as well as accurate color reproduction. In fact, this screen looks much better than a lot of laptops. The screen of this product is glossy and lends to a better viewing experience. All in all, Archos 5"s screen is right on point. The only bad feature of the screen is that it does not do well in sunlight that is direct.
You will also notice that the touch screen is a vast improvement over other models. It is much more responsive and gives you a great onscreen keyboard. Using the onscreen keyboard is very similar to other QWERTY devices such as the Blackberry, Nokia e71 and the Palm Treo. If any part of the unit could use some improvement it would be in the flicking aspect, the touch screen is not always responsive and sometimes the pages will stick.
The Archos 5 battery life has been quoted as 12 hours for audio and a short 4 hours for video, but that is about par for the course with portables. The one thing you should know about the battery is that the best performance will come after about five charging cycles; at that point, you should get maximum battery life.
A battery dock for the Archos 5 will run you about $50, which will give you a video out option and preserve battery life. The con on the battery dock is this, it adds quite a bit of bulk and weight to the player. A better option would have been a sleek snap on battery for the back common with portable DVD players.