I have to say that I went against my gut when purchasing this device, as it looked really nice, and really, I wanted it for watching movies, listening to music and checking the internet quickly when I am on the run in airports.
The movie portion worked really well. For that, I give this device 5 STARS...I actually downloaded movies to my Amazon Unbox, then hooked up the Archos and bam, instantly on my new Archos 5 (well, after the movie downloaded to my unbox in 1.5 hours).
The music portion also works flawlessly. Not really any hiccups there, and the sound was good, but could be better. For that, I would give it 4 stars...
SO FAR SO GOOD RIGHT?
WRONG
First, I had the reset this device 5 times in 2 days because it just plain froze up. I would get multiple error messages when I was connected to internet, dropping the connection frequently (and yeah, I'm pretty skilled at making that work). TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE.
And I don't want to hear how a simple patch or download will fix this issue. If it doesn't work out of the box, than DON'T SHIP IT!! I've been reading that apparently, Archos is getting slammed with this stuff after only a week.
FOR THAT, it gets 1 STAR and should get ZERO stars!!
Second, the Appslib was never installed on this device. I called customer service, was talking to someone in 5 minutes, who then put me on hold for 45 MINUTES!! After 45 minutes (I only stayed on hold that long cause I was watching NFL game so I had nothing else to really attend to at the time), the phone rang for 10 more minutes, and then, line went dead. PATHETIC!!!!
I am reading that some software update added actually might have been the reason for the Appslib to never appear, and if you look at Amazon site, they pulled the 160GB version.
For that, I give it NEGATIVE STARS...TERRIBLE service and TERRIBLE that this device did not come preloaded as advertised.
I am sending it back and will use my Toshiba Netbook to watch movies on the plane rides for now. I'm really disappointed. The device itself was really nice and sleek looking. The interface was nice.
The resistive keyboard was kind of annoying as it took a pretty good finger press to make it respond, but worked well enough. I learned to type pretty well on it in 2 days.
I'm ANNOYED!!!
I would have bought the ZuneHD but the screen is too small for movies, as well as the Ipod touch..
I'm now considering the Viliv ex70 as I've heard great things and it's gotten favorable reviews.
I've read Archos history but wanted this device to work...The Android platform has a lot of potential and anything google touches pretty much works as advertised.
Now, I'll have to shop around a little.
I can tell you one thing...unless people start giving this device 4-5 stars when the bugs are worked out, I'll never buy another thing from this company.
EDIT TO REVIEW:
I have downloaded a new firmware update and the device is no longer needing to be reset constantly. It also does not lag any longer and seems a little more snappy and responsive. I'm going to hold on to it for now and see how this plays out over the next 3 weeks. I'm actually flying to CA for a sales meeting next week and so it'll be tested well. If I find it is just needing more debugging it's going back and I'll also update again.
I have 2 movies that I just loaded to it from Unbox. Wolverine and The Dark Knight...Both look very good, although I'd love to get my hands on a HD version of these movies to push to the device.
I'm nervous, however, to buy the HD plugin because I've read somewhere that it does not work or does not read that you have purchased it.
One last thing:
I also just read now that on the Viliv you can actually run Windows 7. It has a camera, and if that is the case, you can snap photos and then ink on them which I do when I'm on job sites taking photos and marking up buildings and plans. That seems practical to me. However, it's expensive (around $800-$900) and this device would be GREAT if these bugs go away.
Let me also so, GET THE 32GB NOT THE 160GB model. The 32GB runs SSD and it very snappy. It's also half the weight and thin.
I'd say it's as thin as my wife's iphone and as heavy as holding a large starbucks coffee. It's light and thin.
I have yet to try the GPS software but plan on downloading it from the disk provided to get the 7 day trial out of it. I'd LOVE that to work. Has a lot of potential when the 3D maps are available for the US in 2nd quarter of 2010.
BEWARE, not matter how much you want something...BEWARE
UPDATE #2: Done with it. It is going back NOW. I did the firmware update and it did NOTHING to help this machine. At first it appeared to make the system work faster, but then, it has frozen up 2 more times. Furthermore, I tried to install the GPS 7 day trial using the disk and the device again froze up. Sorry, but I cannot believe that these people would let these go out the door KNOWING it has issues. How the hell can they NOT know? If everyone here but one person has given this thing pretty poor marks, are they only using fully functional and perfectly tested devices?
Literally, look at the reviews and you will see what I am talking about. It's amazing to me that a company would do this. Yes, large companies have devices that periodically are returned defective. But at the rate that these people are getting complaints, you have to wonder how this could go on for the period of time that it has.
So, Archos will never get another dime from me, unless of course they come out with a fully functional non brick like device that people are raving about. I believe my next device will be a Viliv. I have read review after review on those devices and they are almost all positive. The machines perform the way they were intended to, unlike this one.
And it's too bad...this is such a nice looking and feeling device. The screen is nice, it feels really easy to use in the hand...It's a shame it just does not perform.
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