A slim but pricey device with excellent features
The Archos 5 is the latest in an award-winning series of portable media players that many use as the yardstick against which competing devices are measured. This time around Archos has ditched the optional tactile controls alongside the display in favour of touchscreen-only operation.
This allows for a large 4.8in 800x480 LCD and, in fact, the only controls around the exterior are an on-and-off switch and volume. There’s a kick-stand for propping it up, but no stylus. This isn’t too much of a problem when navigating menus, as the interface is intuitive and makes it easy to browse the various features.
When it comes to keyboard-specific functions such as browsing the internet, this becomes more of a problem and we can’t quite understand why there isn’t something provided to offer a bit more precision.
Archos 5 has an excellent-quality display. This carries through to movie and photo viewing, where colours are superbly accurate with sharp lines and effective contrast. Audio is also improved over previous versions and is on a par with the more impressive MP3 players currently doing the rounds.
We were impressed by the degree of control available when viewing media, which includes aspect ratio, slideshow creation, playlist creation, thumbnail views for all media and more.
There are a few notable changes from the way Archos has presented the device to consumers over previous versions. Unfortunately, the plug-in system still persists, but it has been refined so that many key features are now included by default.
Format support is better out of the box, though you’ll still need a plug-in for MPEG-2/VOB formats with AC3 sound and for H.264 video. Web browsing is available as standard, along with internet radio and web TV channels.
As well as plug-ins, the ccArchos 5 can be upgraded with a range of accessories, such as a helmet camera, Freeview tuner, GPS dock and FM receiver. We couldn’t get hold of all these, but did manage to test the most useful - the DVR station.
