Only
yesterday you voted and deemed the Archos 5 to be more desirable than the iPod Touch. Well, today we got our paws on one, and it seems you may be right.
The Archos 5, confusingly part of the new Generation 6, doesn't have a SIM-card slot for 3G connectivity like the flagship 5g model, but has all the new 'internet media tablet' functionality of the range and a few more things besides.
Firstly, it's a significantly more desirable object than the 605 Wi-Fi, and all other Archoses we've seen. It's slim (just a 12.9mm waist for the 60GB model, and 19.4mm for the 120/250GB flavours) and the polished finish makes it look much less like a PC peripheral.
The graphical user interface has also been given an overhaul, and from our first play seems much improved. The menus are neatly laid out on an animated homescreen, and it's more responsive (no doubt thanks to the new Texas Instruments processor).
There are also fewer buttons, with just three across the top of the unit (two for volume, one for power). We initially feared a screen lock might be missing, but this is achieved through the main menu screen.
Most beguiling, though, is the screen. The 800x480 resolution on the 4.8in display makes it absolutely stunning, and much sharper than the iPod Touch. Maybe that's something we'll see Apple address on the much rumoured new model, apparently due on
9th September.
The Opera browser, while lacking the multi-touch wizardry of the Touch, does a fine job of rendering pages, and supports flash so you can indulge in much YouTube tomfoolery. There's also naturally a photo viewer, PDF viewer, Archos' e-mail software for connecting to POP3 and IMAP accounts.
With all this functionality, the only worry might be battery life and this is something we're yet to test – Archos claims 4 hours for video and 12 hours for music. Stay tuned for a hands-on video and full review.
