ARCHOS 43 Vision Mp4/Mp3/Photo Viewer 8GB

I bought this 2 weeks ago, I was tempted by the screen size and the expandable memory. I wanted the archos 5 internet tablet, but could not justify the price (more than a 32 inch TV!), plus reviews seem to be mixed. I can also live without internet on it. I really wanted a video unit rather than an mp3 player, as I have that on my phone.

The build quality is great, it is very heavy as it is made from metal. the jack inputs are a bit too recessed (a belkin aux lead fixed that), and I find it easy for the headphones to come out. The only button is the on/off switch. It can be linked to a tv, but you need 2 cables, one for video (3.5 to 3.5 jack) and one for sound, 3.5 to rca to play back on it.

The music player is great, it reads mp3 and wma with no problems, it can also show artist and track clearly on the screen.

The video quality is very good,I can happily watch a movie on it without struggling to see the screen. however, you have to view the screen at the right angle, which is straight on or slightly down, side to side it is fine, but it gets dark if you tilt it up or down. It could do with a stand, as the screen dominated the device, holding it without blocking the screen is tricky. If you lay it down on a flat surface, you will block the built in speakers on the back, if you don't use hte headphones.

Still picture playback is good, but the colours are not great, you can use the arrow keys to advance or slide your finger side to side on the screen. you can also have a slide show to music.

I like the fact it is click and drag device, you need no software to use it. I'm put off by apple ipod touch's need for software. The interface is a doddle to use, I have never owned a touch screen device, but it contains calibration mode to make it better. one niggle is that it is hard to scroll down long menus, it jumps a bit, same with the volume control. I have left the film on the screen, that may be why.

the formats for video playback are a bit limited, divx would have been great, but I can convert them using pinnacle studio, (mpeg 1, 720x576 pixels, 1500kbit/s) so not really a problem. downloaded content should be fine.

Battery life so far is maxed at 3 1/2 hours for video on continuos playback, some way off the 6 hours quoted, but I have just bought a usb mains charger, the computer lead is very slow to charge, and you cannot operate the archos at the same time, but you can from a mains plug, it will also show charging status.

One really fustrating feature is from using a memory card to boost storage. Everytime i played back video from the card it was corrupting. I played it in the pc with no problem, so I was confused and could not work it out. I tried to formatted the card and downloaeded the videos again, it played back fine until it was turned off. LUCKILY I found the solution, take out the memory card and putting it back fixes it!

conclusion:
Overall I am very happy with this unit, it is not as slick as an i pod touch, but the screen is bigger, the memory is expandable(I plan to buy a few 8GB cards, no need for software, and it is cheap and well made. niggles aside, I'm very happy with it.

It also has voice recording, and can be used as a text reader with notepad format texts.

updated 8months after purchase:
Okay so below is my initial review of the archos 43 vision.. since then i have hated it and regretted the day i bought it.. my advise is don't buy it and here is some additional information that i found on a forum.. its not actually an archos:

-this is one of the Archos cheap re-branded Chinese range - its based on stock Rockchip (rockchip is home grown Chinese hardware) firmware, with stock functions and an Archos UI layered over the top - its a quick-buck player from Archos - the same unbranded unit can be picked up for less than half what Archos were selling for.

in short - never will you see any other OS or rockbox ported to this player, rockchips players are locked down, no open system to mod or build on - its cheap and throw-away tech made for quick sales and quick profits for Archos-

i will leave my original review below but my advice is move on and find something more worth your money.

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It really feels like archos got lazy while finalising this product but i've never used an archos product so i have nothing to compare it to so i will just tell it how i know it.

Firstly i should tell you that i immediately tried to take this product back because, to me, i'd say it is faulty but the shop i bought it from disagreed.

Review-

first off one of the main things people like to know on mp3/4's is the weight, and this thing is quite heavy in comparison to other products. Personally that doesn't bother me but some might not like it. It's a full metal case so i'd imagine it's quite tough but i'm not about to test it.

Now stick with my review while i start to slate the product cos there are also some pro's later on.

The cons-

My main issue with this archos is that it is a full touchscreen product, it has one button and that is on and off, it doesn't even have a home button. Now, that would be fine if the touchscreen was responsive but its not, scrolling is difficult and sometimes you'll press one folder and it'll open up the one below or above it. It has a touch calibrator but it doesn't seem to change much. And this is one of the main reasons i tried taking it back. Although i think its a kind of learning curve to be honest, i'm getting used to the touchscreen now.

The other major issue is the way it organises your music. For instance say you have 4 albums from one artist, and in the music section you click the artist, you'd expect then 4 separate folders with the albums in like it is on your pc. But this takes them out of the folder and puts them in alphanumerical order so its track one track one track one track one of the four albums and then track two track two etc. But there is a way around this. If you make artist folders yourself and then place them in the music file, then along the bottom of the music screen where you select artist album etc there is a folder icon and it shows everything in folder view although not in alphabetical order the artists and albums are all in the right place. Hope that made sense.

Finally the product comes with terrible headphones and the jack is in an awkward place so i had to manually adjust the rubber around my jack on my headphones so it actually fit in.

Okay so thats all for the cons.

The pro's-

the sound quality is very good, i don't know what ipod is like now but i have converted off an ipod nano 2nd generation and the sound quality is MUCH better using the same headphones as i used in that.

It has great quality built in speakers, i had it on full volume downstairs and could hear it upstairs.

The video quality is where this product blows everything out of the water. Except hd devices i would say this has the best screen of a multimedia player at 4.3 inches, its colours are brilliant and there's no lagging. I think maybe this is why the cons i put exist, it seems archos put all their effort into the video side of things.

The other great thing about it is the memory is expandable, it has a slot for a mini sd card so it can be unlimited capacity if you wished it and it means you could store movies on cards for instance.

It has a built in microphone that takes good quality sound clips and i will definately be using it to record things like acoustic performances, i don't think it would handle loud things but thats mostly universal.

It charges fine through an xbox which is where i charge my players and so far the battery life seems fine too.

Conclusion-

i give this item a 3 out of 5 and i would not recommend it to a friend.

I really do think that for the money there are better products out there, i have been told the creative zen's for instance are worth a look. But if you can put up with the cons i listed i don't think you will be disappointed.

Great sound, great picture and video. Bad touchscreen response and file organisation, i'm on the fence on this one.

Thanks for reading and enjoy it if you buy it :)

i recently bought this archos as was going on holiday and really couldn't afford an iPod touch but the price of this product and the size of the screen seemed like a bargain. my first opinion of it was a quite well built little media player and weighty enough to know if you've lost it out your pocket.

The 'drag and drop' was a great feature for me as i dont like using several bit of software on my computer to play songs. i did however find it easier to get an online converter for the videos as they werent as easily transfered, others may find it easier as im not the brightest person you'll meet. all in all its a good quality player for mp3s and videos but it doesz have a couple of niggles like the built in speakers are no better than a speaker on your phone, and the touchscreen isnt the most responsive but the quality of the screen is crisp. therefore i would reccomend this product to anybody who is not willing to pay for an ipod touch