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Archos' Upgraded AV500 Jukebox Detailed

Posted by simoniker on from the geek-toy-heaven dept.

An anonymous reader writes "According to a piece on Mobilemag.com, the Archos AV500, newly shown at Cebit 2004 in Germany, will be the all-in-one answer to the clutter of handheld devices - this is a PVP [personal video player] and PDA combo handheld around the size of a Jornada with 20 or 40 gigs storage. Watch movies, read emails, connect your digital camera for backup, the list goes on.." The piece also notes: "Archos also added EPG (Electronic Programming Guide) technology, to allow you to control the AV500 with a remote control as a video player/recorder."

13 of 179 comments (clear)

  1. Bah by afidel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Another 'PDA' with no battery life. For me the Palm III series will never be beat for PDA usage because it lasts up to six weeks on a set of good rechargables. My IIIxe has enough memory to fit a ton of programs, all of the appointments I could ever hope (dred) having, etc. I have used PocketPC's as portable computers (vertical app for my fathers business) but I would never champion them as a PDA. The need to recharge em every ~8 hours makes them impractical in that role IMHO.

    --
    There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
  2. Hmm... by odano · · Score: 5, Interesting

    So a DVD Player is better at playing DVDs and video...
    An MP3 player is better at playing MP3s...
    A PDA is better at being a PDA...

    And I am sure all of the above have a much longer battery life and are cheaper than this unit.

    I really just don't see why anybody would buy this.

    1. Re:Hmm... by harlows_monkeys · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Separate DVD player, MP3 player, PDA take up a hell of a lot more pocket space.

  3. battery by AnonymousCowheart · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Doesn't mention the battery life, but with the price of flash cards decreasing, it seems like all the things this can do could be done by a Palm Tungsten|E. I know there aren't 20gig MMC/SD cards yet, but something to consider. Again, depending on the battery life, I've heard palms don't come close to MP3 Players with regards to battery life.

  4. Hello? No Ansible? by hoggoth · · Score: 5, Funny

    Without a standards based ansible this device is worthless to me. Try again Archos - I only want to carry ONE device.

    --
    - For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat /dev/random (may take some time)
  5. Can someone just ... by rcastro0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    PDAs that Play MP3 and have digital cameras. Digital photo cameras that shoot video. Cell phones that have PDAs. MP3 players that play video. Laptops getting smaller -- sometimes loosing their keyboard (as tablets). Emulators, emulators, bringing the best from the past. Which you get for free as abandonware. Everything connected to high speed wireless data -- Bluetooth, 802.11g. Huge, enormous hard disks becoming ever so small. World becoming portable and inexpensive. Gadgets doing more and more and more for you.

    Now, can someone please
    COME UP WITH BETTER BATTERIES ???

    --
    Quem a paca cara compra, paca cara pagará.
  6. Rock Box by djhertz · · Score: 5, Informative
    I have the Archos 20 gig FM recorder (mp3 player that has a radio and record function) and had some really bad issues with it crashing. I got no help from Archos at all, but found this site: Rock Box which has an open source OS for it and never had a problem since. I have also found numerous other people in forums with the same story.

    Now, what I don't understand is how come Archos wouldn't get involved with the Rock Box guys and try to just use their OS, or buy it from them, or something. I mean, the Rock Box os fixes so many bugs, and adds all kinds of features. The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts. -- Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)

    --
    Modest doubt is called the beacon of the wise - William Shakespeare
  7. And now I'm curious by Nakito · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Last week there was a long Slashdot thread on the so-called "iPod Killer" proposed by Microsoft. That product was soundly critisized for missing the point -- the consensus among posters appeared to be that the product was too big and combined too many capabilities into one device, and thereby had lost the single-purpose elegance of the iPod. Now comes another product that appears to be conceptually similar to that Microsoft multi-purpose device. But this time it's being offered by a smaller company that a number of people like. I think it will be very interesting to compare the two threads. Was it just the words "iPod Killer" that prompted the strong opinions, or was it the underlying concept of a multi-purpose device?

  8. Why, oh Why do they put d-pads on the RIGHT? by raygundan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This has been driving me nuts. Do cell-phone designers not realise that we are all trained by nintendo to expect d-pads on the LEFT side of things? There are a staggering number of "would be great for handheld gaming if only they'd move the d-pad" devices. PocketPC centers it. Treo 600 centers it. Sidekick/Hiptop puts it on the right. Even that shiny new Motorola MPx everybody's drooling over has the damn thing on the right. You'd think somebody besides Tapwave would figure out that putting a dpad on the left, buttons on the right, and a couple of shoulder buttons makes just about any PDA into an awesome portable gaming platform.

    Oh well... I can dream.

  9. Re:What's going on here? by pragma_x · · Score: 5, Funny
    in the ever rare chance that our natural surroundings ever become boring?
    You've never lived in Ohio, have you?

  10. Technical Data, Including Battery Life by hng_rval · · Score: 4, Informative

    Can be found on Amazon

    3.5 hours of video
    10 hours of playing mp3s

    Not too bad, and at $500 it's not too much more than an iPod.

    --
    Thank you Mario! But our princess is in another castle!
    1. Re:Technical Data, Including Battery Life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      That's for the 320 not the 500

  11. Re:So by JabberWokky · · Score: 4, Funny
    At Duke they had a "come as something starting with S" party. I had an outfit covered with slogans like "Liffe Suks" and "Probly Rong".

    I was a Cynical Misspeller.

    Heh. This is the only time I could ever recount that story on /., so I might as well.

    --
    Evan

    --
    "$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien