The press release is in French, so I suppose I could give them a break on the spelling. The deal is they are trying to create a companion to a regular cell phone. It would offer up a lot of the web capabilities of a normal cell phone, but on a larger screen, over WiFi, and with a full keyboard.
I know I’ve already covered this product, but I have new news, first of all I have more pics, and I have a better idea of how big it is. Most importantly, they had the interface in demo mode, so I have a video of that so you can get an idea of what it looks like in action.
I hate comparing one product to another, but the Archos set top box DVR is everything the Apple TV should have been and even has an equally slick appearance. Alright, lets start with the fact that it comes in your choice of 80 or 250 gigabyte capacities, and, since its made by Archos, I wouldn’t be surprised if some enterprising modders found a way to increase that.
The COWON Q5 is finally arriving stateside and has been priced. Its even being called the Super PMP.
You get your choice of 40 or 60 gigabyte capacities both with a 5-inch WVGA screen, 64MB of flash memory, 128MB of DDR2 SDRAM, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, and Windows CE 5.0. There is also a voice recorder, photo/text viewer, and support for a ton of different audio, video, and picture formats.
It comes pre-loaded with 10 films, surprisingly none of them featuring Charlie Chaplin. Go figure. No, not really, they are all films of Charlie, but you probably already guessed that.
You can still get it in 20, 30, 80, or 120 gigabyte versions and aside from the 10 Chaplin films you can load it up with MPEG-4, WMV, MP3, WMA, WAV, JPEG, BMP, and PNG media files. You can also surf the net via the integrated wifi connection.
So if you are one of the many who have been talking crap about the iPod Touch or iPhone, and have been salivating over the Archos 705, now is your chance to get in on the pre-order. Amazon is the lucky site that has the precious device on pre-order, with a posted release date of 11/27/07.
There are two versions, the 80GB and the 160GB, that’s an amazing amount of storage, but with all this pretty little device can do I am sure you’ll find a use for it. So you’ve got 21 days to wait if you order today.
Over at ArsGeek there’s some serious canoodling going on: they’ve got their hands on Archos’ 605 WiFi PMP and fallen in love with the 30GB music, video and picture device. I’m not all that surprised, really; from when we saw the PMP at IFA 2007 it’s been the ominous, hardball player on the media horizon.
Here’s something I really can’t wait to get my hands on: Archos’ TV+ PVR/media streamer/web surfer, which the company were flaunting at IFA 2007. An instant competitor to the AppleTV – and, so my gut feeling says, with the potential to blow it out of the water – the compact box has a choice of 80GB or 250GB hard-drives and a plethora of connectivity including HDMI (outputting 720p Hi-Def), WiFi, USB 2.0 and ethernet.
There was something for everyone at Archos’ stand at IFA 2007 – well, if you wanted a PMP, that is – with a broad range of new media players catering for every spec-demand and budget. Since I’m nothing if not greedy, I’ll start at the top with the brand spanking new 605 WiFi and its swanky DVR base-station; we knew it was coming after it received FCC approval back in July, but there’s nothing quite like seeing a 4.3-inch touchscreen toting, web-surfing, media downloading masterpiece in the flesh.
After seeing – and being instantly bored by – Philips rather “me too!” facsimile of the AppleTV, it’s nice to see that we can rely on Archos for some decent competition. Their TV+ unit turns up its nose at a paltry 40GB hard-drive and instead whacks up to 500GB in there (other options are 80GB and 250GB), coupling that storage with HDMI, RGB inputs & outputs, WiFi and wired ethernet, USB and support for 720p.
SlashGear Japan
