Archos 1 Vision PMP reviewed: cheap but definitely not cheerful

While fanboi debates rage just as strongly as they ever did, in general gadgets across the board are better designed, better constructed and better performing than we could've hoped for five or so years ago.  That's why it's so nice to find a real humdinger of a review for Archos' 1 Vision PMP, an MP3 player that anythingbutipod describe as having "bad build quality, awkward design, peculiar button placements, an undeniably unnecessary power switch, somewhat peculiar menus and an extra features set that might as well not have been there."

The display – at 128 x 128 resolution – is too low-res for either video or photo enjoyment, meanwhile, and the voice recorder produces fuzzy tracks.  In the PMP's favor, mind, is its super-budget price.  Despite an MRSP of £35 it's already – at launch – selling at £21 ($31) which puts it firmly in the bargain category.  Meanwhile sound performance is also reasonable, so as long as you only want to listen to music and have no desire to do anything so demanding as frequently change tracks, maybe this is the budget PMP for you.

[via ArchosLounge]