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Full Review

20 November 2007 - The nano and the Creative Zen aren't the only small MP3 players on the block, Archos has one too, but can it impress? We get listening to find out.

The small tough Archos 105 sports 2GB flash memory, a 1.8-inch screen and is like the competition is tiny.

Trouble is, unlike the competition, the memory allocation is small, the screen even smaller still and the video quality pretty shocking, why anyone would want to attempt to watch video on something this small is beyond us and its such a chalk and cheese offering compared to the daddy of the range the 605.

While video playback on the 605 is fantastic, Archos has disappointed with the Archos 105. The video player supports a lousy 160 x 128 resolution (half that of the iPod nano) and can only play WMV video files encoded with a 15-frame-per-second rate.

The menu interface is alright, but not great, and the you get to search through your files in the music, photo, video or browser modes.

Everything is done through a directory structure browser interface and its like any other MP3 player on the market.

Absent from the Archos 105's features are an FM radio, voice recorder, or line recorder, and although the nano doesn't have these either the rest of the competition does.

Verdict

At half the price of the Apple nano you could expect to get something that is only half as good and the problem here is that is the case. But half as good is not something to really get excited about.

A poor memory quota (your phones probably got more) a poor screen (your phones probably bigger) and a poor screen resolution (yes you guessed it, probably worse that your phone) makes this overall not a good buying decision.

If you must have a dedicated MP3 player look elsewhere.

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Compare prices

Archos 105 (2 GB) Digital Media Player
(2 GB (Built-in Memory), 500 Songs, 1.8 oz., Audio Files: MP3, WAV, WMA, MP3 VBR. Video Files: WMV. Display Size: 1.8 inch)

£27.00 (inc. VAT)

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