Childrens Toyshop
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Electronics : Archos Gmini 402 20GB mp3 player with bulit in VGA digital camcorder
Rating: 
- Quality, versatility and it's own stlye. (4.5 stars)
OK, Ive had this device for over a week now, and I've got to know it pretty well.
My original concern before buying was the screen - it wasn't huge - but I have been very impressed with it's clarity. For intance the scores of a football match can still be made out, and it has more pixels-per-ich (dpi) than a standard PC screen.
The camcorder quality is also impressive, especially in daylight, and is easily good enough to be played back on a television. Using the camcorder at night or in heavy artificial light creates a lot more noise, but it's still viewable.
The still camera is quite good, but at only 1.2 million pixels it's not going to capture you amazing photo's, but it's a great add-on with exposure settings included - good for snapshots.
Music playback is great! Its really easy to synchronize with windows media player (once you get used to it - i advise using "set up sync" on the sync tab), and the audio is fantastic, especially as I'm using the included earphones (there are also bass/treble/bass boost settings).
The video playback is why I decided for this over the Ipod or others (better battery life and better colour depth) and im not disappointed. But, THE CONVERSION PROCESS IS NOT ENTIRELY EASY, as whatever I did i couldnt get WMVs to play without a mulit-coloured distored screen at the start (I even got a second device which did the same - batch error?) so I convert all mine to Mpeg4 AVIs, using either the included software (which isn't bad or great) or DIVX video converter. The quality is ace, and hooking it up to the tv (at PAL/DVD quality resolution) is another advantage.
Audio recording - great feature, high quality settings inlcuded (may use more memory than you want though)
What I most liked about this was the fact that it wasn't an Ipod/Creative Zen, I wanted something completely different that still did similar things... You may say it doesnt look as good as the Ipod, but people will probably give it more attention - I mean, how many people do you know that has one of these?
In colnclusion, once you get used to the controls (which shouldn't take long) you will want to take this everywhere with you... and it doesn't scratch easily if you do :)
Rating: - Nicer than an ipod
I got this as a bday present and i've loved it ever since. Its features are i think better than an ipod. Although i still havent figured out how to organise my music better and its all over the place. The video quality is topclass and the battery works excellently....Even when its almost dead, it still lasts for like an extra hour or so.
Rating:
- Archos 402 Camcorder Review
Bottom line is this could have been better, the concept was decent enough but the 402 itself was a real dissapointment. The camcorder quality is really quite impressive, but the screen is only 2.2 inch and the build quality is rather bad. With no external speaker you have to use headphones which didn't really pose a problem for me but might for some,and 20gb isn't really alot anymore for a media player, also the buttons are clunky and feel really feeble. However hooking upto the T.v was easy and the quality of picture was really quite impressive, but for no reason the screen turned completely white and i couldn't do anything with it, luckily there is a reset button which turns it off, but after turning it back on it was still white so i left it for a minute or so and it came back to life. The casing is a weak metal that scratches and dents fairly easily so if you want it to remain in pristine condition you must exceedingly careful with it. To sum up, the camcorder was good, th display allbeit 2.2 inch was still nice and clear, the sound was top notch, but the build quality is awful, the feel of it was cheap, and the price is very expensive for something with such an amateurish feel. If you are looking to but this for the camcorder, stick with a dedicated camcorder, if you are looking to buy this for the media capabilities then just be very careful with it.
Rating: - A bundle of portable treats
The Archos Gmini 402 Camcorder is packed with so many features, you could go live in a cave alone somewhere & still be entertained for hours (at least until the batteries run out anyway).
Most importantly the sound quality is top notch, and with a 20gb hard drive, it's a fantastic mp3 player. Camcorder and photo quality is good, and a great bonus feature.
Transferring video to the Gmini can be a little tricky and frustrating if the files aren't wmv or avi, and the 2.2" screen is too small to really enjoy feature length movies. You can however plug to into your tv for hassle free viewing.
Bigger and bulkier than an ipod, I wouldn't recommend this for runners or gym goers, but considering what you get for your money, it's still a great portable media player.
- Quality, versatility and it's own stlye. (4.5 stars)OK, Ive had this device for over a week now, and I've got to know it pretty well.
My original concern before buying was the screen - it wasn't huge - but I have been very impressed with it's clarity. For intance the scores of a football match can still be made out, and it has more pixels-per-ich (dpi) than a standard PC screen.
The camcorder quality is also impressive, especially in daylight, and is easily good enough to be played back on a television. Using the camcorder at night or in heavy artificial light creates a lot more noise, but it's still viewable.
The still camera is quite good, but at only 1.2 million pixels it's not going to capture you amazing photo's, but it's a great add-on with exposure settings included - good for snapshots.
Music playback is great! Its really easy to synchronize with windows media player (once you get used to it - i advise using "set up sync" on the sync tab), and the audio is fantastic, especially as I'm using the included earphones (there are also bass/treble/bass boost settings).
The video playback is why I decided for this over the Ipod or others (better battery life and better colour depth) and im not disappointed. But, THE CONVERSION PROCESS IS NOT ENTIRELY EASY, as whatever I did i couldnt get WMVs to play without a mulit-coloured distored screen at the start (I even got a second device which did the same - batch error?) so I convert all mine to Mpeg4 AVIs, using either the included software (which isn't bad or great) or DIVX video converter. The quality is ace, and hooking it up to the tv (at PAL/DVD quality resolution) is another advantage.
Audio recording - great feature, high quality settings inlcuded (may use more memory than you want though)
What I most liked about this was the fact that it wasn't an Ipod/Creative Zen, I wanted something completely different that still did similar things... You may say it doesnt look as good as the Ipod, but people will probably give it more attention - I mean, how many people do you know that has one of these?
In colnclusion, once you get used to the controls (which shouldn't take long) you will want to take this everywhere with you... and it doesn't scratch easily if you do :)
Rating:
- Nicer than an ipodI got this as a bday present and i've loved it ever since. Its features are i think better than an ipod. Although i still havent figured out how to organise my music better and its all over the place. The video quality is topclass and the battery works excellently....Even when its almost dead, it still lasts for like an extra hour or so.
Rating:
- Archos 402 Camcorder ReviewBottom line is this could have been better, the concept was decent enough but the 402 itself was a real dissapointment. The camcorder quality is really quite impressive, but the screen is only 2.2 inch and the build quality is rather bad. With no external speaker you have to use headphones which didn't really pose a problem for me but might for some,and 20gb isn't really alot anymore for a media player, also the buttons are clunky and feel really feeble. However hooking upto the T.v was easy and the quality of picture was really quite impressive, but for no reason the screen turned completely white and i couldn't do anything with it, luckily there is a reset button which turns it off, but after turning it back on it was still white so i left it for a minute or so and it came back to life. The casing is a weak metal that scratches and dents fairly easily so if you want it to remain in pristine condition you must exceedingly careful with it. To sum up, the camcorder was good, th display allbeit 2.2 inch was still nice and clear, the sound was top notch, but the build quality is awful, the feel of it was cheap, and the price is very expensive for something with such an amateurish feel. If you are looking to but this for the camcorder, stick with a dedicated camcorder, if you are looking to buy this for the media capabilities then just be very careful with it.
Rating:
- A bundle of portable treatsThe Archos Gmini 402 Camcorder is packed with so many features, you could go live in a cave alone somewhere & still be entertained for hours (at least until the batteries run out anyway).
Most importantly the sound quality is top notch, and with a 20gb hard drive, it's a fantastic mp3 player. Camcorder and photo quality is good, and a great bonus feature.
Transferring video to the Gmini can be a little tricky and frustrating if the files aren't wmv or avi, and the 2.2" screen is too small to really enjoy feature length movies. You can however plug to into your tv for hassle free viewing.
Bigger and bulkier than an ipod, I wouldn't recommend this for runners or gym goers, but considering what you get for your money, it's still a great portable media player.