The 704 WiFi is marketed as a an all-around portable media player, excelling at video, audio, and photo playback. Media files can be played from its internal 80 GB (or 40 GB) hard drive, or streamed from your PC over WiFI. It also comes with an included Opera browser for browsing the web using an available wireless Internet connection.
Priced at $550, and weighing 1.4 lbs, this device with a brushed aluminum finish is almost in a different class than the much cheaper, and lighter iPod video. However, its selling points are its large, bright 7" TFT touchscreen display with a native resolution of 800x480, and its comprehensive media playback. For video, this player supports MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WMV, H.264, VOB (with an additional plugin), but is not compatible with iTunes.
The Archos 704 can function as a video recorder with an additional DVR kit to record live TV. Expect around 4 hrs of battery life on video playback.
Generation 5 Archos players were released on August 30th, 2007 including the Archos 605 WiFi.
Consider the newly released Apple iPod Touch ($299).
