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A few months back I reviews the Archos 605 Wifi and what a great player it was, well I stand to be corrected. Having lived with it for a few months, I can honestly say, avoid at all costs!

The first few weeks were fine, even took on my week long mediterranean cruise (thanks Royal Caribbean for a great holiday!), but problems with the 605 started soon after. Firstly, the power button stopped working, that quite an important part I think you’ll agree! So a call to Archos and back it went for repair. Then nothing, I think it was around 5 weeks when I finally got a call to say they were waiting for parts. Parts? It was a power button? What else could be broken? So a quick check on their support site and a very poor translation from french seemed to say replacement screen, mainboard and power button! Something to do with an abnormal picture. Great, well at least they fixed the problems for free, and I will admit, when I recieved the 605 back, the picture was even better. Still, for around £260 I expected better. Then more problems, I started noticing when turning on the player, a message came up saying the library was being updated, as if I’d just copied more music on or something. So after a minute it finishes and I find it has in fact removed all my music from the database. So a reset of the temp files and all the music is back, I just have to re-do play lists etc. From then it really has been a lottery as to whether turning on the player will clear the library or not, sometimes it will be a few files, other times the whole lot. Theres been some other errors too, in fact a few days ago the player rebooted for no reason and that cleared the library too.

I can only assume there is some bug either in the software doing this, but its a real let down on what could be a superb bit of kit. And as for the temperature, the amount of times my pocket has felt like its burning!

I am seriously considering going back to Apple and their iPod Touch, less storage space but I never had these issues with my old iPod. I do love how easy the 605 is though, when its having a run where theres it doesn’t delete the library, it really is a joy to use, a bit old fashioned in its appearance, and the software can get a bit clunky, but when you do get to watch a film on that screen, it stands head and shoulder above any other player I’ve tried. Just is that enough to counter the numerous problems I’ve had? I’m not so sure!

Having had my PC next to my Xbox 360 for some time now, I decided it was about time I found a way of connecting my the 360 to the internet without having to spend a fortune on wireless connectors or switches.

Heres my setup, I currently have a custome built pc woth two LAN ports on the montherboard (the Asus Striker Extreme). One of the LAN ports is connected to a Netgear Powerline adapter (with another connected to my router downstairs). This allows for a decent internet connection while not having to run new cables round the house or use the pretty poor wireless connection my router has. Also my PC is running Windows Vista x64 (I am assumeing the same instructions will apply to XP, and there is most likely similar options in OSX and Linux).

So, how to link the 360 up, well, this took me all of about 2 minutes and was alot easier than I could have imagined. The first step is linking the PC and 360, for this you will need a Cat5e crossover cable, available from places like PC World (infact any shop selling computer equipment), this cable then needs to be plugged into the LAN port on the 360 (next to the USB ports at top of the console), the other end should be connected into the spare LAN socket on your PC.

Now power on your PC, and go to Control Panel -> Network And Sharing Center -> Manage Network Connections (located in the left task pane). This will show you the network connections on your PC. You should see the two LAN connections showing in blue without any red crosses. If theres a red cross, then theres a problem with the cable, if one of the icons is greyed out (disabled), the right click it and click enable.

Now for the final bit, highlight the two LAN connections (so both are hightlighted together), and click Bridger Connections. After a minute or so another icon should show labelled Network Bridge.

Now turn on your 360 and test your network connection for the System tab. You should get an internet connection straight away.

Well I hope this helps some people out. This should also apply if the PC is connected wirelessly to your router, althought I haven’t tested it this way.

Er, ok, so its not shock news, but at least the rumours can stop. Apple has announced its new iPhone will be released mid July, and they’ve added 3G access and GPS. However, don’t expect much else. Apple still haven’t brought the iPhone in line with any of its other competitors, still no decent camera (a biggy for me), no HSDPA, no video recording, no video calling, no MMS, no proper GPS app (just google maps). Alot of which even the basic of phones have (maybe no video calling and GPS) and all top end phones have.

Prices have also been “dropped”, well not really, it looks like the networks will be subsudizing the phones this time round. In fact, O2 in the UK will be offering the new iPhone for free on their most expensive tariffs, but be careful, you’ll probably end up paying more this time round as the contracts may be more expensive!

After a year, I had hoped Apple would come up with something new, but unfortunatly, the iPhone is still an over priced, under featured waste of time, but its Apple so alot of people will still think its the best thing ever!

I’ll be sticking with Nokia for now, and with phones like the Xperia X1, HTC Touch Diamond and others on their way, there are alot of other options out there, and if you don’t mind not having the designer value of an Apple product, you may just save yourself a fair amount of dough waiting for an alternative!

HTC has announed the imminent release of its newest smart phone, the HTC Touch Diamond.

The main features include a 2.8 inch touch screen including HTCs new Touch Flow 3D, running on Microsofts Windows Mobile 6.1 OS. It has HSDPA for up to 7.2 mbps data access, 3.2 mpx autofocus camera, 4gb internal storage, GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth. All in a 110g 102 x 51 x 11.33mm mobile.

The Touch Flow 3D interface gives access to all main phone features via a carousel you spin with your fingure, allowing quick, attractive access to you emails, texts, calls, internet and weather.

The spec sheet makes this phone look like it does have the potential to break into the N95’s market share, but there are a few niggling little things missing. For one, theres no flash on the camera, so theres only so many uses for it. Theres also no external memory card slot, so no way to expand that 4Gb memory. Although for most, 4gb is more than enough, unless your looking to take thousands of songs or hundreds of movies with you.

With my upgrade due soon after the HTC touch is released, I am very tempted to make the change, and probably will unless Sony Ericssons Xperia X1 gets a release date before.

Read Full Press Release

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Ok this is a bit of a rant. With the recent announcement that HTC will shortly be releasing their new Diamond smart phone, all you can read about is whether it will compare with the iPhone. So since when did anything in the mobile industry become a comparison to the over priced, under featured IPhone?

I’ll be honest, I’ve never used an iPhone, I have used an iPod Touch, and yes there is a quality feel about it, the touch screen definently stands out. However, for me, that’s where its advantages ends. The iPhone had a similar release date to the N95, and for me the N95 still shows what a smart phone should be about. The first to include an internal GPS antenna, even if it did take 6 months for them to get it working correctly, a 5 mpx camera etc.

Apple has always had a massive following, with the iPod the stand out device, but why should everyone who has an iPhone immediately condemn any other phone using similar technology (lets face it, the only tech Apple introduced with the iPhone was a touch screen, which I felt was the natural way for most devices to go), otherwise you could go and buy yourself a Sony Ericsson K750i, you might not get a decent web browser, but you get just about everything else an iPhone offers. In a phone that’s so great a browsing the internet, did they not put 3g in? At the time the 3.5g standard was beginning to take hold.

So to all those Apple fanboys out there, stop condemning every device on earth as a cheap iPhone rip off just because it has similar features (or more as most cases seem).

I’m just waiting for someone to tell me my HP C8180 printer is a cheap iPhone rip off because it too uses a touchscreen!

My first post for a while!

I recently decided I wanted to upgrade from my Ipod 60gb Video to something with more storage and was better for videos.  Having heard a lot of good things about the Archos players I decided to give one a go.

The 605 WiFi is part of the latest range of Archos portable video players, capable of playing most popular video and audio files, although you will probably need to pay an extra for “plugins” to be able to play some types of content. These plugins seem more like mini codec packs, and seeing as there a full library’s of codecs on the internet available for free, you’ll still have to part with £15 per plugin with this player. There are also other plugins including a web browser (Opera) etc.

Even without the plugins, the Archos video players still support alot of formats out of the box. Which are what I have been trialing.

The first obvious difference between the 605 and other video/music players is the screen, at 4.3 inches its the perfect size for watching while keeping the device pocketable. This is a key point, for the device to function as an MP3 player, it must be able to fit in a pocket. It is a bit on the weighty side,but does come with a little flip out stand for extended watching.

Video quality is top notch, as is to be expected from the 800 x 480 resolution screen, however, sound quality is well behind that of the iPod, but is still of a good enough quality for extended listening.

Now the best bit, as all iPod users know, your very restricted by how you use your iPod. Everything has to be in iTunes, no questions answered. While itunes is a pretty decent media manager, it can be a little deceiving to a newbie. You could have a ton of music and video in the iTunes that isn’t actually compatible with the iPod. Any tracks protected by DRM not bought from Apple are a no go, as well as any video not in a specific format. This is where the Archos takes a step ahead. They aren’t restricted any any specific peice of software, in fact there isn’t any software at all. Simply plug it into a PC/Mac and its detected. It can be automatically synced with Windows Media Player, or you can just copy what you want straight onto it via My Computer. The filing system is basic, just put your music in the Music folder, videos in Videos etc. As soon as you disconnect the USB cable, it searches for any new content automatically.

With so many of the popular video and audio types supported, you won’t have to worry about converting any of your files either. Simply rip a DVD or CD and copy straight to the 605. No more having to pay for specific video converters.

The Archos 605 WiFi comes with varying storage capacities. From the 4 gb flash model through to the 160gb model. The higher capacity models are slightly thicker and weigh a little more, but with 160 gb you can carry hundreds of DVD quality movies and a ton of music and photos. Plus take the USB cable with you and you also have a portable hard drive handy for copying things onto in a rush.

Lastly I will look at the other bit of the device that makes it stand out form the rest. The WiFi bit. With computers becoming a bigger part of our life, more and more people are keeping their photo’s, movies, music etc stored on them. With the 605 WiFi, you can now connect wirelessly to your PC and view your media from anywhere in your house. Which is great if you can’t fit everything on you Archos, however, I found this to be a little on the useless side as, of course, you have to be connected to your wireless network to access any pc’s or servers on it. Hopefully they will add support Slingbox etc. There is an optional web browser plugin available, which means the 605 can be used for browsing the web if your near a hot spot, but I really think there could be more done with this feature. EG, how about being able to copy to the device wirelessly? Not via USB or being able to connect to other devices with WiFi to share content?

There are also plenty of accessories available, including a PVR dock allowing you to record TV direct you your 605 and a camera.

My conclusion is, the 605 is the best portable device on the market for playing videos at the moment. However if its more music your interested in, there are more practical options, including the iPod. The need to download plugins is also a down point. So the Archos 605 WiFi gets an 8 out of 10.

Archos seems to be following suit with the other big tech suppliers at the moment, and just holding back a little. A lot of suppliers seem very reluctant to go out and put all the latest tech in their gadgets. The same is with Nokia and its Nseries, each release there’s something they seem to deliberately leave out. The only exception to this so far has been Qnap with their range of NAS servers!

Microsoft has made the next installment of Internet Explorer available for download, well a test version anyway!

Unfortunatly thats all I can say, as it wouldn’t install on my PC (and they’ve cleverly designed the installer not to give you any idea why it didn’t install). However, it did install on my laptop, except it crashes as soon as it opens. So great. Can’t wait for this to be released…..

Following on from my post yesterday, Toshiba has now officially confirmed it is discontinuing the HD-DVD format.

They will however continue to supply support to those 1 million people with HD-DVD players.

This will probably mean the studios who currently support the format will probably, also discontinue releasing films in HD-DVD.

The full press release from Toshiba can be found here:

http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2008_02/pr1903.htm

Rumours coming out of Toshiba are that they will be dropping HD-DVD soon, ending the Hi-Def war. With nearly all the major film studios backing Blu-Ray, and Toshiba claiming a massive loss on its HD-DVD players, it seems the only option is for them to give up.

So what does this actually mean? Well, having used both technologies, not a lot. If I’m honest, I’ve never noticed much of a difference between the formats, quality wise. The only difference has been price. HD-DVD has always been the cheapest of the two rivals, but it may be emerging that the reason for this is Toshiba was selling its hardware at a loss, to make HD-DVD players more attractive. Of course, if Blu-Ray does win, then Sony is almost sure to keep Blu-Ray prices as they are, for a while yet, because of the lack of competition. That means the players will remain out of a lot of consumers budgets.

Although this has been referred to as a war, really its a battle, there is a much bigger battle brewing, and that’s between the actual film on disk industry and On Demand films. With broadband speeds increasing, renting or buying HD movies online will become the norm, so Sony may have won this battle, but it may only be years before even Blu-Ray is out of date!

One last thing, if Toshiba does drop HD-DVD, all is not lost for those with players as the cost of the disks will plummit, therefore allowing you to get yourself a nice little collection of films, probably for less than a normal DVD!

For me, COD4 was one of my most eagerly awaited games, having completed all the previous games in the series.

COD4 is the first in the series to step away from the World War II story line, instead picking up on a fictitious story line based on current day events and weapons. This is a refreshing change as after three episodes already, there’s very little you can really do with the same war.

You follow the story of two soldiers, one a new member of the British SAS, the other a US Marine. Starting with a relatively short training session, which the game uses to work out what level of gamer you are.

I don’t want to talk too much about the games story line as I believe this would spoil it, the game is very short in comparison to other games released recently, in-fact, you’ll probably complete it in around 5 - 6 hours (I did!), but that 6 hours is the most adrenaline filled 6 hours you could ever imagine. With some fantastic maps, at one point you are sent back in time and play as your Sargent when he a new recruit.

Of course, its always possible to change the difficulty, but this doesn’t really change the game, just makes the enemy a bit more deadly.

One of the biggest areas of COD4 is its multi-player section, where there is regularly 15,000 + servers online, with the PC version. This allows you to play against others in some of the scenes from the single player mode. However, some servers allow up to 50 people to be online at a time, which can lead to some great battles. Unlike COD3, don’t expect to find a little hiding place to sit for an hour sniping people, it just doesn’t happen, with so many people and so many bullets flying all over the place, its almost impossible to stay alive for a prolonged time. Which I think adds to the fun. The new game types really work too, losing capture the flag from COD3, this has been replaced by games like sabotage where there’s one bomb and each team has an area to defend, or headquarters, where an HQ pops up somewhere on the map and you have to fight to claim that HQ.

The multi-player also has a ranking system based on the points you pickup in the game, there’s 55 rank levels to get through and at each level, new guns and accessories are unlocked. So there’s a real reason to keep playing.

As for graphics, I personally believe COD4 has one up on Crysis, while still managing very smooth frame rates. The game is very well designed, with areas ranging from a bog to an oil refinery. Although, you’ll never really get lost in the game as theres only ever one route to take.

This stands as my favorite game of all time, taking the place of its sibling. The single player mode is a bit on the short side, which is the only let down, in what has to be one of the best games developed to date. COD5 anyone?

Its a 9.5 out of 10 for this one!

Call of Duty 4 (PC DVD)
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