Archos Gmini 402 (20GB) review

Archos makes a great personal video player even better with the Gmini 402, an impressive update -- if not a wholesale revision -- to last year's top-notch Gmini 400. Just like its predecessor, the 402 (£230) packs in plenty of features, such as video and MP3/WMA playback, photo storage and image viewing, voice and in-line recording, and gaming via the popular Mophun engine. But this time, we also get support for Windows Media Player syncing, including DRM-protected music and video. However, the 402 isn't without its problems: it's saddled with poor viewing angles on its otherwise gorgeous 56mm (2.2-inch) LCD, unremarkable battery life, less-than-stellar volume and lack of direct video recording. But considering the Gmini is nearly small enough to fit in a jeans pocket, we're still duly impressed.

Design
The silver and black Archos Gmini 402 is pretty compact for a PVP, but it's no lightweight. Measuring just 600by 106 by 17mm, the 402 is almost exactly the same size as an iPod or the svelte Cowon iAudio X5 PVP, but at 159g, it outweighs the iAudio by a good 40g. That said, we liked the Gmini's tough, scratch-resistant aluminium shell, and the tapered left and right sides of the horizontally oriented player made it easy to hold while watching our videos.

The Archos Gmini 402's 56mm, 262k-colour TFT LCD looked good to our eyes, with rich colour and plenty of detail, thanks to its 220x176-pixel resolution, easily beating the anaemic 160x128-pixel resolution of the iAudio's 51mm (2-inch) LCD. The 402's screen doesn't come close to matching the new Creative Zen Vision's 94mm (3.7-inch) 640x480 LCD, but then again, the Vision is much bigger than the 402. Unfortunately, your mates will have a tough time watching the display with you. Try watching from the left at a viewing angle greater than about 30 degrees, and the screen image goes negative, while the picture becomes distractingly bright from the right, above and below. Your audience will also miss out on the sound, since the 402, like its predecessor, lacks a built-in speaker. You can listen with the included earbuds, but they can't hold a candle to the latest in-ear varieties, so be sure to swap them for a better pair. Clearly, the 402 is a personal device, both for sound and vision.

The Archos Gmini 402 has essentially the same intuitive controls as the Gmini400, including a four-way navigational control, Select and Back buttons to the left of the display, along with Stop/Back buttons to the right. Even better are the three soft keys lined up below the LCD -- a clever design that allows for a wide range of functionality, especially while you're watching a video (see Features). We would have liked a dedicated hold slider, but at least you can press and hold the left-most soft key to lock the controls while you're playing music.

The Archos Gmini 402 comes with a pair of USB ports, one for connecting the player to your PC and the other for hooking it up to a USB-enabled storage device, such as a digital camera. Those familiar with the Gmini 400 will note that its CompactFlash slot is missing from the 402. Along the top of the player is a built-in microphone for voice recording and a combined headphone, A/V output and line-in port (a plug-in adaptor and a set of A/V cords for your TV's video inputs are included), as well as indicator lights for power, battery charge and hard-drive activity.

The Archos Gmini 402 in its included protective case

Inside the box, you'll find a pair of USB cables, A/V cords and a small plug-in adaptor, a typically bulky AC adaptor and a surprisingly sturdy carrying case.

Features
The Archos Gmini 402's impressive video features include support for near-DVD-quality video, up to 720x480-pixel, 30fps images for the US-based NTSC video standard and 720x576-pixel, 25fps for Europe's PAL standard. Only MPEG-4 Simple AVI files are supported, and while a pair of included utilities can help convert your videos to the proper MPEG-4 standard, the conversion process is still pretty complicated -- novices, beware. That said, we're happy to report that the player now supports DRM-protected WMV movies. We had no trouble transferring mobile-formatted videos from the for-pay CinemaNow service via Windows Media Player -- too bad CinemaNow's mobile-video selection is restricted to Z-list karate movies, anime and tractor-pull videos.