Archos Gmini 402 Camcorder review

Features
The Gmini 402 markets itself heavily as a 'camcorder' on the packaging, so it should be considered as much a camcorder as it is a media centre. In reality, the camcorder is to the Archos what video is to the new iPod -- anyone looking to buy it on the basis of what is essentially a bonus feature should opt for a dedicated device. The Gmini captures video at VGA resolution, perfect for its low-resolution screen, but horrible when you watch video back through your PC. It's bad form for Archos to entice potential camcorder owners into buying a smaller, integrated device that is only a small step ahead of mobile phones, and is in fact very similar quality to the Gizmondo.

The biggest sacrifice in the miniaturisation process has been recording from a TV -- something that was enabled on previous Archos players, thanks to a dock. The dock removed the need for a PC to record video directly from a TV or digibox, so without this you will definitely need a PC, a DVD drive and a copy of Dr DivX or other software video encoder. Sure, there are free programs out there that will encode from DVD to DivX, but they often require specialist knowledge to operate properly.

In terms of video support though, there's nothing that can be faulted on the Archos. Codec support includes DivX, XviD and Windows Media Video, which are the big three formats online -- the only notable exception is Apple's Quicktime, for which only the iPod has support. The best thing is that Windows Media Player integration means you can use Microsoft's free application to sync your entire media library automatically. If you're more used to the Windows interface though, you can simply drag and drop files into the relevant folders.

Audio support is also good, with MP3, WMA and protected WMA support. Again, this means that Apple's AAC format has been omitted, so it's easy to see that this is a device aimed squarely at the Windows market. Without a jog wheel though, we found it difficult to scroll through any quantity of music -- the D-pad was slow and unresponsive, taking over a minute to scroll through 10GB of music. It's a problem that's made worse by the fact that there's no shuffle mode, but it does support album artwork and the device drives headphones very loud.

There are a few other features on the Gmini that may catch your attention. There are a few Java-style game demos that will keep you distracted on the train -- certainly nothing to trouble the Nintendo DS, though. There's also an in-built audio recorder, which is actually more useful than you might suspect. The photo mode is adequate -- you can display them individually or in a group of four or even nine shots, the latter of which is useless thanks to the small screen. Finally, the same camcorder lens also snaps pictures at a 1.2-megapixel resolution, which isn't quite high enough to win you that Wildlife Photographer of the Year award.

The Gmini 402 has plenty of features, but its tiny 4:3-aspect screen, although of good quality, means that few of them are of any real use

Performance
Considering the size of the screen and the number of pixels on the LCD, we were impressed with the watchable picture. The screen is much nicer than early Archos efforts, coming close to the recent AV500 on contrast and colour. Detail is not so strong -- large patches of the same colour tend to block together and you'll have to squint to make out background details. There is a problem with still images though -- the low resolution screen gives most photos shot on a 4-megapixel+ camera a rough finish. You could resize them on your computer, but it's a hassle.

The lack of a speaker inside the Gmini means that headphones are a necessity, and the ones included in the package are more than up to the task. We found that they weren't as bassy as the ones included on Apple's iPod, so if you watch a lot of movies you'd do well to invest in a pair of Sennheisers. It's a shame that they don't include a remote control though, as it would have meant that the device could stay in your pocket.

Edited by Mary Lojkine
Additional editing by Nick Hide