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Archos Gmini 402: Portable Media Evolution


The old Gmini, the 2004 Archos Gmini 400, was a highly-anticipated revolution in portable media players: a device about the size of an iPod, but with the capability to play video. The new Gmini 402 retains the earlier model's form factor, but adds some new features to an already-impressive list.

By Robert Jahrling
Personal Tech Pipeline
August 8, 2005 11:09 PM

The old Gmini, the 2004 Archos Gmini 400, was a highly-anticipated revolution in portable media players: a device about the size of an iPod, but with the capability to play video. The new Gmini 402 retains the earlier model's form factor, but adds some new features to an already-impressive list.

The Gmini 400's Compact Flash slot is gone, replaced by a USB Host port. Using the supplied cable, you can connect a USB-enabled digital camera, a USB key, or even an external USB hard drive. The Gmini 402 is able to play media directly from these external devices. Initially, the lack of the CF slot may seem a disappointment, but by replacing it with the USB Host port, Archos has greatly expanded the Gmini's playback and storage possibilities.

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The other new features are evolutionary, rather than revolutionary. The Gmini 402 will play video at slightly higher resolutions than its predecessor. In addition, the 402 is Windows PlaysForSure compatible, allowing you to view subscription and rental content from registered PlaysForSure vendors like CinemaNow and MusicMatch.

Connecting the Gmini 402 to a PC is an extremely simple proposition, especially if you're running Windows XP with Windows Media Player 10 installed: connect the player and the computer with the provided USB cable and the Gmini 402 shows up as a Windows Media device. There's no setup required on the computer. You can manually synchronize your media library with a few clicks of the mouse, or you can choose to automatically sync whenever you connect the Gmini.

If you're using Windows ME or 2000, or you're connecting the Gmini to a Macintosh, the procedure is a bit more involved. You'll need to enter one of the Gmini's setup menus and reconfigure the USB 2.0 port to be recognized as an external hard drive. It will then mount as a hard drive when connected, and you can drag and drop files into the Gmini's file hierarchy. Of course, this means that you can also use the Gmini as a portable file storage device for any kind of data.

The Gmini 402 delivers excellent audio performance with MP3 and WMA files. You can set bass and treble to adjust the tone, as well as balance and bass boost. The player also supports playlist creation, a nice feature if you want to create playlists on the fly as you're listening to music. Archos claims that the Gmini 402's 20GB hard drive will hold up to 10,000 songs—WMA files recorded at 64kb/s. A more realistic, listenable encoding will decrease that number accordingly.

The video performance is nice. The screen is crisp and clear, and it's viewable from a wide variety of angles. The player will play WMV, MPEG-4, and DivX- or XviD-encoded AVI video files at up to 720x480, although if you encode your own video you'll have to watch your encoding rate; you'll also be able to view JPEG or BMP files, either one at a time or as a slideshow. As with the audio, Archos' claims for the amount of video that the Gmini 402 will hold are predicated on low bitrates. Figure on the player holding about 40-50 hours of video that you'd actually want to watch.

The player itself weighs just six ounces but feels solid and substantial. The buttons on the review unit were sturdy and well-made, the notable exception being the row of black plastic function buttons. There was a bad fit between the buttons and the case, and more often than not the buttons stuck on their rims when I pushed them, resulting in buttons that were stuck in the “on” position—several times, I accidentally locked the device after pushing the leftmost button and having it stick.

The battery life is adequate, rated at 10 hours for music and 3-5 hours for video; a full charge certainly lasted long enough for me to watch as much video as I could take at once. Because the rechargeable LiIon battery isn't user-replaceable, the Gmini would be a good audio player for long trips, but as a video player it's suitable primarily for long commutes rather than as a device to keep yourself or your kids entertained on a day-long car ride or plane flight.

Overall, the Gmini 402 is an excellent media player. If you're already a Gmini 400 owner, you may want to pass the 402 by, unless you need the USB Host port and the ability to play PlaysForSure media. If, however, you're looking for a player that will give you 20GB of audio and video entertainment in the palm of your hand, you will be more than happy with the Gmini 402.


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