While Archos seems stuck in the mid 90’s, Apple has long ago made the big jump in the 21st century - as far as the design is concerned. Design is what customers consider at first sight, and since the first sight is the one that settles deep inside your mind, no surprise Apple is the biggest PMP seller in the world.
Admittedly, taste is subjective and cannot be discussed (though it may prove useful for certain B. Spea... people...). But are exposed screwhead so important that they have to spoil the whole shell of the 605 ?
Besides, what interest is there in implementing so big a row of buttons when you have a pretty efficient touch screen at your disposal ? Removing them would have allowed archosto reduce the size of the 605.
There also is a matter of size. Though the 605 is hard-drive based, it is a shame that the 605 is twice as big as the iTouch. And we’re not even mentionning the Archos 605H (120Go) ?
Nevertheless, the iPod also has weaknesses. The back side is quite sensitive to scratches and Apple made the choice to over-indicate the location of the WiFi antenna, thus spoiling the design of the back face...
While the front face is perfectly uniform (except for the "Home" button but it does not spoil the design whatsoever), the glass-made screen protector tends to let finger traces appear... While Archos provides a case, though not quite convenient, Apple does not offer anything.
Not much of a surprise, Apple wins the round
Winner : Apple
Score : Archos 1-1 Apple
Next article : Round 3 - Interface
