The BBC checks out four different mobile video players - Sony’s PSP Slim, Archos 605wifi, Nokia’s N800 and the Apple iPod touch - and assess their strengths and weaknesses in different categories.
For video, the raw specs for all four of the devices it would show that the Archos comes out on top, followed by the N800, the iPod touch and the PSP. But the brightest of all the screens is the iPod, which looks vibrant, with the various menu buttons almost bursting off the screen.
The format of choice for many digital video aficionados is h.264, which is supported by all of the devices apart from the Nokia N800. However, Archos require users to pay for a plug-in to unlock playback in that format, while the PSP’s support for h.264 only seems to work with Sony’s own files.
The results were clear - the Archos and iPod touch offered the best video playback fidelity, while the PSP and N800 were a distant joint second.
For web browsing, Apple has received a lot of press for its use of the touch screen in web browsing. Pages load very quickly indeed and users double tap on an area of a screen to zoom and the page can be moved around with just a finger. The iPod can also switch between favoured wi-fi access points automatically.
However, the iPod touch is the only web-enabled device we tested that does not support Flash. So while the other three gadgets have access to thousands of video clips, complex web pages, games and music through Flash, the iPod touch is hampered without it…
In other news, Nokia is planning to bundle software from Devicescape on devices in its E and N series, that will log in automatically to Wi-Fi hotspots.
To use Devicescape you need to download a small application to your wireless device and register online. Because your username and password are stored on Devicescape’s site, the entire process of logging on is automated, requiring little to no input on your part.
Devicescape works with notebooks, smartphones and web tablets and is a free download.
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