Things to test on the 605 WiFi - part 1
Posted by Charbax on 5th July 2007
Here are some of the things that I would suggest one should test on the 605 WiFi as soon as one gets one. I am not sure if I will be getting an early one to test or not so here are my suggestions for testing:
- Measure the exact size of the screen compared to the 604 WiFi. From some pictures it looks like the 605 screen is a bit more square.
- Test the usable angles of vision on the screen compared with the 604 WiFi.
- Check if fingerprints or soft scratches are visible on the new screen. It might be that the 604 WiFi had a cover of glass on the screen which makes it unscratchable it seems, but which also might have been said to be somehow visible and adding some grainy effect on the screen, check if there is a smoother anti-scratch touch-screen used this time.
- Take a picture of the automatic firmware update system, to see if it provides several options, of like “Yes, do it now” or “Remind me later”. If the automatic firmware update can be done without the charger being plugged in. If a changelog can be viewed before and after of the update. And if certain software updates can be done without updating the whole firmware.
- How many seconds does it take to connect on WiFi and be inside of Opera to start browsing websites compared to the 604 WiFi which did take more than 14 seconds just to bootup and after one double-click on the browser icon it took another 30 seconds to connect to WiFi and have the browser completely opened. If this time browsing can be initiated automatically without doing any double-clicking and within a few seconds of returning from sleep-mode this would be fantastic. Is it possible to resume browsing on the same page when eigther minimizing the browser or returning from sleep-mode.
- What happens in the browser when visiting DivX Web Player sites like http://stage6.com, if DivX video would be launched in full screen mode and start playing back progressively that would be fantastic.
- What happens with embedded WMV, Real Video, Ogg Theora and such.
- What happens with direct links to download any audio or video codecs like .avi, .mpg, .wmv, .rm, .mp3, .mp4, .m4v, .ogm, .ogg, .wma, .aac, .divx and such, does the browser enable the launching of the audio video application directly to progressively playback or stream any of those formats just like it seems to support the launching of embedded Flash in full screen A/V playback mode directly from the browser. Or would it only allow one to download the videos, but do the downloading happen in the background while one can continue browsing, does the download happen progressively so one can go in the “Downloaded Videos” folder and start playing back a video file before it is still downloading over a http or mms connection.
- Does the browser support full Web 2.0 javascripts from sites like http://docs.google.com http://maps.google.com http://gmail.com http://meebo.com http://zude.com http://ajaxwhois.com and more other full AJAX sites like these.
- Are other flash websites like http://addictinggames.com and Flickr’s slideshow supported, are those flash embeds usable also in full screen automatically or only embedded in the browser. How good is flash support in embedded mode compared to full-screen mode. How awesome is full-screen flash video playback from sites like http://youtube.com http://video.google.com http://dailymotion.com (the special interface compared to browsing the normal website) http://sevenload.com http://blip.tv are live Flash video sites like http://ustream.tv and http://justin.tv supported also in full-screen and embedded modes.
- Is the http://last.fm recommendation radio supported using Flash, as well as other online streaming mp3 audio players based on Flash or other embedded audio using windows media player, quicktime or real player.
- Is the browser scrolling smooth using the finger in the middle of the browser window, comparable or better than the iPhone. Are links easilly hit this way or is the touch-screen intelligent enough to know when the user is scrolling or clicking on links.
- How many tabs are supported smoothly, if lots of large websites with a lot of pictures in them will be supported in multiple tabs at the same time.
- How easilly readable is text when reading most websites, is it possible to change font sizes to have larger text on pages and view websites in reformatted mode and in full PC like mode.
- What happens when one tries to playback 1280×720 resolution 25 frames per second DivX video with B-frames. Will it play or will it ask for a plug-in to be bought or will it simply say that the resolution is not supported. What would be the word from Archos about the availabillity of that HD video support, if it means also 25 and 30 frames per second, if it works for any of Mpeg4, H264, WMV and Mpeg2 codecs and if it works on the built-in LCD and not only in the TV output component or HDMI mode from the DVR Station Gen5 or the TV Plus.
- Do .srt and .sub subtitle files work. Is it possible to change the size of subtitles, re-synchronise them as well as manage several languages.
- Are GMC and Qpel encodings of DivX and XviD supported.
- What happens when one tries to connect a USB keyboard, if it already works for the browser and any other text editing or text entry that would be fantastic. And if the 4G Docking Station is compatible to provide the USB host function then that would also be fantastic.
- In the Electronic Program Guide function, does one need to do lots of setup work to make it know which channels are which on the online channel guide.
- In photo mode, how smooth is the zooming in function using the finger to point on the picture on the area where to zoom in and out, how smooth is it to go from on picture to the next and rotate them. Does it provide automatic rotation for picture so they fill out most of the screen by default. Is it possible to resume a slideshow when exiting it and having done something else or returning from sleep-mode.
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