Archos 400 30 GB Pocket Media Assistant (PMA430)
- Record, playback, and store up to 120 hours of video
- Record, Listen and store more than 6500 songs or 650 CDs
- Transfer, View and store up to 300,000 Photos
- Features built-in 802.11b WiFi to browse the Internet and access e-mails from any wireless hotspot
- Includes personal information manager software offering a selection of applications such as an address book, agenda, calendar, PC synchronization and PDF viewer
Product Description
The Pocket Media Assistant PMA400 is the first Linux-based 30GB HDD device allowing you to record directly from TV, listen to music, browse the Internet and stay connected, for entertainment or productivity anytime, anywhere. A new generation of ARCHOS smart portable devices, the PMA400 combines full audio and video capabilities, WiFi connectivity and a personal information manager in one slim, pocket-sized device. This product provides Linux Qtopia with embedded ARCHOS multimedia applications. Browse the Internet and Access Emails.
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Archos 400 30 GB Pocket Media Assistant (PMA430)
- Electronics: 0 pages
- Publisher: Archos
- Label: Archos
- Studio: Archos
- Average Customer Review:
 based on 9 reviews
- Sales Rank in Electronics: #32303
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Avg. Customer Review:
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Archos PMA 430 is Super!!! 2007-04-18
Comment: I think Archos should continue manufacturing this model... it is very reliable and ENTERTAINING
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Archos PMA 430 -- outstanding mobile device. 2006-07-26
Comment: After using the Archos PMA 430 for a few weeks now I am still excited to use it daily. It must be the new toy affect. The video/audio playback are tremendous. The transferring of files and ease of use with the product is what I love about it. And the TV playback and recording are great.
The only drawbacks are the basic interface design and the PDA functions are functional but not outstanding compared to other traditional PDA's. And the device does freeze from time-to-time if it is overed but not much different from other PDA devices.
Overall, it's the best portable device I have used and the overall value is tremendous.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Review Archos PMA430 2006-03-18
Comment: Bought the PMA 430 for about 2 weeks now. Setting up the recording was fairly simple, took about 5 minutes following the instructions to get it to play out and record whatever was showing on tv, satellite tv and dvd. The recorded items are very clear and viewable on the PMA screen. Audio is not too good but listenable playing out from the built in speakers but extremely clear via the supplied earphones.
Connecting to the PC was easy. So is the transferring of whatever files from the PC to the PMA.
Setting up internet connection via WIFI hotspot was easy. I did not even have to look at the instructions to figure it out. Connection speed was good and a lot better than via my NOKIA 7710. Screen shot for internet is readable but not made for long hours surfing. The touch screen's response time is way faster than my symbian Nokia 7710.
Overall am very pleased with my purchase and have been very fearful to buy this product after reading some of the online reviews. Safe to say my PMA 430 has been without any problems at all. (Touch wood) Infact it has not even hung once unlike my turtle slow NOKIA 7710.
5 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: STAY AWAY FROM ARCHOS!!! 2005-11-19
Comment: Product: Archos PMA400 (430)
This company is horrible.
I can guartentee you 3 things if you purchase this unit:
1) You will have a problem within the first week of ownership.
2) The tech support will attempt to solve ALL problems by telling you to reformat the unit and install the operating system again. THIS IS THERE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING! EVRYTHING!!!
3) I gaurentee you the tech suport suggestion of reformatting the harddrive will NOT fix your problem.
My first unit was defective - the new unit will not record audio.
Not a complete waste of $650 because the video recording has worked well on the second unit - but when you pay this much for something EVERYTHING should work.
Great concept - poor technology.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Music and video, Not bad Wi-Fi; USB Host Mode Problems 2005-06-30
Comment: The other reviews are mostly accurate and fair but you may want to know about a couple of important "gotchas". After 3 months of evaluating alternative devices (iPOD, Epson, dedicated external drive, etc.), indecision and refinement of my "requirements", I bought and I will keep the Archos PMA430. All of the conventional PDA features, music and video work very well. The Wi-Fi works up to about 25-30 ft from my Microsoft MN-500 wireless base station at home. I still need to go out in public to see how well it might work at, say, Panera or Starbucks. But the USB host mode (for digital cameras, etc) has limitations. First, you need to have the PMA430 on external power to get it to connect to a USB device like an external hard drive or thumb drive. Otherwise it just sits there and you get no indication that it IS or ISN'T doing anything. After long connection times (yes, I decided to wait it out) it gives a cryptic error message. But, connect it to external power and it quickly detected my 20GB Buslink external hard drive and my 512MB Kingston thumb drive. That means when you're away from home, you're gonna need the cigarette lighter adapter if you plan to connect through this port. The USB Host port will not connect to my Canon EOS 20D nor will it connect to my (sample of 1) USB Compact Flash reader. I plan to try others but if this port is important to your buying decision, I recommend "try before you buy". This renders the USB Host port useless for extending my camera's in the field storage space. The opposite function, connecting the PMA430 to a computer's USB port works flawlessly!
For me, the delays reported for start up of the individual applications was not an issue once you know it's going to happen. You simply adapt to it and it's a pretty short delay. My character recognition was excellent (I had the latest OS 1.13-2). The music is awesome! The video is great. The "sync" is a bit awkward but no worse for me than the first few times I used my old Palm Pilot. When you remove the battery, the internal clock seems to reset to 8AM on 16 May '05 for some reason (mfg date maybe). The pen is indeed flimsy and the cover kinda cheesy. All in all, I'm satisfied with my purchase and expect that a later revision in the OS is likely to overcome the USB Host port issue. When you plot function versus cost for a dedicated hard drive ($250-ish), iPOD ($350-ish) and high quality PDA ($500-ish) the PMA430 offered the most bang-for-the-buck against my "needs" and I CAN carry it in my shirt pocket without significant problem.
If you want a recommendation to wait or buy, I recommend buy if these things don't intimidate you, otherwise wait for a "next-gen" device.
UPDATE:
Purchased a Promaster CompactFlash USB2.0 reader. Connects without need for external power, and strangely, neither do the two USB devices that previously did. I'm now happy that I can get around the lack of camera recognition by the simple expedient of taking along the USB reader.
Wonder if I can figure out how to get it to brew up a cup of tea?
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Archos 400 30 GB Pocket Media Assistant (PMA430)
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