Archos are teasing us

“There are many things you can be sure of in this life. Death is one, but if you want to discuss something less morbid let’s talk about technology – the fact that if you purchase any item, as sure as night follows day, at some point in the not-to-distant future you will be disgruntled when the new / improved model is launched.”

That’s the third time I used that quote (my own quote) and the reason for using it again is that on their web site Archos are teasing their fanboys (me included) with a red curtain and the words “Coming up soon…”.

What this relates to is fairly obvious – the fabled Archos 606. But is that what they’re going to name it? A few months ago Archos published their annual statement on their web site and there were some rather telling points…

• The continued mention of an ‘Internet Tablet’
• The Internet Tablet would outsell the Generation 5 devices by two-to-one in 2008 (then it had better ship in time for Christmas, methinks)
• Sales of Generation 5 devices wouldn’t feature in 2009 sales at all
• Mentions of 3G
• Telcos would become a route-to-market in 2008, and rise from 10% to 25% of device delivery in 2009
• The ‘mobile Internet’ has stalled because of the disappointing experience of browsers on current mobile devices, stating that 3 inch screens are way too small and 4.3 inch screens (that’s the size of the Archos 605) are “a compromise” – pocket-sized devices should have a 5 inch screen
• And finally a diagram containing the words “Premium Smartphone” with an arrow pointing to those words, and “Q4 2008” on the arrow – hmmm, what could they mean?

So there you have it… no announcement yet, they’re still teasing. It’ll be a ‘personal media player’ (PMP, but I don’t care for abbreviations) with a 3G phone, a 5 inch screen and a world-class web browsing experience. We’ll see how right I am soon(ish).

Personally I hope it doesn’t have a phone. I like the idea of a media player that also browses the web (uh, like the 605) but I don’t want a phone built in as well. Who wants to be watching a movie and then get interrupted and stick the thing against your ear? The Opera browser built into the 605 is excellent, but if they could get the BBC iPlayer working that would be a big bonus (it works on the wife’s iPod touch, but that was news to her).

Just pressed [F5] again… nothing.