New Archos Generation 6 coming very soon
Update: Archos Internet Media Tablets revealed
I wrote about this in the forum yesterday, but as the evidence mounts that the new, likely HSDPA-enabled, Archos Generation 6 series of portable media players will be here in days (if not sooner!), I think it needs to be on the main site.
Considering that 1) a 3G PMP has been in the works for over half a year, 2) it was given a "year’s end" release date when Archos inked a deal with French carrier SFR to integrate modems into the players, and 3) a select group of journalists met with Archos in a special press event last month, the small "Coming up…" teaser image that was on the front page of Archos.com yesterday leaves little to the imagination about the mystery device’s identity.
Today, however, the image has disappeared from the Archos site. In its place?
This:
A huge static image of what I presume is a red curtain. The old teaser photo showing the top-left corner of the new Archos used to be where the Archos TV+ box is now.
If you ask me, those curtains will be opened by Monday, maybe even by tomorrow. My best guess for what’s behind it is a slider-style PMP with a 4" WVGA touchscreen, backlit QWERTY keyboard, 80GB/160GB HDD with SSD option, wi-fi, SD slot, and GPS. Since the only known carrier deal was with SFR in France, I’m not convinced that HSDPA will make an appearance. Not in all the players, anyway.
The specs are pure speculation, obviously, but I don’t think it will be much longer before the official ones are revealed.