Archos teams with SFR in France for building 3G+ into upcoming players

With the likes of Apple and Garmin taking their respective expertise and pointing it toward the mobile phone world, perhaps it should come as no surprise that Archos is doing something similar. Unfortunately, it's fairly impossible at this stage to figure out what that thing is. All we know is that Archos has struck a deal with France's SFR to integrate 3G+ HSDPA data modems into its players -- a deal that was rumored late last year -- but whether that means beefed up mobile surfing and VoIP, or an all new phone product has yet to be seen.

[Thanks, Marien]

[jason @ Feb 13th 2008 9:05AM]

sweet seems like my next archos will have 3g

[E71 @ Feb 13th 2008 4:11PM]

Archos, quit wasting our time with useless side-features and add 720p+ x264/AC3 MKV support already.

My ever-expanding 720p-res television show collection is screaming "take me with you".

[BrianB @ Feb 13th 2008 9:18AM]

Let's make calls from our PMPs for a change, instead of watching movies in our cellphones.

[Steffen Jobbs @ Feb 13th 2008 9:48AM]

4G makes some sense, but do they really want to turn this PMP into cellphone using 3G. Archos should hold off and wait until WiMax becomes more established. It would be perfect for streaming videos.

[Shawn @ Feb 13th 2008 9:52AM]

Too bad Archos has horible customer service.

[Zeus.:God @ Feb 13th 2008 10:06AM]

Then again, unlike with Apple's shoddy products, you don't need the customer service.

[Simon P @ Feb 13th 2008 11:08AM]

I'll get my Archos fanboy disclaimer out the way first. Then I'll say that this is a great move for us as a whole. It seems ever since way back when, that Archos has been amongst the most innovative with their PMPs. Couple that with what have been solidly put together devices (if a little lacking in the GUI department) and I've no doubt that this will work well when they get it out. I think most peoples holy grail is getting as many devices as they can into one that does it all, and does it all well. I reckon Archos is our best hope of getting this magical device and then dragging the competition kicking and screaming to up their respective games.

[JohnTitor @ Feb 13th 2008 12:30PM]

and to think we live without 3G on our cellphones

[Sasimi @ Feb 13th 2008 2:01PM]

All cool and stuff, but Archos better tweak their interface first, it's so contra-intuitive that it's not even funny anymore. While they're at it, they should get a Design team too...

[thethirdmoose @ Feb 13th 2008 3:37PM]

While their interface isn't quite as good as Apple's, I think it's fine. After all, I don't need to teach my friends how to use my 605, so it must be pretty intuitive, right?

[kbomb1upc @ Feb 14th 2008 4:11PM]

I just purchased the 605 Wifi two days ago... I want 3G :(