Details on Archos 606, SFR 3G+ plan revealed

We'd already heard about Archos' deal with France's SFR to build 3G+ into upcoming players, but the folks at PC INPact have now turned up what appears to be some of the firmest details yet of those plans, and the first player to support 'em. That player is supposedly the Archos 606, which is described as being the same size as the Archos 605, but with a screen 1-2 centimeters bigger and a casing that's entirely black (it's also said to boast a 30GB hard drive). Unfortunately, there's no official pictures of the device just yet, but the folks at Archos Lounge have put together the mockup above to feed the speculation in the meantime. As for SFR's plans, it'll apparently offer three different subscription options coming in at €14.90, €19.90, and €29.90 a month ($22 to $46), each of which will let you purchase the device for €249, €199, or €149 ($380, $305, or $230), respectively, or you can simply the player without a plan for €290, or about $460.

[Via Archos Lounge, thanks John]

[mymaclife @ Mar 12th 2008 12:02PM]

It must be nice for all the serious users of Engadget not to see FIRSTGUY not posting his 'First' crap!

[mymaclife @ Mar 12th 2008 12:03PM]

opps too many 'nots' in that one!

[coolbee8 @ Mar 12th 2008 12:09PM]

you can use different names, right? if you just use the new user login? So for all we know, he can be anyone, I mean anyone.

[mymaclife @ Mar 12th 2008 12:12PM]

You're correct you can't stop trolls but his 'joke' (loose term) fails as soon as someone beats him.

[Yubastard @ Mar 12th 2008 12:54PM]

well, u still the same offtopic as him, if you're gonna take his chance, do something nice, not:

"NOT FIRST POST!"

more on topic, I wonder if it's going to be like Nokia's internet tablet minus touchscreen?

[coolbee8 @ Mar 12th 2008 12:09PM]

30 gb? I was expecting like 250/320gb...

[fischju @ Mar 12th 2008 12:13PM]

30GB is just the first base model. They will of course come out with a 160GB and 80GB, whth larger capacities when the 250 disks cost less.

[coolbee8 @ Mar 12th 2008 12:17PM]

Hope so, the 4 series didn't allow bigger drives, then again times change.

[E71 @ Mar 12th 2008 3:45PM]

Yeah, 30GB is kind of dumb. I hope they're not taking the Apple route and going backwards with capacity instead of forward.

Also, I really need 720p+ x264/AC3 MKV support on this, otherwise it's no better for me than their last device.

[Wolfticket @ Mar 12th 2008 8:38PM]

Presumably it uses a single platter 1.8inch drive for the slims, so 160/250/320 is out of the question, but 60/80gb would be nice.

[coolbee8 @ Mar 12th 2008 9:59PM]

well, 405 uses 1.8 inch and 605 uses 2.5 inch drive, I think that 606 wont dump 2.5 inch drive for 1.8 inch HDD.

[Yuriy @ Mar 13th 2008 3:19PM]

as soon they switch their HDD to SATA it will be 500Gb

[JLH @ Mar 12th 2008 12:12PM]

wow, an archos player that actually looks decent! I am scared to ask how much it would cost without a subscription though...

[JohnTitor @ Mar 12th 2008 6:54PM]

that mock up was created long ago and hopefully won't look anything like that or the current gen should archos be serious about getting back in the game

[Greg @ Mar 24th 2008 10:43PM]

It cost $460.00 without a plan... if you ask me its quite pricy. $$$

[Greg @ Mar 24th 2008 10:49PM]

P.S. But still worth it, if it comes out with the features they say they are going to put on it.

[coolbee8 @ Mar 12th 2008 12:14PM]

Turn off the screen, photoshop away the archos icon, turn 90 degrees, and what you get?

[OSnix*-geek @ Mar 12th 2008 12:17PM]

an iphone? hmmmm

[fischju @ Mar 12th 2008 12:18PM]

You do know that the 605 (and the 606) have 800x480 screens and the ability to play .vob and unconverted xvid (and divx, and just about everything other than HD) at 720x480 (full DVD resolution)? While the device this mockup may look like can't do any of those things?

[GS @ Mar 12th 2008 12:20PM]

an archos 606 in the vertical position ;-)

[coolbee8 @ Mar 12th 2008 12:22PM]

It sure look like ioffer-codecs-not-for-free

[fischju @ Mar 12th 2008 12:30PM]

If you didn't know why Archos charges for vob, it is because the dedicated video decoding chips use proprietary software that archos has to pay for.

[Jeremy K. @ Mar 12th 2008 1:58PM]

yer mom

[Shan @ Mar 12th 2008 3:40PM]

They may charge for the vob decoding chip royalties - but they also charge for the internet browser which I think is lame. Who are they paying royalties for this? Nobody! So you pay for a machine and then end up paying for all the extras separately. The machines are pricey but it hurts that they then have to charge us for each and every little "extra". Now I know what iPod Touch users feel like!

[Charbax @ Mar 12th 2008 8:17PM]

Actually, Archos needs to pay Opera and Adobe for the Browser and Flash software. That's simply not free on consumer electronics devices. Just as you have to pay for Opera on your Wii or on your mobile phone, same with Flash support.

[JohnTitor @ Mar 12th 2008 9:33PM]

just look at the detailing around the silver border, who ever made the mock up took it straight off an iphone and stretched it

[Oliver @ Mar 12th 2008 12:30PM]

wow... i love how everyone is doing the "black and chrome luxury color scheme" that apple started with the iphone. Also, notice how there weren't many touchscreen devices before the iPhone? Well, funny things is, now, everybody is finding that touchscreen is a good idea, and therefore, most new PMPs today are touchscreen!

[Don @ Mar 12th 2008 12:41PM]

My phone came out before the iPhone, and it has a touch screen. Touch screens aren't new, and Apple wasn't the first to put it on a phone. I know, I know... your probably going to go cut your wrists now that you know you aren't as cool as you think with your little iPhone. Oh, and most PMPs ARE NOT touch screen. Go take a look at all of the models that Apple, Creative, Archos, and the other manufacturers make and I'll bet "MOST" aren't.

[fischju @ Mar 12th 2008 12:46PM]

Archos was the first with a touchscreen PMP and wifi.

[Phoenix @ Mar 12th 2008 12:48PM]

Oh for gods sake... There have been pocket PCs for YEARS. By DEFINITION these NEED to have touchscreens. Maybe they weren't as widespread, but they're not as hyped and overpublicized as the iPhone, and there's probably a damn sight more pocket PCs/PDAs in use now than there are iPhones, just not all of them are brand new. And the new Pocket PCs from I-Mate and HTC, to name but a few, completely eclipse the iPhone in terms of hardware, adaptability and functionality!

[jeti @ Mar 12th 2008 2:48PM]

I can't comment on anything else, but the mockup is fake.
I've seen renderings of the gen6 hardware and they do not
have a chrome colored frame.

[jeti @ Mar 12th 2008 2:56PM]

PS: Also note that the mockup is not consistent with the textual description.

[JohnTitor @ Mar 12th 2008 9:35PM]

Oliver there have been plenty of touch screen devices, just you never cared to look, the iPhone design in fact, is a rip off of the Dell Axim x50 combined with a Nokia n800

[Modex @ Jun 30th 2008 3:32PM]

For one thing remember everybody this is a mock up, not the real thing, and second, the archos 605 was before the ipod touch and out performs it in every way except for the multi-touch feature.

[holycow @ Mar 12th 2008 12:33PM]

hmm why does the picture say D6 (or 06) and not 606 ? =/

[Proteus93 @ Mar 12th 2008 3:23PM]

The earlier models also just have the '0x' listed. With the 605, the left bottom corner says "Archos 605 WiFi, while the right bottom corner - under the buttons - just says '05' with the word 'series' under it.

The word would have been too small to put into there and be truly visible, they didn't include a model number after the word Archos, and neither case ultimately matters a great deal since it is simply an 'artists rendition' of what it might look like, not a real picture.

[Dave @ Mar 12th 2008 12:35PM]

Still considering having my Archos AV140 repaired. I think I recorded the entire first season of The Venture Bros. with that thing.

[farfisa @ Mar 12th 2008 12:35PM]

Meizu knock-off!

[PenaltyKillah @ Mar 12th 2008 9:10PM]

.... .... .... You know that's an amateur mockup made by Archos fanboys, right? And how in the world does it look like a Meizu? The M6? I'd say the Creative ZEN is a M6 clone. Maybe their iPhone-clone, Windows Vista-interface-ripoff M8? Come on, you gotta be high or sth.

[farfisa @ Mar 12th 2008 9:56PM]

Well, I'm certainly not joking, that's for sure!

[Lifelion @ Mar 12th 2008 12:51PM]

The design in the picture was just a concept joke that was around at archoslounge. Don't expect the final result to be as depicted.

[Cliffy B. @ Mar 12th 2008 1:22PM]

Wow lol why not just wait for the 32gb iphone with 3g? This crap is garbage might aswell wait for the new iphone that comes in june it'll have 32gb,3g and ACTUALLY LOOKS GOOD.This garbage is a waste of my time.The only new cell phone that may challenge is the Gphone if it even comes out.

[Joe_Templeman @ Mar 12th 2008 3:47PM]

words aren't enough to explain how much of a c*nt you are.

[Jpack @ Mar 12th 2008 4:13PM]

do you read tech news or just invent it yourself?

[PenaltyKillah @ Mar 12th 2008 9:10PM]

.... .... .... You know that's an amateur mockup made by Archos fanboys, right?

[Andrew @ Mar 12th 2008 1:44PM]

of course touch screen has been around for years, but bad interface and awkward button designs makes it suck to use. ( if you tried to use the scroll bar in IE on a tytn youll know what I'm talking about..) apple did make a better "touch screen" device, no doubt of that, I personally use three cellphone now, Tytn II, LG Prada, and a 8gb iphone, all are touch screen base but iphone stand out the most, muti-touch is really how a touch screen should be like, I really hope all other cellphone, PMP maker can realize that.

on the other note, this thing does look like an iphone to me.

[roole @ Mar 12th 2008 2:17PM]

You stole the words right out of my mouth!

(Yeah, yeah, please spare me the sarcastic/sardonic "mouth"-related references).

[Shmalec @ Mar 12th 2008 6:24PM]

It doesn't even look like an iPhone.

[PenaltyKillah @ Mar 12th 2008 9:10PM]

At first glance, I exclaimed, "Finally our Archos got a facelift worth calling a facelift." Then, at further glance, I exclaimed, "Why the heck does it remind me of the iPhone?" Than I saw that it's a mockup. Phew! Sorry 'bout that, folks. We all got our inner n00biness. Mine expands when I'm turned on to these gadget stuff. Ok, that's creepy.

But seriously, a hard drive 3G+ device?

[farfisa @ Mar 12th 2008 9:57PM]

Funny, I caught on even before they said "the folks at Archos Lounge have put together the mockup above" right in the post. Now put down that doobie.