You know when you're half reaching for your wallet but you're just not sure?!?!? I figured in such a situation I should enlist the help of my BlackBerry peers!!!!

I'm in the market for a little (not too little) portable device to store my photos on and show family and friends. I've done a bit of hunting around and come across a few dedicated units by the likes of Epson that I can dump memory cards in to and copy over to a solid state drive, but what's caught my eye this week have been the Archos units.

I've done a bit of reading up and these look pretty funky on the surface. They're not exactly fit for my purpose and there are no memory card slots (I have an SD digicam, an SD high definition camcorder and a CF based digital SLR) but they do come with some funky add ons. You've got the Wi-Fi web browser which looks pretty cool and supports flash, there's the option to stream from your PC, they tend to support a lot of good video codecs and there's even an email client. Now typically I hate laptops with a passion, but while I'm looking for something primarily for my photos, a little Archos tablet looks to be a funky middle ground.

Admittedly, it’s a jump beyond necessity because this whole mission was born out of wanting to view my photos on a portable terminal, and while the Archos has none of the memory card slots, it has a decent 60GB hard disc and the cool factor of the stuff is swaying me off my original course slightly (you know all too well how easy it is for that to happen). I'm also aware that most people who buy these things travel a lot, and I don't, but having it as a web browser and network resource next to my bed would be cool.

What I hate is that lots of stuff you would expect to be included with Archos is extra. The web browser, PDF and HD video codec plugins are £20 each (what a rip off) but torrents are a plenty so that's fixed for free!!!

I’m certainly battling with myself over this one – do I need one, no – do I want one, yes and how long will it take before the novelty wears off! I’ve read that Archos are about to announce a new breed of units running Google Android – that I would like. For me the only thing that would make these units more self sufficient (and would make me instantly buy one) would be a SIM card slot for an embedded 3G modem as that would surely make it the ultimate tablet, but I don't want to spend a fortune on this thing.

I have managed to locate a brand new Archos 5 60GB unit for £179 delivered.

Friday thoughts???

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Looks like a pretty cool device. A little over kill, but still pretty cool.

And that's my sticking point! I'd blatently use the email client and web browser a lot at my parents as they have one PC upstairs, and I'd be less anti social if I could have the Archos in the living room on the WLAN (which will be a much better web experience than I'm currently enjoying there on my BlackBerry Bold!!

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I spent $275 on lawn maintenance stuff tonight that promptly went into my garage and I doubt I'll ever use the stuff (lawn fertilizer, weed & feed, one of those bucket thingies that spreads both of the crap around, a new rake (everyone needs a good rake, right?), another hose pipe, and another sprinkler).

I'm king of impulse here lately...

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Yesterday I bought $770 worth of airline tickets ($150 out of pocket) for next weekend to fly:

BOS-ATL-FLL-LAX-SEA-JFK-FLL-JFK-BOS

I'm hoping to add in a few more segments for more miles ... no I don't have a problem.

Anyone got any dining recommendations?

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Set up a layover in ATL and come down and see me and Brandee.

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ATL - Fogo de Chao

My latest impulse buy.

Memory Camera - GZ-HM200B - Features

Nice, I bought the Panasonic HDC-SD9 just before our baby was born to get some cool 1080p footage. I figure any format I buy in to today will be long defunct come her 18th birthday, but you can't do any more than buy the best 2009 has to offer (plus digital is digital anyway)!!!!

I'm hanging out on the Archos until Thursday. Archos are doing a press thing in Paris at 5pm which is apparently the launch of an Android based Archos with a 3G chipset. That would be the ultimte tablet but will also have an ultimate price tag I suspect. I figure if I hang out then the pricetag of the current Archos 5 might come down in light of the announcement!

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Si MCTS
Co-Owner
Port3101 - Your BES Connection

Don't forget, you can follow us on Twitter and if you're really bored you can always follow me!!

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That was exactly my thinking. It was an upgrade for my old Sony 8 mm. So now it's straight to the hard drive and not tape to dvd to hard drive.

(By the way, hope the baby is doing well.)

Well I watched the Archos press launch live online. Most people were expecting an Android unit with a 3G stack but instead they announced a 10 inch tablet running Windows 7!!! Apparently there's an Android announcement coming on 14th September, so I may hang fire that bit longer.

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Si MCTS
Co-Owner
Port3101 - Your BES Connection

Don't forget, you can follow us on Twitter and if you're really bored you can always follow me!!

The views expressed by me on Port3101 and its affiliated sites are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.