Archos PMA400

Many of us would like to have a combined contact book, diary and portable media player, rather than carrying several devices around. This concept is fraught with difficulty and the Archos PMA400 shows why.

Slightly bigger than an iPod, the PMA400 combines a 30Gb hard disk with a 9cm LCD screen. There are several buttons for controlling the device and a stylus that fits into the screen cover.

Contacts, appointments and the to-do list can be synchronised with a computer. The supplied Qtopia desktop software can be used to do this, or it will work with Microsoft Outlook.

Wireless networking is included and can be used to surf the web or check emails. It only supports the WEP form of security, so it might be necessary to adjust your home network settings.

One of the best features of the Archos PMA400 is that it can record video using the supplied cradle. This works in real time but manages to bypass Macrovision protection.

Unfortunately the stylus is not activated when the PMA400 is first turned on and it lacks a text editor for anything more than plain text.

An e-book reader would have completed the system well. It also suffers compared to other handheld computers on the limited amount of extra software available.