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Ah memories.

For my own list, I'd like to add the Atari Lynx. http://atarilynx.com/ Anyone remember this bad boy?

Much like the Amiga, this hand held was so technologically superior to anything else at the time, it took years for a competitor to come out with something even nearly as cool.

Damn. Makes me wish I still had mine around. Maybe I'll just pull out the Coleco Vision instead. ;)

-Ripley 29

Your URL is pretty messed up there! It takes you to microsoft.com for some reason.

Try this instead http://www.atarilynx.com/pages/apb.shtml

I never owned a Lynx but wanted one so bad...when was that? 1990?

Of course not, silly, that's where the camera goes! ;)

Most laptops can't plug into the big-screen TV for all the relatives to get a sneak-peak at the photos I've taken during the week.

A 12-inch iBook can (and an ibook's not exactly high-end for a laptop these days.) You can also use a laptop to retouch those photos, and upload them so folks 10,000 miles away can see the pictures, along with your typed or dictated commentary.
It will also hold a pile of maps and accept a GPS dongle, speak driving directions out loud to you, enable voip access, play thousands upon thousands of games (with the magic of emulators), and be FAR easier to use for all these things since you can do them with a KEYBOARD, the trackpad, and/or a USB or wireless mouse, instead of what is essentially a glorified ATARI LYNX FOR ADULTS.
What's more, if you get an Apple machine, you gain the "instant on" appeal of PVRs. OS X suspends to RAM, and wakes up from it, in less than four seconds. (I haven't actually SHUT DOWN my powerbook since I bought it two years ago!)

The big thing I don't understand is, when people see this item, why don't they notice the big tether-cord that comes with it? Tying them to an actual computer - the device they HAVE TO USE to get all their crap on and off of these things? Honestly, it's just a big external hard drive with a window stuck on it. Why would anyone choose to create such a management overhead, for no reason?

I've been lusting after an Archos previously,

Ahhh, there's the reason: lust!

but the requirement of a dongle for CompactFlash reading was a limiting factor.

Alas, to avoid a dongle, you'd need something other than the 12" ibook, which lacks a PCMCIA slot.

Am I the only one who thought this looks just like the Atari Lynx?

Oh how I miss my Lynx.

With the screen exposed like that, and not even recessed, I would be worried that it would get scratched easily. I'm worried about the power button's placement, and I hope that it has to be held for a half second to turn the thing off so you won't hit it accidently.

My guess is that the directional buttons/pad is/are analog, because I would think that putting an analog stick on a handheld would tend to break off or get damaged. There also don't seem to be any shoulder buttons, so if they plan to port PS1 games, some might not be easy (although some games never even used 'em).

Putting the discs in cartridges is a good idea, and they have expirence (MiniDiscs) and it being Sony I bet it will have good battery life (unlike, IIRC, the Lynx), but I wonder if it will be built in rechargable or AA(A)s (my guess is LithIon).

I guess my last comment is the screen. It's widescreen, very cool. I think that will play well with many types of games and if their "watch movies on it" idea ever takes off, that holds good.

OK, this is the REAL last comment. Wouldn't it be cool if they released a rewriteable disc for the thing and some kind of little DVD->PSP conversion unit or software or something so that you could "copy" your DVDs to it to watch on the go, so you wouldn't have to buy movies twice? It will never happen, but maybe some 3rd party will do it!