3. Watch Your Handwriting

The unit proved to be quite practical to use. Even though the application interface doesn't correspond either to that of the Pocket PC or Palm OS, you quickly get your bearings. The only thing missing is instructions to help you understand how some of the games work. But in general, if you let your instincts be your guide you'll quickly find the commands you need.

Another strong point of this unit is text entry. With all the PDAs I've tested, the handwriting recognition has always given me fits. Even with elaborate recognition software, I've had to struggle for hours to get the thing to understand my scribblings.

For handwriting recognition, Archos takes a different technology track compared to its competitors. Indeed, the unit doesn't recognize, but optically records - or photographs - handwriting. If your handwriting is different from that which is programmed for a given letter, all you do is write it once and save it to memory and it remembers the new shape. But for it to be recognized, you can't change that shape, even slightly. But if you can't get the system to work for you, you can use the keyboard or the virtual SMS system.