Archos 7 8GB Home Tablet with Android (Black) on sale

Bert Bell "Spaceman" Say: Archos 7 8GB Home Tablet with Android (Black)
Lots of performance for under $200, 2010-05-31
This review is for: Archos 7 8GB Home Tablet with Android (Black)
I was highly anticipating the arrival of the Archos 7 Home Tablet. Since having it for almost one week, I have tested just about every feature it comes with. Like most reviewers, the touch screen is a little picky, but I like that feature as compared to my HTC phone which is hypersensitive and I make many mistakes. The WiFi feature is really above my expectations and connects to my internet immediately. I have done a lot of surfing with it and it never fails to impress me. What I really like is the quality of the videos...simply outstanding. The music system is also very good and I like not having to deal with iTunes (all systems should be drag and drop). What was most impressive was the bookreader. It comes with a couple of books for you to load and the quality is really good. I have loaded a couple of apps games for my grandson and the unit really delivers. I don't want to forget the photo feature and the slide shows you can do with it. What Archos has delivered is really outstanding, especially considering the price. If I want an iPad that connects to the internet, try $650 or more and the cost of a data package. Archos really hit a home run with this one, especially going with the android OS.I recently had a company, named Boxwave, manufacture a screen protector for my Archos 7 Home Tablet. I had tried several screen protectors, but the best one out there is made by Boxwave. Unfortunately, they told me they did not have one for the Archos. However, they said if I would take the measurements and send to them, they would manufacture one for me. I have used their screen protectors on my phone and they are outstanding. Also, I did not like the reflection of the Archos screen or the other screen protectors. Boxwave manufactured one out of anti-reflective material. I just received it last week and put it on. What a difference it makes and the touch screen appears to be more sensitive than without it. That makes a big difference to me. I highly recommend Boxwave for the screen protector.

S. Park Say: Archos 7 8GB Home Tablet with Android (Black)
eBook reader PLUS more, 2010-06-07
This review is for: Archos 7 8GB Home Tablet with Android (Black)
I have read and agree with the criticisms..and I still really like it because it does what I want to very well.I was initially looking for an e-book reader for my wife, but then I came across this product. Having not owned an e-ink e-reader, I cannot make direct comparisons. But on its own merit, the archos 7ht is a very functional e-reader. I easily loaded my wife's ePub books and I can control things like font, font size, portrait or landscape view, multiple bookmarking, and the best thing for me is reversing the colors so that the text is white on a black page. This makes reading in the dark very easy on the eyes, and probably extends battery life as well. It also allows changing the brightness, which is helpful in various lighting conditions.In addition, I get a versatile movie and music player and a decent web browser!Pros:great form facturegreat battery lifegood screengood e-readerdecent web-browserversatile movie and music playerdroid marketplace is a bonus, as this isn't something my wife would even look atCons:touch screen inaccurate/insensitiveglitchy firmwareold techalthough it advertises playing movies at 720p, it cannot play a high bitrate movie smoothly.This is not a hassle-free product, but I wasn't expecting it to do everything really well. If it did, it wouldn't be $199. Screen tapping twice every so often isn't a big deal. Doing some research [...] will really help minimize/avoid frustrations with this product. After becoming familiar with the product, I am very satisfied with what it does.

Mcdonald Mirabile "macmirabile" Say: Archos 7 8GB Home Tablet with Android (Black)
Everything you could want for $199, 2010-05-31
This review is for: Archos 7 8GB Home Tablet with Android (Black)
So, I have used Archos products for the last 8 years, I used some of their first hard drive based MP3 players and later the PMA-400, which in 2006 had wifi, audio, video, etc. I've never been very impressed with their operating systems on their media players, so I was excited when I saw they decided to go with Android 1.5.Android 1.5 seems to work very well on this system, at least relative to their prior OS. It's not as fast or as smooth or perhaps as stable as an iPad's OS, but in my opinion it's a small sacrifice to save $300+ (to upgrade to an iPad). One of the best features of this device is its use as a book reader. Literally within 15 minutes, I had downloaded an .EPUB file from Barnes and Noble's website to my desktop and then copied to the Archos mounted on my PC. The preinstalled book application, Alkido, was able to easily import the file and within minutes I was reading. HOWEVER, the only .EPUB files you can view through any Android based ebook readers are ones without DRM (digital rights management). The samples from B&N do not include DRM. The actual books when purchased, however, do. This means you CANNOT USE THIS TABLET CURRENTLY TO READ ANY .EPUB BOOKS DOWNLOADED FROM SITES LIKE BARNES AND NOBLES. There are thousands on non-DRM books available for free which are easily accessed within the Alkido application, however, and this is enough for me.The screen size on the Archos is just about perfect. The iPad is too big, the iPod/iPhone too small, this is just right for videos, web surfing, and certain book reading. Speaking of web surfing, the interface is a little awkward at first, but you get used to it. It's also maybe a tad slow surfing the web, though the appslib and slideme android application browers run fine.The video and audio playback seem to work well too, though I haven't tested any 720p media. The one final thing I want to mention here is the touch screen -- it's not close to the quality of the iPad, which I have used fairly extensively. It's crucial to carefully calibrate it at startup or you may have typing issues.