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Archos Arnova 7 hits the FCC, brings new hope to penny-pinching tablet enthusiasts
For those who like their Android tablets cheap, it looks like Archos is ready to unleash yet another budget-friendly addition to the Arnova family stateside. The Arnova 7 slate has just graced the FCC, accompanied by the requisite confidentiality requests, which means we won't get any real-deal shots of the thing, nor a full list of specs, but we did get a rather nice sketch of the WiFi tablet via the good old label-placement diagram. If that outline's got you all worked up, the Arnova 7's already received some pricing and spec details overseas, rocking a €99 price tag, 800x480-pixel display, and Android 2.2. Now we'll just have to wait and see how that translates when the Arnova 7 makes its way across the pond.
Archos 7 Home Tablet sees revision 2, with Android 2.1 and faster 800MHz CPU
The Archos 7 Home Tablet was something of a disappointment, and Archos has shipped bigger and better things since, but the firm isn't done with the original affordable Android slate quite yet. We've confirmed with Archos that a "v2" revision is now shipping in Europe with three things the original lacked -- an accelerometer, a relatively recent version of Android (2.1) and an 800MHz Rockchip CPU. Make no mistake, those are still budget specs, and you'll almost certainly still have to hack your own Android Market on to get a full quota of apps, but it's not like you're paying any more for the extra oomph. The updated version has been spotted at Expansys for the same $200, which might actually might make it one of the best bang-for-the-buck tablets out there. Look how far we've come. [Thanks, Marien]
How would you change the Archos 7 Home Tablet?
Archos has been a player in the PMP market for a few centuries now (a rough estimate, anyway), and to say that the universe was jazzed at the mere thought of a 7-inch tablet for under $200 would be understating things dramatically. We found more things wrong with the Archos 7 Home Tablet than we could've ever imagined going in, but still, for under two C-notes, we have to believe that a few of you flipped on the blinders and made the purchase anyway. For those in that camp, we're interesting to find how you feel about it now. Is the size right? Is the OS as impressive as you thought it would be? Are you longing for a larger display? Imagine you had the keys to Archos' design lab and had the power to overhaul this bad boy, then have a sip of your favorite fruit juice and drop your thoughts in comments below. In that order, por favor.
Archos 7 Home Tablet now shipping, days ahead of schedule
Looking for a cheap Android tablet that's neither KIRF nor vaporware? You could do worse than the $199 Archos 7 Home Tablet, now shipping from Amazon a full week ahead of its "early June" release window. For three Benjamins less than that other slate, you'll get a thin, spacious device that serves as an excellent media player, coupled with a sub-par Android 1.5 experience and a resistive touchscreen. If the lack of Android Market isn't a dealbreaker, you can slap down your bills right after the break, but we'd recommend reading through our full review to see it in action (complete with video) and find out exactly what you're getting yourself into.
Archos 7 Home Tablet review
Upon first look is there anything not to love about the Archos 7 Home Tablet? It's .5-inches thick, has a seven-inch touchscreen, runs Android, and wait for it...only costs $199. It's all sounded pretty great to us since its CeBIT unveil, but then small, yet saddening details began to emerge about the device: it has a resistive touchscreen, lacks an accelerometer, and doesn't have access to the Android Market -- and worst of all, it runs Android 1.5. Sure, you get what you pay for, but can the Archos 7 rise above those shortcomings and persuade us to dig $199 out of our piggy banks? We've spent the last week with the tablet, so you'll just have to click on to find out. %Gallery-92888%
Archos 7 Home Tablet ships to Android lovers in June
So you go and pre-order the Archos 7 Home Tablet, thinking it would ship by the end of April. Our deepest apologizes, but according to the official press release below, the 7-inch, Android 1.6 tablet won't be shipping in the US until early June -- though an Archos spokesperson told us that those who pre-ordered may get units before the end of May if they count their lucky stars. The rest of the release doesn't reveal much, but does confirms that the resistive touchscreen device won't have access to the Android Marketplace. Instead -- and as you can see in the unboxing pictures below -- it comes with Archos' AppsLib store and is preloaded with a few apps, including eBuddy and Aldiko's e-reader software. Still, we know the $199.99 tablet sounds tempting, but our review should be up in the next few days. In other words, you should probably hold off on sliding that credit card out -- after all, she ain't shipping 'til June. %Gallery-92466%
Archos 7 Home Tablet up for pre-order on Amazon for $199
The Archos 7 Home Tablet already went up for pre-order overseas last month, but it's now finally available to order over here as well courtesy of Amazon, with more retailers undoubtedly set to follow soon. While there's still no word on an exact release date (Archos has only said the "end of April"), the 7-inch tablet can now be ordered for $199.99, which is one of the more inexpensive ways to get a taste of Android without having to sign a contract. Still not sure what you might be getting into? Then be sure to check out our hands-on for a quick overview of the device. [Thanks, Ron]
Archos 7 Home Tablet sized up by FCC
Now that everyone and their grandpappy's thoroughly caught up in tablet frenzy, it's time for some of the lesser beasts to start coming out of the woodwork. Next up? The Archos 7 Home Tablet, which just garnered the last bit of FCC approval it needs to see a late April release. With a comparatively slow 600 MHz Rockchip RK2808 inside, don't expect the Home Tablet to set speed records like its younger brother, but do look forward to a reasonably competitive price when the video-friendly Android device arrives stateside. See what it looks like with a paintjob (and sans "Ewe" logo) in our video from CeBIT after the break, or peek pics of an government-sponsored teardown at the source link.
Archos 7 Home Tablet up for pre-order, could ship first week of April
The first week of April is going to be a good one for prospective tablet owners. If a certain highly talked-about slate isn't to your liking, it seems that Archos 7 Home Tablet we spent some time with earlier this month will soon be making its debut as well. Both Redcoon.de ("usually ships in two weeks") and Amazon.de ("soon") have the 8GB model available for pre-order, for €180 and €200 (or about $240 and $270) respectively. Not the most stunning hardware, to be sure, but for less than $300 you can't really complain. Hit the source link to see for yourself. Updated: We heard from Archos and it plans to launch the the 7 Home Tablet here in the US at the end of April.
Archos announces new line of internet tablets for summer 2010
You thought that the Archos gang were goin' wild with the svelte 7 Home Tablet (and its self-conscious digiframe-esque sibling), but believe us -- the Android funfest is far from over. According to the company, this summer will see the range expand significantly, with new models featuring ARM Cortex processors (up to 1GHz) and "a richer set of features with screen sizes from 3- to 10-inches." One thing that we probably won't be seeing "any time soon," at least according to the kind man we cornered at the Archos booth at CeBIT? An Archos phone. But that's OK -- we don't even know how we'd find time to talk on the phone with all those tomatoes we have to slice. [Thanks, Michael]
Archos 7 Home Tablet (and PMPs) hands-on
Why hello there, Archos. My, what nice Android you have there. Tucked away in a little booth at CeBIT, the PMP maker was showcasing its latest 7-inch Home Tablet. Unfortunately, it was pretty barebones as far as content goes, but the vanilla Android 1.6 was running smooth, and if company precedence indicates anything, the video playback is still fairly solid. The selling point here, really, is a decent screen and that $200 or so price tag. No dice on espying Archos 8, though; we've passed by the company's booth twice now, and both times it had yet to be sent to the show floor. Instead, on hand were the A14VG and AV15VS, but there isn't a lot to say about music players with the same feature set you'd find in PMPs sold at grocery stores -- there's definitely a market, but it's targeted at your wallet more than your desire for cutting edge goods. Video of Archos 7 after the break. %Gallery-86988% %Gallery-87152%
Archos 7 and 8 Home Tablets are cheap, but you get what you pay for
Archos has just announced its brand new 7- and 8-inch Home Tablets, which both run Android and cost €149 ($203). For that layout, you'll get a 600MHz ARM 9 processor, which won't be breaking any (positive) records, but the Archos 7 you see above is a very svelte 12mm thin and weighs only 350g, making it an ideal web reading device if not a particularly potent multimedia consumer. You also get WiFi, 2GB of integrated memory on the cheaper versions and a battery that will last for seven hours of video or 44 hours of audio playback. The Archos 8 (pictured after the break) comes with a huge old bezel, hinting at its ability to double up as a picture frame, while sharing the 7's other features, including price and thickness. The smaller device will be coming out in Europe this April, to be followed by its larger sibling in May.
Archos Home Slate set to grace CeBIT with its family-friendly presence
Watch out now, Archos is about to bestow a whole new category of electronic device upon us. It'll still be a tablet to the knowledgeable among us, but the rest of the world will know the Home Slate as an FDA -- a family digital assistant. Listed on CeBIT's exhibitor guide, this new multimedia player cum home organizer will offer WiFi connectivity and a web browser along with the usual suite of photo, video and music playback options. We'd heard earlier that Archos was planning new tablets aimed specifically at in-home use, and the A70HB model number here would suggest that this might be the rumored Archos 7 Android tablet pictured above. Whether it be 7 inches or 17, you can rest assured we'll be digging this up at CeBIT shortly to figure out if those family-assisting features are worthy of the highfalutin marketing that accompanies them. [Thanks, David V.]
Archos said to have two new Android tablets on track for CeBIT
We've already seen a whole slew of Archos renders leak ahead of CeBIT, and it looks like the company itself has now confirmed that it'll have at least two new devices on hand at the show. Details are still pretty light, of course, but the company's German PR firm has reportedly said that Archos will debut two new "low-cost" Android tablets that are "specifically designed for use at home." One of those is rumored to be a new Archos 7 tablet, while the other remains a bit of a mystery -- although the combination of "low-cost" and "home use" seems to suggest that 3G might be out of the question for either of them.
Six supposed new Archos models rendered for your speculative enjoyment
Archos hasn't seemed to secure much love for its latest, the Archos 9 tablet, so maybe it's going back to what it does best for its next suite of products: a quintet of mostly straightforward players along with a titillating new flavor of the Archos 7. First is the simple and cheap Archos Key, a €20 device with 4GB of storage and microSD expansion. Then there's the Archos Vision Slim, a slenderized and button-free version of the original Vision, again packing just 4GB of storage but going for €40 this time. Next is the Archos Yamaha Vision 2, with an internal amp from Yamaha, integrated stereo speakers, and undisclosed storage quantity and price. Next we have the Archos 4 Vision, a 4.3-inch touchscreen model with TV output, microSD expansion, and what was previously understood to be 16 and 32GB of storage. Finally, perhaps the most interesting, is the Archos 3 Vision Camera, an 8GB player with an integrated camera that could make this into a Flip-replacing media player -- depending on the quality of the video, naturally. Oh, and did we forget to mention the purported Archos 7 with Android? It's worth restating. All are decidedly rendery looking and naturally this is all unconfirmed, but golly don't they look pretty.
Archos releases developer edition firmware for Internet Tablets
According to a press release dated this morning, Archos is making proof-of-concept "developer edition" firmware available for its ARCHOS 5 and ARCHOS 7 Internet Media Tablets. Based on the Angstrom Linux distribution, this is by no means a commercial distro (no multimedia software) but since you're taking it upon yourself to code the next great multimedia / social networking / productivity / time travel app anyways, you don't really want to be bogged down by such pedestrian fare. According to the PR, the company "eagerly anticipates seeing its hardware platform used as a foundation for creating exciting new usage models and applications that the developer community brings." And so do we! Read all about it after the break.
New firmware adds high-def video plug-in to Archos 5 / 7
Hey, Archos 5 / 7 users -- do we have your attention? Good. You know that high-def support you've been not-so-patiently waiting for? Archos just hooked you up good fashion. As of right now, the read link is holding fresh firmware for both players (v1.6.03), which tosses in support for WMV / VC-1 playback at 720p (24fps; 6Mbps maximum). The update also fixes a number of bugs involving MP3 tags, TV recording errors and GUI malfunctions. Give it a download and report back, won'tcha?[Thanks, Trevor]
Archos 5 and 7 firmware update knocks email out of beta
Looks like the Archos 5 and 7 just got another firmware update that's finally brought a release version of the email app. That's right, update 1.2.05 is enough to bring Archos' email out of beta, and now everybody's partying with the real app, which apparently doesn't crash all the time and moves a bit faster. It looks like a pretty standard, if robust email app, and it seems like Archos has worked out most of the kinks with this latest update... or at least we hope so. We're getting pretty tired of seeing it's beautiful, touchscreened face around here.
Archos 7 acquired in the wild, critiqued in French
Mmm, the Archos 7. Seven full inches of touchscreen loveliness, just waiting to be caressed as you slide over your favorite artists one by one. Poor attempts at seduction aside, this magnificent piece of PMP has been spotted in the wild over at ArchosLounge, and the lucky soul who managed to acquire it even took the time to spill his impressions... in French. From what we could gather via the wonders of Google Translator, the Archos 7 wasn't actually a surefire upgrade for those with the 5, particularly not at the listed price. Still, the unit brought a lot of smiles to the face of the owner, and we're pretty sure it'll do the same for you. Click the read link for a few more looks.
New Archos 5, 7 firmware adds OGG / FLAC support, fixes bugs
We noticed a few problems with the firmware on the Archos 5 we got our hands on last month, and it now looks like the company is going some way towards addressing a few of those complaints with its latest update, and it's thrown in a few goodies for good measure. The biggest of those is added support for OGG and FLAC formats, though the promised increase in battery life and boost in USB transfer speed will also no doubt be especially welcome to anyone that's already taken the plunge on one of the players as well. The list of bug fixes is even longer, and includes promised remedies for all sorts of system hangs and crashes, plus some fixes for a number of video playback and recording problems. Hit up the link below to grab a copy.[Via ArchosLounge, thanks Billy]
