Customer Reviews

Archos 7 8GB Home Tablet with Android (Black)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(51)
3 star:		(29)
2 star:		(34)
1 star:		(61)

 

 

Edit 20110314: I no longer recommend this to anyone. This product is Version 1 running Android 1.5. The new 7HT is Version 2 running Android 2.1.
[...]

The 7HT is the fourth Archos product I've owned. Aside from the Gen 1 Jukebox, 5IMT amd 5IT, I purchased three 7HTs. Two as gifts for friends. Both my friends are technical types, not your average Home Owner to whom Archos markets the 7HT.

Personally, I am very pleased with the 7HT. It does everything I wanted it to do. However, I'm a retired techie and I found workarounds for flaws which would hamper the average Home Owner. I'm also a moderator on the ArchoFans Support Forum and focus on the 7HT forum.

Flaw 1:
As delivered the Archos 7HT cannot create new folders. This flaw prevents using the 7HT as a Digital Photo Frame with the supplied App - Photo Frame. Photo Frame treats folders as "albums" for displaying slideshows.
--Workaround: Install an App like ES File Explorer which can create new folders.
--Conclusion: Works fine for me now.

Flaw 2:
Archos provides the Aldiko eReader. I downloaded two books before I installed an 8G microSDHC card. After I installed the 8G card Aldiko "lost" the books I downloaded previously.
--Workaround: Don't use Aldiko before you install a microSDHC card.
--Conclusion: Works fine now and I have over 100 epub formatted eBooks in Aldiko now.

Flaw 3:
The Archos 7HT has an Unexpected Wake from Suspend every two hours. I had a drop from 81% battery charge to 18% after 4 hours and 36 minutes when I had the Screen Timeout set to Never.
--Workaround: Installed FastBright app to switch to a minimum 5% screen brightness and set the Screen Timeout to 1 minute. With these settings I've experienced only a 3% to 5% battery decrease.
--Conclusion: Works ok now. Only a firmware update will eliminate the Unexpected Wake from Suspend.

Iffy:
Out of the box Video playback did not work for all the videos I tried which did play on my PC under VLC and on my Archos 5IT. Some folks at the ArchoFans forum have no problems and others have plenty of video problems.
--Workaround: Convert videos via a PC program. I've found one group of settings which work and am still searching for more.
--Conclusion: Works ok for me since I'm more interested in eReading and less in video playback.

Note 1:
The 7HT does not support video out despite what you may read at Amazon or elsewhere.
Note 2:
A USB adapter, micro A male to A Female, is required to use the 7HT as a USB Host for thumb drives, USB keyboards, mice, and powered USB hubs. These adapters are difficult to find as not even Amazon has any. The USB receptacle on the 7HT is micro AB and the supplied USB cable is micro B for USB client mode.
Note 3:
Out of the box the 7HT has no support for WiFi file copies. An App like ES File Explorer provides this.
Note 4:
I doubt if Archos will provide additional firmware updates to correct the "flaws" I mentioned above. They outsourced the Android development and are working on the new Gen 8 software.
Note 5: (Update 20100923)
In mid-September Archos did update the firmware. While I've seen no corrections for the "flaws" AF forum members and I have found the touchscreen to be more responsive and satisfying.

Conclusion:
If you're an average Home Owner and want the 7HT to "work" out of the box, I'm afraid you will be disappointed. If you have a gadget or Android or techie background the 7HT should work for you and at $200 is a great value. I recommend you join a forum like ArchoFans to get the most from your 7HT. For example, recently one of our ArchosFans members got the Google Android Market working on the 7HT.

Allen

As others have said, it's a good value for $200. But I take that a little bit further and say that I'd rather have this gadget than the $500 iPad. Why? Here's why.

-It is smaller and almost half the weight. This makes it comfortable to hold and view with one hand, which is difficult with the iPad. I plan to hold on to it and watch videos while stationary biking at the gym, which would be difficult with a bigger tablet.
-The screen is matte. It has much less glare than the iPad.
-I use it mainly to watch videos. In this capacity, it excels, supporting more video formats than the iPad, and coming in a widescreen format instead of 4x3.
-It does most things as well or nearly as well as the iPad. Aldiko is a great ebook reader, you can download Swype to make typing super fast, videos and music play great, etc.
-It plays youtube and flash videos if you use the Skyfire browser.

Of course, there are drawbacks. I wouldn't give it a low rating though because it's missing features that only come with $500 tablets.

-The screen is resistive, and occasionally doesn't register your tap. This improves with time, if you turn on the click-on-tap sound setting.
-The Android marketplace doesn't work from the device. To get apps beyond the basic ones, you must either install another marketplace (like Slideme) or search around the web.
-The chip is supposedly slower to lower the pricepoint. I haven't noticed this much.


So for a student, or younger working type without much cash, this is an insane buy. Tons of tablets will be coming out this year, but this one works perfectly fine and may still be cheaper than anything else coming out for a long time. 7 inches is a perfect size right in between small phones and big iPads, and I've enjoyed using it in various situations during the week I've owned one.

Enjoy!

I got mine last night and I am very happy with it. I gave it five stars, not because it does everything under the sun, but because it is a great value for $200. Some things I write below compare it to expectations from smartphones and tablet standards, but they should be taken with a grain of salt because of the low price tag.

Likes: I love the form factor. Archos has provided a proof of concept and I can't wait for the 7" Android tablets to flood the market later this year and next year. It is very light weight and awesome for laying in bed or on the couch while surfing, reading etc. The form factor is just so much more enjoyable than a 10" iPad. The video quality is just stunning and will make an excellent travel companion just for this feature alone. Typing on the device (with Swype) makes this a great tablet for writing short emails and getting on facebook. The attached kickstand is very convenient and I'm sure it will get tons of use. I just hope that it won't break since it is plastic. I was pleasantly surprised to find the system very snappy and responsive since I was expecting a little bit of lag time due to the specs. I would have liked to see more processing speed and more memory, but who wouldn't?

Dislikes: Of course the resistive touch screen is the top of the list. I would have liked to see capacitive, but market limitations just didn't make that possible. I'm sure there will be a lot of 7" tablets with capacitive screens released later this year. I would have liked an accelerometer, but I haven't missed it yet. I'm sure that I will run across an app that will make me miss it, but nothing so far. I don't have to worry about the orientation changing unexpectedly when laying down, so that is a plus. The 1.5 version of Android was a terrible mistake by Archos and, in my opinion, inexcusable. 1.6 should be a bare minimum at this point and I am going to run into a lot of apps that won't work. I would have also liked the ability to charge the device over USB (you have to use an outlet).

Other Thoughts: If you are in the market for a great 7" entry level tablet, this is a great buy and you won't be disappointed. If you must have top of the line and can't see yourself happy downgrading services from your Android phone, then you might want to hold off until later this year. I am part of the [...] community and that is making this device much more enjoyable because we have a wiki of confirmed supported apps along with other information. Some people have reported defective devices, but it seems like a small portion of the population, so that is nothing out of the ordinary. Archos has already released one firmware update, and I hope more come in the future. With the limited memory and processing speed, a task manager is an absolute MUST have.

At first, I got this device and felt like returning it. But after using it for like 2 days, I have found that you can view YouTube, other video sites (even porn, just goto the mobile versions) by installing the SkyFire browser.

Also, I own a Nexus One, which runs Android 2.2. The Archos 7 streams videos flawlessly than my Nexus One, I believe that's due to its added GPU processor.

Other than that, this device is great because you can simply load avi, mov, even DivX files and you can play it back in crisp 720P HD.

The resistive touchscreen was sorta cheapish at first but for the price you pay, I rather have the cheaper resistive than capacitative since you can browse websites without any pinch-and-zoom due to its large 7-inch LCD.

Anyways, I hated it first when I just got the device but after using it couple days, I am lovin' it as it's replacing my internet browsing on my smartphone.

Also, internet radio is great too since I can literally put the device anywhere in my kitchen, all while browsing the web too. Multi-tasking is pretty good, although not super fast.

Seriously though, this is the best Android Tablet you can get right now for the money. I know there's a bunch of larger 10-inch android tablets coming out later this year but the price isn't going to match up with Archos 7.

Even my kids love it since I can put some Spongebob videos and they can watch it without asking me to boot up my secondary laptop, then play it.

One thing I really love about the device is its fast boot-up time and sleep mode. There's virtually none so it's really great portable media player.

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 facture
great battery life
good screen
good e-reader
decent web-browser
versatile movie and music player
droid marketplace is a bonus, as this isn't something my wife would even look at

Cons:
touch screen inaccurate/insensitive
glitchy firmware
old tech
although 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.

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.

The Archos 7 Home Tablet is a decent surfing device if you're looking for something with a larger screen but don't want to spend a lot of money. I have an iPod Touch and was looking for something larger for surfing. This device is by no means an iPad and I knew that going in. You are able to multi task such as streaming Pandora or iHeartRadio while surfing the web. I use the Touch for some games (which I haven't played on this) and apps, but found myself more often than not wanting a gadget for surfing the internet that had a larger screen. This device is also an excellent e-book reader and has an app where you can download a TON of free books!

You can play Youtube videos if you install Skyfire. The video quality is excellent and speakers sound good. The app library is not the full Android Marketplace and it would be nice if it were able to access it. You can find apps around if you're patient and don't mind messing around a bit. I upgraded the firmware to a newer version first thing (it will erase any apps you had that didn't come with it so do it if necessary right away before downloading too many apps.)

I wanted to experience Android and for once get in as an early adopter of a tablet rather than waiting. The resistive touch screen interface can be tricky but you get used to it and can swipe, just not flick like the i devices can do. If you buy it (and for the price if that's what you're willing to spend I say do it) just give yourself a few days with it before deciding if it's for you or not. Engadget said you get what you pay for and I tend to agree with that statement. I was willing to spend what this gadget cost and I'm good with it feeling comfortable that I have a nice surfing and media device with a larger screen.

Considering that the Archos 7 costs less than half of what an iPad costs, this tablet is a great value. It surfs the web, grabs your email, has apps and can do Flash. The built-in Wi-Fi is easy to configure and can pick up signal easily. The screen is bright...very bright...enough for outdoor use with ease.

The only drawback would be its touchscreen. It is older technology and not as sensitive as the iPad, but again - less than half the cost of an iPad.

Watch out Apple!

UPDATE 06.25.2010
I finally had a chance to install the Skyfire browser. It immediately doubled this tablet's value. I now can view Flash videos, including Youtube and news site videos - i.e. CNN.

The Skyfire browser was a little hard to find especially since the Archos does not have access to Android Market. I had to search and download the .apk file from my desktop computer, copy it to a mini-SD card, and run the install on the Archos.

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.

Bought this device, so that I could watch music videos on youtube, or anime (mkv files) while I work out. I wanted to love this thing, but I just couldn't make it work!

Pros: Nice big screen, clear and crisp, speakers decent, fairly light weight


Cons:
Shoddy design - I've seen a couple reviews that mentioned this, but it happened to me too. The back panel is made of thin, reflective metal. With 1x use, the heat from the unit actually WARPED the panel. There was a palpable space underneath the panel, so every time I handled the device, it made an audible snapping noise as the panel flexed. Super annoying, and I imagine eventually the whole panel would have simply fallen off

Cupcake - I've read this term on a few reviews as well, from the more advanced users. I didn't quite understand at first, but basically, it comes with an older version of the android OS. You have to be willing to MOD the hell out of this device to get it to do anything advanced (and the tech/geek forums were great resources). However, even after hacking/installing the free marketplace, I found that half the apps didn't even run reliably.

Freezes - multitasking sucks, very slow between screens and frequent freezing. Once I spent 40 mins staring at this useless device while on the cross-trainer; I was unable to unplug my headset from the device because it was frozen on the Pandora app, but still blasting out 1-2 second segments of a song every 3-5 minutes - I didn't want to disturb the other people in the gym. The device wouldn't turn off.

The reset button has a very tiny access - most large paperclips wouldn't fit into it, I needed to eventually use a safety pin.

Movie player sucks - when I read that it could handle MKV and other popular video formats used by my favorite fansubs, I was stoked! The device failed at everything else, I thought at the very least if it could play my anime, I'd forget all the pitfalls. No go - supports mkv, but no subtitle functionality. Fail.

Hot Hot Hot - this thing gets hot...

Browser capability - couldn't get the youtube app from hacked Market Place, so i was stuck using Skyfire browser to attempt to watch videos online. More often then not, it did not recognize that there was a video on the page I was viewing. It's an ongoing issue, as youtube continually change the flash features on their site; skyfire just doesn't keep up with the updates timely enough...but hey it's a free android market app - that's expected. Access to the youtube app would have fixed this.

Touch screen - not a big deal to me, but it was quite difficult to use at times with the slow and sluggish responsiveness. I have to re-calibrate almost with every use.

So...I ended up returning it. I would definitely purchase the next version if they updated the OS because that would fix almost 99.9 % of the issues I encountered. The device itself has potential, but right now, my Droid 2 does more...