(2010-05-15) Archos7 Home Tablet

Engadget reviews the Archos 7 Home Tablet. Android-v1.5, 7" screen (ugh, resistive, so no MultiTouch). 600MHz ARM 9 processor and 128 MB of RAM! No Google App Market! Just $200.

May15: Hackers have Mae Mo working on it, thought with WiFi problems.

Oct15: hack gives App Market access and Android update.

There's an Archos70 coming "soon". Looks promising. Hmm, is it out or not?

• Oct20 - some dodgy-looking places have it listed, but not J And R or B And H or Dynamism or Amazon.

• Dec09 - still not available!

• Dec24: fresh review. If the Archos 70 and 101 were priced at $399, we'd find a lot of the shortcomings to be unforgivable, but for $299 (and in some places $275), we're just not sure you can beat the duo. Yes, we can all agree that the displays are seriously cruddy and the overall build quality and design, for lack of a better work, suck, but at this point we've just come to expect that for a tablet under $300. That said, the browsing and media experience are quite good, and once you get the Market loaded you've got a solid Android experience. If we were you, we'd still consider shelling out some extra cash to buy a more solid-feeling and better performing option like the iPad or Galaxy Tab -- they will undoubtedly wear better and the experience is more user friendly -- but for the price, Archos still makes the best tablets on the cheap.

• Jan02'2011 - still not at those mainstream dealers.

• Jan06'2011 - drove to CDW (HQ!) to pick one up.