Archos 7 home tablet review $199usd

[vinarian]

First of all, I would like to point out that I am writing this review. on the archos ht. As this is Android ereader site I will e reviewing mainly the reader capabilties.

1. Touch Screen
This is a touch screen ONLY device, the only hardware button is the power button. The touchscreen does however have good response for a restive (sp) screen. It is perfect for page turnswipes and taps. Initial configuration is a little finicky though, it took two tries to get calibrated.

2. Storage
Ok, so this is an 8gb device, but you can only read ebooks off of Android sd card, which makes no sense to me. However sd cards are dirt cheap nowadays, so that was not a huge problem. Not to mention that the 8gb can be used to store mp3s to listen to while reading...

3. Battery Life
The archos website touts 7 hours video and 44 hours music, I get about 7 hours video, but only 15 hours while just reading, so nowhere near eink, but a lot better than most other color screen devices. On the downside, the unit will NOT charge via usb, you must use the included multinational charger. Charge time is just over one hour.

4. E-reader
The device comes preinstalled wit Alkido which is an excellent ereader, though figuring out how to transfer. ebooks. may take a little getting used to. There ae great brightness settingsas well as nighttime color schemes for easy vreading weather in bed or outside.

I have been usinh this device for about 2 weeks now and I am greatly satisfied.

I will review other aspects later today.

[luqmaninbmore]

Thank you for the review. Keep up the good work!

[dmitry]

Really don't know about Aldiko, don't use it, but in FBReaderJ you can change settings for folder where it will look up for books and I did it and now it takes books from internal storage folder Books (I created it when device was USB connected to PC).

Just wondering did you update firmware? Because I received mine a week ago from Amazon and it contained old one, but I thought that it should already had a new one .

Dmitry.

[vinarian]

I did update the firmware. I also tried fbreader, none of my epubs worked correctly, and it tooi way to long to update the library. Not saying. anything bad about it, I use fbreader on my HTC touch windows mobile, I find aldiko to be much more user friendly. The only gripe I have with aldiko is that if you use a table of contets link or search for a page, then bookmarks will not go to the correct page.

[EowynCarter]

Ok, so this is an 8gb device, but you can only read ebooks off of Android sd card, which makes no sense to me.

Because "normal" android device a really small memory. So everyting that can go on Sd goes on sd.

I've read on my archos 5 for a while, opus was at bookeen's.
LCD screen was less an anoyance that i would have though. Though the glossy border was.
I like aldiko better, you can set brightness easily by swaping you finger. If fbreader have a way to do that i didn't found it.

What i missed most where folders, and ade page numbers. They are ussefull.

[Thalia]

Hey, newbie here on the mobilereads forums.
I was reading ebooks on my work Blackberry with 3 different software pkgs-- mobipocket, Secure E-Reader, and Barnes & Noble Secure E-Pub.

After I got my Archos 7HT, I realized that the Android version 1.6 would not support Mobipocket or Kindle for Android.

I started using Aldiko, and I really like it, more features! Like sort by author, add tags.

Then I realized that I could download all my "multiformat" ebooks from Fictionwise in DRM-free E-Pub format.

I'm in the process of converting my books into E-pub so I can get them all into one format and one directory.

I wandered over here from Dark Reverser and the Apprentice.

==> I flashed my Archos with the firmware developed by Sir Dom over on the Archosfans forums. That enables google apps and google marketplace. It's still better to get Aldiko thru the Archos AppsLib. The Google Marketplace Aldiko will cut the bottom line of text off the page.

Freedom & Android!!
Thalia

[luqmaninbmore]

Kindle for android works on 1.6.

[Noah98]

Originally Posted by luqmaninbmore

Kindle for android works on 1.6.

Unfortunately, the Archos 7 HT actually uses Android 1.5

I think Thalia mistakenly listed it as 1.6

[vinarian]

Another nice ereader program for the archos that I have found is "Laputa" although, appslib only contains ver3.03 which does not work on the 7ht. Older versions however still work good. It is a bit faster than Aldiko at loading new chapters and has a nicer progress bar, however aldiko has the nice brighttness slider as mentioned by EowynCarter, and a (much) easier to use book adding interface.

[dixieknits]

Bought the Archos 7 on impulse last night at Bestbuy and cannot find anyway to get my epubs to be recognized by Aldiko . I could not find any instructions in the ap for adding my own library....even tried emailing one and it "failed" on download. Could someone who has done this post their method. Thankyou.

[dixieknits]

After an evening of frustration and sore thumbs from pounding on the very unresponsive touch screen of the Archos7 I drove it back to Best Buy this morning. It was a lesson learned about what another member referred to as low end poor components. After reading from a Kindle and using an iphone touch screen, it was too horrible to keep. I have an orphanned "Augen" I use at night or in a motorhome and would buy another at half the price if I could find one.
The Archos has too many bugs, one of which was not staying recognized by my router. Finally after figuring how to load the epubs on the SD card, I found it difficult to navigate with the books. The page turns required a hard swipe or tap or three and was too much effort, so I gave up. Also noted, many of the aps available did not work as the firmware was old and not upgradable. If the Pandigital and the Cruz are at all like this, I 'll wait and wait..