Archos is expected to launch a new line of tablets at an event on June 23rd, but the company’s budget line of Arnova tablets already received an update a few days ago when Archos introduced the Arnova 7 and Arnova 84. There’s one key difference between these tablets and the big name devices coming from companies such as Samsung, Toshiba, and HTC: The Arnova products are dirt cheap.
Archos created official product pages for the new tablets this weekend, and the tag-line for the Arnova 7 is that “a 7 inch tablet for $99 is possible.”
The tablet isn’t a powerhouse by any means. But it doesn’t look all that bad on paper. For $99 you’ll get a 7 inch, 800 x 480 pixel resistive touchscreen display, Googl Android 2.2, and 4GB of flash storage. The tablet can handle H.264 videos with resolutions up to 720p as well as MPEG-4 and RealVideo formats.
The Arnova 7 has a USB port, microSDHC card slot and 802.11b/g WiFi. The tablet measures 7.6″ x 4.7″ x 0.5″ and weighs just 12 ounces.
The product page doesn’t mention the CPU, but it’s probably safe to say that the Arnova 7 doesn’t have a bleeding edge dual core chip. But if you’re just looking for a cheap tablet for surfing the web, reading eBooks, watching videos, or playing a few games it might be good enough.
Android apps generally aren’t designed for resistive touchscreens, since they work best with fingertip input rather than fingernail or stylus input. But Archos tends to use decent resistive touch panels which offer a passable, if not stellar user experience, so I’ll reserve final judgement on the Arnova 7 until I have a chance to check it out in person.
There’s no word on US pricing for the Arnova 84 yet, but this model features an 8.4 inch, 800 x 600 pixel display, Android 2.1, and similar storage, connectivity, and media capabilities. The Arnova 84 measures 8.3″ x 6.3″ x 0.39″ and weighs 1.3 pounds.
via Pocketables and ArcTablet
I got a chance to test a Archos 7 Home tablet that had a resistive screen at Office Depot and didn’t think it was bad at all.
Arnova needs to update battery specs, however, since it doesn’t state capacity or hours:
Video playback time: up to hours
Music playback time: up to hours
Yeah, I noticed that too. At least it’s probably accurate. The battery
should last for up to hours… which grammatically would even cover less
than an hour 🙂
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Might have some interest in that 8.4.
Umm, I’m not sure how much better this will be than the likes of cherrypad… Honestly, low resolution, resistive touch screen, with not so hot viewing angles? You’re going to notice that. Anemic processor, and cheap battery? You’re going to notice those. The only thing compelling is the price. Still even if it’s twice as functional as the last round of $100 tablets… you wouldn’t really want it would you?
Well, Ive used ZTE V9 Light, while its not exactly 100$ tablet(its more like 250$ with 3G, phone capabilities, perhaps better battery life and thats probably where difference ends) I didnt find its resist-screen lacking, resolution was only major drawback of that tablet, but for sub 100$ tablet its not that bad for the start. Im sure 1024×600 will soon become the next mainstream resolution even on these budget tablets.
Thats awesome, now if only it sells for that same price everywhere else in Europe as well, Im definitely getting one from Archos this summer!
Wifi tablet should not cost more than ~100$ unless it has FullHD screen, 2+days battery life, dual/quad core CPU and all other possible bells and whistles.I hope it will have somewhat decent battery life, which I doubt for such price, but still nice to see someone from big names doing this!