The Archos Arnova 8 G2 is a budget Android tablet with an 8 inch display, a 1 GHz processor, and Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system. You can pick one up from Amazon for $180.
But out of the box, the Arnova 8 G2 may not have all the features you’d want from an Android device. For instance, it ships with a third-party app store instead of the official Google Android Market.
If you don’t mind potentially voiding the warranty by replacing the default software with a custom ROM, you can change that. Archos Fans forum member Sowa has posted custom firmware for the ARnova 8 G2 which adds the Android Market, Gmail app and other Google apps to the tablet. The custom ROM also gives you root access to the tablet and removes a few unnecessary features such as the startup wizard and Android phone app.
ArcTablet has detailed instructions for installing the ROM on your device. If you don’t like it, you can always use the same process to restore the original Arnova software.
The tablet has an ARM Cortex-A8 single core processor, 4GB of storage, a microSD card slot, and an 800 x 600 pixel display capacitive touchscreen display. It has 802.11b/g WiFi, a front-facing camera, a built-in speaker, mic, and g-sensor.
This is pretty great news. I like the pricing/quality/features balance on the Arnovas. I’ve been thinking of getting one for my son but I’m always bothered when there’s no Android Market on a tablet.