Android Tablet: Archos Tablet Home Series

Archos Tablet Home Series

Upon first look is there anything not to love about the Archos 7 Home Tablet? It's .5-inches thick, has a seven-inch touchscreen, runs Android, and wait for it...only costs $199. It's all sounded pretty great to us since its CeBIT unveil, but then small, yet saddening details began to emerge about the device: it has a resistive touchscreen, lacks an accelerometer, and doesn't have access to the Android Market -- and worst of all, it runs Android 1.5. Sure, you get what you pay for, but can the Archos 7 rise above those shortcomings and persuade us to dig $199 out of our piggy banks? We've spent the last week with the tablet, so you'll just have to click on to find out.

There's no denying that the Archos 7 shares DNA with the Archos 5 Internet Tablet, and considering we've always liked the look of the 5 that's not a bad thing. The brushed metal back cover of the device feels comfortable in hand, and though it's plastic at the core it's still rather sturdy. It's cheap, but we wouldn't say it's cheap-feeling. Sure, on the build quality scale it isn't as rock-solid as the aluminum iPad, but the 7 Home Tablet has something the Apple's tablet certainly should: a kickstand. A skinny plastic stand can be pulled out of the back of the tablet to prop it up on a tablet or desk, which means not having to invest in fancy stands.

Size-wise, the tablet is actually ideal -- the seven-inch display isn't too wide, and at 8 x 4.2 x 0.5-inches it doesn't take up much room on a nightstand or in a small shoulder bag. And because it weighs less than a pound (13.7 ounces, to be exact), it was quite easy to hold up in bed to read an e-book or surf the web – it's noticeably lighter to hold up than the 1.5-pound iPad while lying down. It's actually closer in size and weight to the 10.2-ounce and .36-inch Amazon Kindle.

There's not much to report in the way of buttons and ports – Archos kept it relatively simple with a power switch and micro SD card slot along the top edge, and headphone / composite video out and mini USB sockets on the right side. There's a circular opening on the front of the tablet where you'd expect some sort of cam, but unfortunately, that's just a placeholder at this point. In the box, Archos includes a pair of pretty crappy earbuds, a standard mini USB to USB cable, and an AC adapter. Archos plans to sell the composite-out cable separately.