Dont you hate that the cool iPad costs at least $500? I know I am. Luckily there is a cheaper alternative. The Archos 7 Home Tablet has a retail price of $199. In fact, you can get it for $189 from Amazon including shipping. That's the same price of an iPod Touch, not an iPad. Let's look at this economical device.The Archos 7 has a 7 inch screen, is 5 millimeters thick, and weighs less than a pound. It has a kickstand to prop it up. There are no buttons on the thing. It has a resistive touch screen for user input. The thing is similar to the smaller Archos 5 Internet Tablet.
Inside the Archos 7 has 128MB of RAM and 2GB disk space. An 8GB model runs for $240 retail. The display has a 800 x 480 pixel resolution. Built in speakers are very powerful. It supports 80211b and 802.11g Wifi. The battery let's you watch video for 7 hours before needing a recharge.
Loaded on the Archos 7 is version 1.5 of the Android operating system. It is good that they have an open operating system. But the version is an old and outdated one. There are 5 apps preloaded on the system. You do not have access to all apps written to Android. But you can get apps from the AppsLib store which boasts about a thousand apps.
The Archos 7 comes from a French company. It supports many video formats, including High Definition ones. There is no Flash support, just like the iPad. It is good for reading eBooks. You've got to love the free Android apps that are out there waiting to be downloaded by you. I think I just may have to go out and get myself one.
