Published in MP3 Players, Product Reviews
Author: Kristofer Brozio
Product page on Testfreaks: Archos 7
Manufacturer: Archos
Product name: Archos 7 320gb Internet Media Tablet
Manufacturer ID / UPC: 690590511606
About a month or so ago I looked at the Archos 5 and DVR station, a couple weeks ago Archos emailed me and asked if I wanted to take a look at their Archos 7 as well, so I said sure, why not!
Today for review I’ve got the Archos 7 320gb Internet Media Tablet, the 7 in the title meaning a 7 inch screen. It’s essentially the same as the Archos 5, but only a larger screen and hard drive capacity, I saw no real differences between the two at all except for those two things. Going from the 5 inch screen to the 7 inch screen might not seem like much, but it really is, it makes everything look so much nicer and even makes the Archos Internet Media Tablet a bit easier to use as well.
So read on to learn more about the Archos 7…
First up we’ve got the video unboxing for you, check it out and continue on for the rest of the review:
Specifications:
Archos 7 320gb Internet Media Tablet
The ARCHOS 7, with is stunning 7” screen, is the best travel companion you can imagine. With a huge disk capacity and an incredible viewing comfort, combined with Internet and TV capacity in a handheld device, it will accompany your travels and holidays and replace any other multimedia player you were using so far.
ARCHOS, award-winning for its constant technology innovation and leadership in portable media players now introduces a new concept: the Internet Media Tablet. The ARCHOS 7 is the jewel of this new range, redefining media on the move and offering customer uncompromised access to the Internet, Media content and TV…in a handheld device..
Specs:
Display characteristics: High resolution screen, 800×480 pixels, 7” TFT LCD, 16 million colors
User interaction: Direct by touch screen, ON/OFF, vol+ and vol- buttons, retractable virtual keyboard
Processor(s):
- Main processor: ARM CortexTM-A8, 32 bit, In-order, dual-issue, superscalar core @ 600 MHz
- Additional processor: 32 bit DSP @ 430 MHz
RAM memory: 128 MB* (Low-Power Double Data Rate SDRAM)
Mass storage memory: Hard drive
- 320 GB (stores up to 400 Movies, 3.2 million photos or 190,000 songs1)
Operating system: Linux
In its normal use mode, the ARCHOS 5 being a miniaturized Personal Computer:
Connectivity: On board WiFi (802.11 b/g), USB 2.0 host with optional accessories
PC accessories: Possible attachment of numerous standard USB PC accessories (keyboard, mouse, memory key, memory cards reader, camera and other future computer accessories)
Battery life: Music playback time: 39 hours
Video playback time: 10 hours
Dimensions & weight:Approx. 190 x 110 x 16 mm ; 7.48" x 4.33" x 0.629"
Approx. 640 gr.; 23oz
Price: $449.99
That’s the basic specs, you can find full detailed specifications on the Archos website HERE
Ok, so here’s a video that is a little over 10 minutes long, it’s usage of the Archos 7 and a video review combined, so just watching and not much reading for you today.
Conclusion:
The Archos 7 has a big beautiful screen to watch movies,play games, browse the web and generally do the basic things you can do on your PC, it’s large capacity hard drive makes it very easy to take lots of stuff with you.
The price is a bit steep, especially considering you’ve got to spend more money for the ad-ons to really get all of the functionality of the Archos 7.
Pros:
Well made
Nice large screen
Videos look great
Lots of storage space
Easy to use for basic stuff
Cons:
Resets by itself at times
Some webpages don’t work correctly (plugins?)
Expensive
Need to purchase additional things to fully make use of it
| Grades: | |
| Overall |  |
| Design |  |
| Performance |  |
Tags: 320gb, 7, archos, internet, media, tablet
You can find more Archos 7 reviews at the main site.
1/12 - 2008 at 12:29
[...] Review Link: http://www.testfreaks.com/blog/review/archos-7-320gb-internet-media-tablet/ [...]
1/12 - 2008 at 15:48
[...] Archos 7 320gb Internet Media tablet Reviewed "Today for review I’ve got the Archos 7 320gb Internet Media Tablet, the 7 in the title meaning a 7 inch screen. It’s essentially the same as the Archos 5, but only a larger screen and hard drive capacity, I saw no real differences between the two at all except for those two things. Going from the 5 inch screen to the 7 inch screen might not seem like much, but it really is, it makes everything look so much nicer and even makes the Archos Internet Media Tablet a bit easier to use as well." ______________ Source: TestFreaks [...]
6/12 - 2008 at 2:17
Not =quite= the same! I like the large screen of the Archos 7 (pronounced ‘arkos’, by the way), but I’m very disappointed that some of the add ons do not work on this unit. Specifically, the helmet cam.
The location of the charging port is a pain, too, as the cool little built in stand doesn’t work while its being charged.
11/12 - 2008 at 23:05
I gave it a 1.0 out of 5 stars on Amazon.
Don’t expect it to do much until you $pend MUCH more money! Not for the faint of wallet.
So… this gadget seems like a technological wonder, until you start trying to use it for what its meant for, that is. I was so excited to get my Archos (pronounced ‘ar-kos’) 7! I unwrapped and registered and then read through the directions and proceeded to fill it with music and videos. Windows Media Player took EVERYTHING from my library, not just the playlists that I transferred, so now I’m going to have to delete everything and start over. VERY time consuming, but minor in the grand scheme of things.
As for the video… this device is touted as a media player, but when you try to play your own videos, it tells you that you need a $19.00 plug in from Archos!! That’s just maddening. So, after much hassle, I buy the plug in. The picture is grainy, unlike the beautiful test videos they include with the unit. I’m suspecting I have to buy the other hi-def plug-in for yet another 20 bucks! To add insult to injury, even if you WANT to buy cool plug-ins you can’t! For the initial review on testfreaks.com, Archos had sent it to them to review preloaded with games and most likely with all available plug-ins (and some that obviously were NOT available!). Great, let’s play games, since we can’t play video! They are also extra (of course!) OK. Get out the credit card yet again. The sad part is, even if you WANT to pay for them, they are not available on the Archos website for the 5 & 7! Want the helmet cam that they brag about? Pfft. Not available. Want the Hi-Def plug in? As of Dec 11, 2008, it is not yet available. Now, try buying something from their site. They restrict sales to “Billing address only” but if you put in a PO Box as the billing address, they refuse the order and need a physical address (which, for a LOT of security conscious folks like myself is NOT my billing address!). I got around that by entering ‘BOX 12345′ instead of ‘PO Box’ which is the phrase that prohibits you from ordering. I spent all morning just trying to get the $20 plug in so I could play grainy video-the Archos site is downright frustrating, and made me enter the serial number of the unit in order to buy the plug in-another 10 minutes looking for the box, since the serial number is NOT on the back of the unit like the checkout screen claims.
The first night I had it, it seemed to take FOREVER to charge the battery. Of course, if you want the battery to charge faster, you have to buy the $29.99 mini-dock. Even if I wanted to buy it, the limitations on billing address make it impossible for me to buy anything but downloadable items. Grrrrr….
Other issues: It has a little leg built into the back that folds out to create a stand. Great idea, but when the USB is plugged in, this leg is useless because it plugs into the bottom. The little plastic stand does not help this.
This is definitely not a toy for the faint of wallet! Every time you try to do anything, you are faced with going to the very confusing Archos website and having to plunk down $20 to $399 for whatever add ons you need. I would have been better off with a portable DVD player and my iPod.
17/12 - 2008 at 17:41
Well reading this review has certainly put me off the thought of purchasing one, I want it to do what it says on the box not find out afterwards I have to pay extra for the priviledge of watching a video/film… cheapo DVD is now ordered…
18/12 - 2008 at 6:48
I may have to cross this off may gift list to many hassles
20/12 - 2008 at 12:05
Thanks a lot to Krista and her very informative comments. I think I will just stick with my very reliable and hassle free portable DVD player. Sorry that you have to go through all that torture Krista, but it is not in vain - I am sure many like me who are already preparing to buy ourselves this gadget for christmas would be thinking again - I am surely not going to buy it before someone makes something that does what the consumers wants without any additional strings/ charges.
26/12 - 2008 at 2:19
In regards to Krista’s comments:
Please to not let her review affect your decision on buying the Archos or not. No offense, but she clearly lacks the technical know-how to operate a MP3 player.
Yes some video formats require an additional plugin to play, but these formats are fairly uncommon. And worst case scenario, you just download a FREE video converter and convert them to a normal format. And a low-quality video simply means your video was low quality. Please tell me how the archos would manage to make a video look bad, if the screen and video processor are able to render every other video fine? That makes no sense.
And games..? They are free. You can play any flash game that doesnt require a keyboard. Check out addictinggames.com, there are hundreds of thousands of free games.
As for bugs, they are being addressed all the time. People think “oh its buggy, it will always be” Archos is releasing new firmware all the time (which the device automatically downloads btw), that fixes bug issues and even adds new features.. So dont make people’s comments on errors scare you away.
This is a great device no matter what you may read. And if you know basic things on a computer and the internet you can get around many of the “required” add-ons very easily.
Final Statement for Decision: If you like electronics with less features, that cost more, but is easy enough for a duck to use then get an Apply product. But if you want a device that gives you bang for your buck, has a long growing list of features, though it takes a little know-how, get the Archos.
26/12 - 2008 at 9:32
This is great reading but I am totaly confused. All I want is something that works as I do a lot of travelling , watch a video, listen to music, send receive email, and do some surfingand maybe GPS. I dont know if I would buy the archos 5,7 or IPod touch or just go with a good book which I have done over the years.
27/12 - 2008 at 6:49
i think this is pretty cool but when you pull it out of your pocket its like kind of lame to be seen by a huge device. I would buy the ipod touch even though it doesn’t have a lot of memory for my needs, but if you like laptops in your pocket then the Archos 5,7 is the right device for you.
27/12 - 2008 at 19:16
This device is actually a tad bit obsolete due to it’s size. Every feature on here can be done with standard devices that the typical user would have.
First off email can be done on a cell phone. There is a huge variety of blackberry’s and other handsets that offer real-web browsing and email that supports either 3g or wi-fi connectivity. Depending on how much you use your cellular device and which service provider you choose a typical user can get a 3g phone with service for around seventy dollars a month. Most people would already have such a trendy phone anyway if they had the money for the Archos.
The size of the screen for movies is not that big of a deal either. Featuring you would only need such a large screen on long trips it could easily be replaced with either a Zune or and ipod and then buy video goggles from thinkgeek.com. It would provide a 24 inch screen in front of your eyes. For general viewing on the fly (such as you are bored on the subway or whatever) a 3.2 inch screen is fine. The cost of these goggles and an Ipod with a decent amount of storage costs less then this one device. Also the average technophile will already have a large capacity music/video device. So they would only have to buy the video goggles for 99.00 dollars.
Games can be bought on either your cell phone or your ipod/zune. Besides if having a touch screen gaming device is so important then you probably already have a Nintendo ds which offers a huge variety of games that you can buy for next to nothing. The psp is also here and you can often buy a good used one for 100 dollars. Again if portable gaming is so important than a typical consumer already has such a device.
The storage space is impressive but not really a huge draw. If you are doing such travel to need email and internet browsing then you would bring a laptop. Unless you can listen/watch your entire video/music library in one go then it’s really just wasted space. Since many users have a backup usb hard drive for their files bringing your entire library in your laptop case isn’t a big deal featuring they are about the same size as the Archos 7.
Overall paying around 600 dollars to obtain an all in one device is silly featuring most people have devices already that can and surpass the abilities of the Archos 7.
30/12 - 2008 at 15:50
Guys, thanks for your input. I will give it some more thought but probably save my $, cheers
2/01 - 2009 at 18:43
I just purchased the Archos 7….it almost works but you you have to throw more money at it to get all the plug ins. I have a po box for an address. the site won’t allow a po box for credit card purchases, therefore, I can’t download ANY updates. The site is “coming soon” (for the past month). Tech suppoert won’t do anything to help me. They even told me to make a phony address for my credit card company to download their plug ins. NOT COOL!
The Wi Fi is terrible. disconnects when your not looking and for no reason. its not a timed thing…just turns off.
Run from this lead weight! Its a money pit!
3/01 - 2009 at 14:25
In my opinion the Archos (at least the older models) has four advantages over for example the ipod 1. you do not need itunes (or WMP since you can use it as a hard drive) to transfer files.
2. It plays subtitle files (which does not work on the Ipod).
3. If you buy the plug-ins it plays almost every kind of video files (unlike the ipod or most portable dvd players)
4. very easy to use tv docking station with remote in which you can just put the archos, push a button and it plays on the tv.