Read the review of the Archos 7 Home Tablet by Financial Times at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/31bd6756-6f71-11df-9f43-00144feabdc0.html

bummer, you have to have a subscription to read the whole review. That sucks.

Of course the Financial Times likes it, it's a bargain! :D

Michael

Hey All,

Here is another quite positive review of the Archos 7HT. Very truthful and seems to reflect the general consensus of the folks on the forum here.
Archos 7HT Review MarcDormey.com


jam78ilc

Thanks jam78ilc!

Nice review, few changes I'd make.

However, there are some significant flaws in the 7HT for the New Home Owners who expect it to work out of the box:

1. Unexpected Wakes from Suspend - I found a couple of 10 minute wakes and am in my third or fourth day of tracking a 2 hour wake. I regard this as a serious flaw which can dramatically decrease battery life and reduce the 40/7 usage hours which Archos advertises.
2. The Archos Developers Confuse Internal Storage with SD Storage - For example: Using Aldiko w/o a real microSDC card (not "mini" as Marc's article says) I found downloaded books stored to /flash/sdcard/. After installing a microSDHC card Aldiko lost the books I downloaded before and used the real SD card instead. Whoa!!!
3. "Files" the File Manager Bundled App Can't Create Folders - When using the Bundled Apps: Photo Frame, Photo Viewer, and Video Player - Home Owners will seriously miss the grouping facility of Folders. I know do. In fact, even if you install an App which does create folders Video Player still presents all your videos in a single list - serious flaw.
4. Incompatible Video Formats - Some very simple .avi files which play fine on my PC and 5IT don't play on the 7HT. Archos has an out because of a footnote on their Spec page which says some formats won't work. I think Marc was lucky that all his worked. Home Owners may be upset. I was.
5. Lack of WiFi File Copies - For bulk copies USB works best. When you want to copy a couple of Files you've got to install an App which does WiFi copies. Minor flaw - yet IMO significant.
6. Lack of a Good User Manual - The 8 small pages in the User Guide are more like a small Quick Start Sheet. Home users need a lot of well illustrated and comprehensive information. It isn't there. So we at ArchosFans get to the job for them, but out of the thousands of 7HT owners how many will find our still young Wiki.

None of these issues concerns me personally because I'm pretty good at figuring stuff out and finding workarounds. What does concern me is the obvious lack of planning by Archos which, if done, would mean that we never experienced any of the flaws I mentioned above.

And don't get me wrong I love my little 7HT, but I don't think I'm your average Home Owner.

Allen

Allen

Did the previous models come this way? as far as the manuals?

jam78ilc

Hi jam78ilc,

The 5IMT and 7IMT share the same User Manual: 75 pages at 8.27x11.69 inches, color images and text highlights.

The 5IT User Manual: 55 pages at 8.27x11.69 inches, color images and text highlights.

If Archos had written a User Manual for the 7HT they might have caught and eliminated all the flaws.

Allen

You're assuming that Archos knows enough about the stuff they bought in for the A7 HT to write documentation for it... I'm not so sure... :)

Anyway, in the case of the A5 IT, the better manual cam along a few weeks or months in, don't remember exactly. Perhaps the same will be true of the A7 HT.

Michael

Hee hee if that is the case of making a decent manual later on then I would hope they give this forum credit

Imo

Jam78ilc

This is a pity...
Workaround: Copy an empty folder and then rename it... (you can create a folder named "New Folder" for this) ;)