Archos 7 Home Tablet could start shipping within 2 weeks
We have some additional Archos news today after the newly released 1.7.95 firmware update for the Archos 5 Android, this time involving their upcoming Home Tablet series, specifically the Archos 7 HT running Android.
Originally revealed at CeBIT earlier this year, Carrypad is now reporting that two German retailers listed on Geizhals.at, Redcoon.de and Amazon.de are taking offers for the Archos 7 HT with Redcoon stating a shipping time of 2 weeks. This was actually only 1 week when the listing first appeared on March 26th, whereas Amazon.de initially listed the product as coming soon, but is now stating the device is currently out of stock.
It looks like Archos will initially be offering the more expensive, high-end version with 8GB of local storage priced at €179.99 on Redcoon before later releasing the cheaper 2GB version for around €149. It's important to note that the Archos 7 HT and its big brother, the Archos 8 HT, are intended as affordable, simple tablets for home use rather than more full featured, powerful MIDs in the vein of the existing Archos 5 Android with its more powerful ARM Cortex A8 processor. This poses an interesting dilemma for prospective customers considering the similar prices between the two, with the A5A 8GB priced around €199. Alternatively, you may be tempted to wait until the summer when Archos promises to reveal a new family of tablets using ARM Cortex A8 processors up to 1GHz this summer with screen sizes ranging from 3 to 10".
