Tour
Front
The front of the Archos 7 is dominated by the glossy 7-inch screen. The only other item on the front of the device is the Archos name printed below the screen.
Left
The left side of the Archos 7 has only the 3.5mm headphone jack.
Right
The external speaker grill is the only feature on the right side of the Archos 7.
Top
On the top of the Archos 7, you'll find the charging light indicator, power button, and volume rocker switch. There's some small text that reminds users that the power button can be held down for 10 seconds.
Bottom
On the bottom of the Archos 7, there are the accessory connectors and the reset button.
Back
On the right side of the rear of the Archos 7is the flip-out stand. Other than this, there are no other features on the back of the Archos, save for model name, model and serial numbers, and other required certification symbols.
Battery Out
The battery can pop out when you slide a gray switch on the bottom of the device. As it turns out, the entire right half of the Archos 7's back is battery. Taking out the battery doesn't reveal any secret corridors or hidden treasure, but it is nice to air out the device every once in a while. That battery burns hot.
In Box
The Archos 7comes with a USB cable used for charging and connecting the tablet to your computer, as well as a set of earbuds, a screen cleaning cloth, and a plastic DVR station adapter for use with the Archos DVR Station (which must be purchased separately).
Durability (6.00)
The Archos 7seems pretty solid except . The two main durability issues are scratching and the stand. The screen and body tend to pick up scratches very easily. The stand seems robust, but it's also a thin moving part.
Aesthetics (6.50)
The Archos 7 is impressive looking. It has a giant screen, a glossy finish, and looks like it eats smaller, weaker media players. Due to the touchscreen, the device appears to be somewhat minimalist, despite having a more ports than usual. Overall, the thing looks pretty cool.
It will also look greasy. The back of this thing picks up fingerprints like crazy.
This is supposed to be an unblemished, mirror-like surface, and this is the amount
of fingerprints we got on it from handling it for 2 minutes.
Portability (0.73)
The Archos 7 is not really portable. Maybe if it had to plug into the wall it'd be less portable, but we honestly can't see a device much bigger than the Archos 7 being produced. It's just gigantic and heavy. This is not a media player to put in your pants pocket. Maybe if you have a cargo pocket and you just lost a bunch of weight you can shimmy this thing into it, but otherwise you're going to need like two suitcases.
Seriously, it's gigantic.
Supported File Types (7.88)
The Archos 7 supports a good array of media files. It will natively play back your MP3, WMA (protected, unprotected, and pro 5.1 surround), and WAV files, and you can opt to get a plug-in for AAC/AAC+ or AC3 files. Video files are set up the same way, with MPEG-4, WMV (protected or DRM-free), and M-JPEG videos supported out of the box, and the option to get a plug-in for HD support, MPEG-2 files, or H.264. The photo viewer will support JPEG, BMP, PNG, or GIF files. The device will also let you view PDF files.
Though we would've preferred those audio and video files supported out of box, we were impressed with the ability to view PDF files.
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