Arnova 7 > Reviews (1)

Intro

I have been looking for a mobile Internet device for a while now and I’ve done a fair bit of research. It would appear that money doesn’t always buy the best in cases of technology. Again it all depends too on exactly what you require the device to do. Some are great at graphics but a bit slow; some are great at multitasking and not so good at playing videos. So after much ado and faffing around, and after trying some devices out in stores I plumped for a middle of the road yet practical device.

Arnova

This is a stylish looking and robust feeling unit which might no exude top quality, but it does give the impression of being very well made. The pop out stan though might have been a bit stronger since I think this might be the first thing to go. The version I have is the Arnova 7 G2.

Operating System

I’m not really up to speed on Android technology, but a quick Google search led me to believe that the 2.2 Gingerbread version of Android is quite good so I was thankful that this was the version installed on my Arnova. It is quite fast and as of yet I have had no hitches with it. The transition from app to app is quick and smooth particular the speed is noticeable with the browser, which is really good. Other browsers are available from the applib, but the installed one works great for me.

Screen

The Arnova series are made by Archos who have a quite reasonable reputation in the computer industry. I had heard some bad things about some of the Arnova range but decided none the less to give the Arnova & a try. You can or have probably guessed buy its name that it is in fact a 7-inch screen, which is multi tough and resistive. I had hoped to get something with a capacitive screen, but as of yet I’ve had absolutely no problems using this quite sensitive resistive screen.

The screen is sharp and bright and through a quite simple menu system you can adjust the brightness. All the images of whatever size display on screen are clear and easily recognisable. The sensitivity of the screen is quite good and in fact sometimes a bit too sensitive, but this I found to be mainly my impatience rather than a fault. The built in sensor means that turning the screen rotates the image so it is always readable or viewable.

Set up

On initially switching on the device you are led simply through a set up wizard which does it all for you. The whole system is run through a very easy to use if somewhat confused menu system. By this I mean that where I thought some menu items should have been they were not, they wee however still found on another menu. After a few minutes of playing it soon became apparent how the designer was thinking and figuring out where an item might be in the menu system became second nature.

Setting up the WiFi connection was as simple as, just select your router from the list, type in your password which YOU SHOULD have set up previously, and your in and rating more wonderful reviews. The built in browser in both quick and clear, but being there is no mouse or such some basic things like right clicking take a bit of getting used too.

Using

I have found perhaps the weakest thing about this device is the battery, this said I played with it on the Internet and loads of games and generally getting to know the Arnova for about 5-6 hours before the battery eventually died.
A brush side to side on screen will bring you up one of the five home screens, in which you can place your downloaded apps, these can be obtained from the preloaded applib app which gives you quite a substantial choice of both paid and free apps including the very popular Angry Birds. Office software apps are also available and this has meant a lot to me since I use office tools a lot.

If you are used to your way around a phone and a C then you should have no problems with the general operation of this rather neat bit of kit. As with most computers some things just don’t want to work and I have had a problem with a few apps, then I downloaded android avg anti virus and re-installed the offending apps and now all is Hunky Dory.

Getting used to a large touchscreen can be a bit daunting, but this really is very easy to operate and control, the apps I’ve downloaded from the applib all work great with super clear graphics. The resistive muti-touch screen means you can pinch to reduce and unpinch to enlarge the screen, this is very handy if you have old eyes like mine.

Price

I paid £119.99 in HMV for my new pride and joy and I’m well chuffed with the outcome. I may have been happier with another unit, but for the price this is a very neat and great piece of kit.

Summary

Using and setting up are a piece of cake, the price is good and the screen is both clear and sharp with great colours on pics ad videos. The built in USB is of the micro type, but a cable is supplied for transferring from PC to Arnova. Alternatively you can use the micro SD slot to do the transferring and installing so that you keep the main memory freed up. A charger comes with the unit and there is also a headphone socket although there are no headphones supplied the socket is your standard 3.5mm. The power on off switch is tiny and to the top of the unit which can be set up to auto switch off after set periods of time. I love it I think it’s a great device and I can see myself playing with it for a long long time.

The pop up on screen keyboard is easy to use and automatically pops up when input is required. The menu and settings are all through the touch screen, which displays one of the other at any time except on the home scrren1 where both are available. Sliding your apps around to different home screens is handy because you can collate them in some kind of order so you know which screen to visit for any particular type of app. I was worried about being able to cope but my fears were unfounded it was all so easy, so very easy indeed.