Archos Arnova 7 Priced at $99

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Archos recently introduced a new line of inexpensive Android tablets. Archos’ Arnova line has just come out with official US prices, starting at $99.

While cheap tablets are not new, this one at least comes from a brand known for its multimedia devices. The Archos Arnova 7 won’t top tablet benchmarks, but it turns out to be cheaper than we originally thought. At $99 you get a 7-inch Android tablet with a 800×480 pixel resistive touchscreen, 4 GB of storage Wi-Fi and microSD expansion.

Archos does not share the exact specs of the processor, but don’t expect anything dual-core past 1 GHz at this price level. Also, you might be disappointed with Archos’ use of a resistive touchscreen, especially if you’re used to being able to manipulate your tablet using feather-light touches. As earlier announced, the Arnova 7 won’t have direct Android Market access, but will be able to access apps through Archos’ own AppsLib, which might limit your Android experience. At $99, the Arnova 7 can either be an adequate ebook reader with extra Android functionality or an Android tablet with inadequate specs.

Still, at that price point, the Arnova 7 competes directly with those cheap generic tablet knockoffs from Chinese OEMs. If all you need is to read ebooks, RSS feeds and email, then the Arnova 7 would probably suffice.