The modestly priced Archos 7 Home Tablet [product page] is now available for pre-order from Amazon for $199. It is the 8GB version, but there will purportedly be a 2GB version as well. Archos has stated that the tablet will ship by end of April.

The Archos 7 Home Tablet (let’s call it the Archos 7 HT) is a WiFi only device (no cellular data) as you’ll recall, so the “Home inch designation is rather fitting. Archos says that you’ll be able to play video on the Archos 7 HT for up to 7 hours on the 800×480 display. Audio playback is good for 44 hours, according to Archos. If you are looking to grab yourself a capable digital companion without dropping a huge chunk of change, the Archos 7 HT may be just the right value at $199. Have a look below at a nice hands on of the device from jkkmobile:

[Engadget] via [Pocketables]

Update: Archos 7 Home Tablet specifications in the database.

Just in from Archos PR company in German is news that Archos have launched two new tablets but with basic, low power CPUs and a very low price point. The Archos 7 Home Tablet and Archos 8, a photo frame will run Android on a basic ARM9 CPU meaning you won’t get anything like a fast web experience. At 149 Euro though with Wifi, a touchscreen Android OS, USB and 2GB storage, it’s really not a bad deal if video, photo and basic mobile web apps work. I can see a ton of people getting one of these for Christmas.

In the same press release Archos have said that a new range of tablets based on ARM Cortex at up to 1Ghz will be coming in the summer with a range of screen sizes from 3 to 10 inch. Excellent news!

German PR announcement. (translation)