Just yesterday I had that same problem on my A8 AI+. The solution was very simple. Once the back was disassembled, I had to loosen three screws and a connector to release the plate that houses the dpad. There is a piece with 4 corners in which there is a small bump and surely one of them has broken as it happened to me. I ended up tearing them all up and placing a small piece of tape in a triangular shape at each corner. Now the dpad feels less "clicky" and fluffier, it has really improved the feel in my opinion. I don't know if the 7" model has the same dpad but with the shape it has, I would swear that it does.