HTC Flyer

Available now
15th February 2011

The HTC Flyer is HTC's first full tablet device, and as you would expect from the company that pioneered Android and Windows smartphones.. it isn't a "me too" device that is indistinguishable from everyone else.

This is a 7 inch tablet with a 1024 x 600 pixel TFT screen. Inside is a 1.5 GHz single core processor coupled with 1GB of RAM. On the back is a 5 megapixel camera, with a front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera for video calling. The HTC Flyer supports both WiFi and cellular 3G and HSPA+ (near 4G) connections, and it comes with GPS and Bluetooth.

Unlike the recently announced crop of rival tablets (such as the Motorola XOOM, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and LG Optimus Pad), the HTC Flyer does not ship with Android 3.0 "Honeycomb" - reports suggest that the Flyer will ship with "version 2.4", a revision of the current 2.3 "Gingerbread" OS. It might be considered to be a big deal as Android 2 was not written with tablets in mind - but don't worry, because HTC have added their own software customisations and a new "3D style" version of HTC Sense on top of the operating system which will make it easy to use. An upgrade to Android 3.0 is promised, although with the HTC add-ons it's not going to be desperately important.

Internal memory is quoted as being 32GB plus a microSD slot that can take another 32GB if you want. The battery is a 4000 mAh cell which seems about right for a device of this size. The HTC Flyer measures 195 x 122 x 13mm and weighs approximately 415 grams.

One unusual feature about the display on the Flyer is the inclusion of a stylus.. we haven't seen those on most tablets for a while, but HTC's active stylus allows for much greater control when handwriting or doing other precise tasks. Of course, most functions will work just fine with your finger.

Encased in an aluminium and plastic unibody design, the HTC Flyer is certainly a good looking tablet and it certainly manages to look better than the big black slabs that most rivals come up with. In other words.. it looks great, and that's hardly going to be a disadvantage.

Because this is an Android device then it does everything else that other Android devices do, including having access to the massive range of applications from the Android market. The multimedia player can cope with all major formats including XviD, and there's a 3.5mm audio socket in case you want to watch a movie or YouTube without disturbing anyone.

The HTC Flyer is slated to be available during Q2 2011, although there's no word on pricing.. the indications are that the Flyer will be a premium priced product, and the similarly specified "original" Samsung Galaxy Tab had an eye-watering launch price of about €800 for the full-fat version.

With HTC now on board with a consumer tablet, along with LG, Samsung, Motorola, RIM, HP and of course Apple, it seems that the only major manufacturers without a device in their portfolio are Sony Ericsson and Nokia. We suspect that Sony Ericsson might be working on something clever with partners Sony, but Nokia are now looking very much like they are left out in the cold when it comes to this increasingly popular type of device.