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HTC Flyer tablet hits Amazon.de for 669 euros
We're seeing some rather unattainable prices for many of the sexiest Android tablets to be unveiled at MWC and CES this year, but thankfully HTC's Flyer looks to be coming in a little lower than most. It's just popped up on Amazon.de at €669. Subtract the VAT and run that figure through a currency converter and you're looking at a price of around $730. A bargain? Hardly, but better than some others we've seen. Sadly it's still nicht verfügbar, but if you hurry you can jetzt vorbestellen. [Thanks, Andrezj]
HTC Flyer vs. Galaxy Tab vs. iPad... fight!
In a world of 10-inch dual-core Androids, HTC has opted to tread its own path by cranking up processor speeds, sticking to a 7-inch form factor and eschewing the latest Honeycomb build for a Gingerbread version it could customize more comprehensively with Sense. All that's well and good, but sometimes all it comes down to is how these gadgets look and feel. So to help you wrap your mind around the Flyer's new aluminum body, we present a couple of comparison galleries with it set against two devices that need no introduction. Get clicking! %Gallery-116842% %Gallery-116843%
A closer look at the HTC Flyer's screen, stylus, and Scribe
This morning HTC announced its 7-inch Flyer tablet, and unlike the hoards of Android tablets we've seen in the last couple of months, it's got something that frankly reminds us a bit of Microsoft's original tablet push... a stylus! The Flyer doesn't come with just any old capacitive stylus, however -- HTC has worked with N-Trig, the company that has made digitizers for convertible PCs like the Dell Latitude XT, to implement a much more accurate writing or doodling experience. And well, it basically makes it unlike any other Android tablet on the market right now. We spent some time with N-Trig and the Flyer today, focusing quite a bit on the new stylus and "Scribe" software, as HTC calls it -- hit the break for some details on both the software and hardware and a short video of how that pen actually works when put to the screen. %Gallery-116783%
HTC launches 1.5GHz, 7-inch Flyer into the tablet wars (update: hands-on video!)
Boy oh boy, HTC is entering the tablet arena with quite a bang. The company has just taken the wraps off its brand new 7-inch Flyer Android tablet, which touts a 1.5GHz single-core CPU, 1GB of RAM plus 32GB of flash storage, an aluminum unibody construction, 1024 x 600 resolution, a tablet-optimized version of Sense, and... what's this, a pressure-sensitive stylus! The HTC Scribe trademark we saw floating around in legal waters turned out not to be the branding for a tablet, it's actually the name HTC gives to the technology enabling what it calls a "groundbreaking pen experience." Other details include a 5 megapixel camera on the back paired with a 1.3 megapixel imager up front, a 4000mAh battery rated to last for four hours of continuous video playback, and memory expandability via a microSD card. The Flyer will ship in Q2 2011 with Android Gingerbread 2.4 on board. HTC says it'll be indistinguishable from 2.3 as far as the end user is concerned, though we all know it won't be quite as good as the 3.0 stuff. We're told not to worry, however, since the new version of Sense being introduced with the Flyer will be the focal point of the company's software offering. As far as HTC is concerned, Sense matters more than the underlying platform, and the reason Honeycomb isn't the shipping OS here was explicitly stated as HTC not having enough time with the latest Google code to customize it to the full requirements of Sense. Guess that settles that. There are a couple more software enhancements, both marking the introduction of the fruits of HTC's recent deals: OnLive cloud gaming will be coming with the Flyer in the form of an app you open up to access the web-connected bored-relieving service, while that Saffron Digital acquisition has turned into an HTC Watch app for movie streaming and downloading. We spent a bit of quality time with a Flyer unit recently, although we weren't allowed to turn it on, and our early impressions are rather mixed. On the one hand, we do appreciate the ruggedness and durability that's afforded by the one-piece aluminum shell, but on the other, the Flyer is quite the chunky beast in your hands. We'd imagine strapping in such an extra-speedy processor is the main culprit for its extra girth, though the Flyer is, ironically enough, not terribly light either. We found it heavier and generally a lot less polished from a design perspective than Samsung's Galaxy Tab. Anyhow, HTC should have functional units for us immediately following its MWC presser this morning, and we'll be delving in deeper with this super-specced device. Hang tight! Update: Pictures of the Flyer can now be explored below and we have video awaiting your audience just past the break. Update 2: HTC has tweeted that the Flyer will be updated to Honeycomb in Q2. %Gallery-116694%
HTC Desire 2, Flyer, Pyramid and LG Optimus 3D, Star Tab surface in Vodafone Germany inventory system
There are leaks, and then there are leaks. As you can probably glean from the headline, this is most certainly a case of the latter. FoneArena has received shots of what appears to be a Vodafone Germany inventory system, and it's a system currently overflowing with both rumored and heretofore unheard of product names. HTC's Flyer and Pyramid are all but confirmed for a MWC unveiling, while the Desire 2 is popping up on our radar for the first time. We've also been told that LG's Optimus 3D will be fully revealed next week in Barcelona, but the Star Tab? Now that's a new one. Of course, it shouldn't come as any surprise to see a swath of new names pop up just days before the year's most gargantuan mobile show, but it definitely brings about a metric ton of questions. Is the Star Tab a phone? A slate? A unicorn-based gaming console? Will the Desire 2 simply be more desirable than the original, or will it utilize one of those new screen technologies HTC is feverishly working on? Hard to say from a simple list of names, but you can bet we'll be keeping an ear to the ground for more as Mobile World Congress approaches. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
HTC Flyer spec sheet leaks with Android 2.3, stylus and 7-inch screen?
Wondering what sort of goodies might be inside HTC's upcoming tablets? Norwegian tech site Amobil isn't -- they claim to have a pair of inside sources spoon-feeding them all the pertinent details. For the rumored HTC Flyer -- which may or may not be pictured at right -- that includes the same 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 chip you'll find in several high-end handsets, 1GB of RAM, as well as a 7-inch, 1024 x 600 capacitive touchscreen, a front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera and a rear 5 megapixel imager, and a piddling 4GB of flash storage to hold all your apps (which sounds a little fishy to us). There's also allegedly 3G for data and Skype calls, an HDMI port, DLNA support and a bonafide stylus to write with, though it's not clear whether we're rumoring a fancy N-Trig display or simply a pack-in capacitive pen. Though Amobil's sources say the tablet will be sadly limited to Android 2.3 out of the gate, it will allegedly have a brand-new tablet version of HTC's Sense UI designed to provide a "desktop feel," which might be a nice pairing for the "HTC Sensation" trademark presently floating about the internet. If so, don't expect that UI to be limited to a single slate, though -- the last part of this oh-so-juicy rumor is that HTC's also supposedly got a 10-inch LTE tablet (perhaps the Scribe?) arriving in the second half of the year.
HTC Flyer tablet tipped for US landing in March, to be followed by two more slates in June
Given current trends, it's reasonable to believe that the foremost question regarding an HTC tablet is no longer if the Taiwanese company will produce one, but when. So, who could we possibly turn to for help but those ever-loquacious upstream component manufacturers that DigiTimes knows and loves so well? Their latest info points to an Android tablet dubbed the Flyer arriving in the US in March (just early enough to potentially beat the Xoom and PlayBook to market), which will roll out across the world in the second quarter of 2011 and be joined by two more slate devices (Scribe?) in June. Further details are a little murky, including the dubious suggestion that the Flyer will come with Android 2.3 on board and be upgradeable to Honeycomb (3.0), but we're inclined to consider the overall roadmap credible. In spite of its Thunderbolt launch at CES, HTC was relatively quiet in the big January event, so we suspect it'll bring the big(ger than a smartphone) guns to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month.