HTC Flyer takes flight

HTC has released its first real contender in the tablet market, the HTC Flyer, which goes on sale in Tier 1 markets (US, Europe, etc). It’s a 7” device using what HTC calls a “magic pen” (also known as a stylus). It’s positioned as more than a messaging and Web browsing device, as the stylus lets you take notes, sketch and do more detailed manipulation.

It’s heavy on the multimedia features, with HTC Watch for video streaming (including Hollywood blockbusters) on the 1024*600 touch screen.

Hardware includes a 5MP camera on the back, 1.3MP on the front, in a relatively chunky 420g body. CPU runs at 1.5Ghz, with 1GB RAM and 32GB internal storage (nice to see HTC is not being skinflint with the memory), expandable with SD cards. It has WiFi and a quad-band 3G version is available. It also has Bluetooth 3 and built in GPS, plugged in and charged with standard microUSB.

Early reviews are upbeat, with the metal body and solid construction earning ticks, and the stylus interface also impressing – although the storage for the magic pen seems a bit of an afterthought. There’s also issues with the HTC tablet not being comfortable with swapping between finger touch or stylus, which will need work.

Interestingly it runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread, not the tablet-centric Honeycomb variation, although HTC has heavily adapted it. The Flyer also pokes a big hole in HTC’s Sense strategy, as you can only have one device associated with Sense at a time… fine when you have just a phone, but not when you have a phone and a tablet. We assume someone is working feverishly at this faceplant problem.