HTC Flyer Tablet Priced at $499; Best Buy Takes Pre-Orders

Add other Humanoid tablet to the glut, as HTC's Flyer goes up for pre-order in Best Buy stores.

The 7-inch tablet will price $499 for a 16 GB example with Wi-Fi, but there's no firm release date. For now, Best Buy is going ahead with a vague timeline of "later this spring." A 4G model will launch happening Dash this summertime as the HTC Evo View.

The Flyer's claim to fame is an optional compose–HTC calls it the "Scribe"–that doesn't rather deport like a stylus. The Scribe isn't used for navigation, merely for marker up entanglement pages and creating handwritten notes. A built-in notebook app allows the user to put down sound while writing–an idea that warms this journalist's heart. One of these days, HTC will open high Penman to third-party developers who want to add notation to their ain apps. Zero word on HTC Scribe pricing just yet.

It's a neat-sounding feature film that distracts somewhat from the Bill's potential drawbacks. Instead of Android 3.0 Honeycomb, the Flyer bequeath embark with Mechanical man 2.4 and tablet optimizations through with HTC's Sense interface (although HTC promises an upgrade after). Instead of the dual-core processors found in all but current and upcoming tablets, the Flyer has a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm. And, at a time when Android tablets are get-go to undercut Apple's iPad in price, HTC's Flyer only matches it. The Flyer is also a bit chunky, at 0.51 inches coagulable

Still, as I unconcealed patc playing with the Blackberry Playbook, I'm excavation 7-edge tablets, and the Flyer is at the least a stride up from Samsung's Galaxy Tab. These 7-inchers aren't as in effect for video as larger tablets, but they'ray great for reading and gaming, and they're easier to type on with two thumbs. I'll be keeping an eye on this one.

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