HTC Flyer deals & review

The Flyer is HTC´s first entrant into the world of touchscreen tablets and is a pretty impressive debut. Coming just before the second wave of tablet devices the Flyer falls somewhere in between the first generation of tablets like the iPad and Galaxy Tab, and the second generation of dual core devices such as the PlayBook and Xoom. The Flyer is not dual core but does possess a 1.5GHz processor, making it speedier in operation than its 1GHz predecessors. The Flyer also comes with 1GB RAM making it possible to handle many high powered applications.

Like most non-Apple tablets, with the exception of the WebOS powered HP TouchPad, the Flyer runs on Google Android. Unlike earlier Android tablets the Flyer comes with Android Gingerbread which has been specifically geared towards tablets, rather than just being a modified smartphone operating system. As with HTC´s highly popular phones, the Flyer comes with HTC´s Sense user interface on top of Google´s operating system.

Coming just at the start of the second generation of tablets the Flyer could have been consigned to the industry dustbin were it not for a few unique features that make it of particular interest. One of these features is what HTC have dubbed as HTC Scribe, or what would otherwise be referred to as a stylus. The stylus, a pen like pointing device, was quite a common feature on older resistive touchscreens but became less common with the increasing popularity of capacitive touchscreen technology.

As capacitive requires an electrical impulse to register touches to the screen it has until now been incompatible with the use of a stylus. Having a stylus can add a whole new realm of usability to a touchscreen tablet, making it easier to draw for example, and also allows for features such as handwriting recognition. This is more of a novelty in the West but is a fairly essential feature in the Asian markets where HTC principally operate, and so it is no surprise that they have worked to develop such a feature.

The Flyer comes with a 5 megapixel main camera as well as a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera for video calls. The Flyer comes with 3G support which makes video calling a realistic endeavour, as well as enhancing general web browsing. The Flyer also comes with DLNA enabled Wi-Fi and an HDMI port, both of which allow you to hook the tablet up to your home TV for ease of viewing.

The Flyer falls into the mid-sized range of 7" tablet devices alongside such popular devices as the Galaxy Tab. This makes it more portable than the 10 inchers like the iPad, but still has excellent visuals on offer thanks to a high 1024 x 600 screen resolution. All in all the Flyer is an excellent tablet debut from HTC that may be quickly surpassed by newer models from rival manufacturers, but should remain unique for some time thanks to its capacitive stylus which has yet to be emulated elsewhere.