14 DAY TRIAL // Taiwanese handset manufacturer HTC has just announced that launch of its first Android tablet, the Flyer, in China.
Chinese Android fans will be able to purchase the Gingerbread tablet starting July's end for 5,500 yuan (about $850).
According to the local media the price of the HTC Flyer is unexpectedly higher than it was presumed initially: “We did not expect the HTC Flyer’s price to be that high,” said Sun Peilin, tablet computer analyst at Analysys International.
The tablet's high price was its 'nemesis' in most place where the device was launched, especially that the Flyer is still delivered with Android 2.3.3 (Gingerbread) on board and not the tablet-optimized Honeycomb operating system.
However, as soon as Honeycomb will be pushed on the HTC Flyer things might positively change for the tablet, if it's not too late.
HTC Flyer faces fierce competition on the tablet market, as manufacturers such as Motorola, Apple and Samsung have already launched their bigger, better and cheaper products.
To recap, HTC Flyer comes with a 7-inch LCD capacitive touchscreen that supports 16 million colors and 600 x 1024 pixels resolution.
When it comes to design, the Flyer is a sight for sore eyes, as the tablet is encased in a sleek aluminum unibody that is very light, weighing as little as a paperback book.
In addition, the tablet is equipped with a fast single core processor clocked at 1.5Ghz speed and packs 1GB of RAM and microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB).
With HTC Sense on board, the Flyer offers users a smooth experience thanks to the unique carousel of widgets that puts the most important content and information on the home screen.
The integrated HTC Scribe Technology allows users to easily take notes, sign contracts, draw pictures, or even write on a web page or photo.
With the HTC Watch, the company's new video service, users will be able to download hundreds of HD movies from major studios.