U.S. Cellular Debuts HTC Flyer for $399.99

HTC Flyer, possibly one of the first 7-inch tablets to run Google's Honeycomb platform is now heading to U.S. Cellular.

The carrier has just confirmed that HTC Flyer will be available in stores beginning next month for $399.99 (roughly 297 EUR) after a $100 mail-in rebate and with a two-year contract and a $54.99 data plan.

Customers who are not sure of the advantages offered by HTC's tablet can attend U.S. Cellular's free in-store Device Workshops where they will receive all the knowledge required to handle the carrier's Android-based devices.

Even though HTC Flyer is delivered with Android 2.3 Gingerbread on board, the Taiwanese handset manufacturer is expected to deploy the latest Honeycomb operating system by the end of the year.

Hopefully, HTC will be able to push the Honeycomb upgrade before Google announces the upcoming availability of Ice Cream Sandwich, also known as Android 4.0, which will presumably unify all current versions of the platform.

HTC Flyer does not feature GSM voice communication capabilities, instead users will be able to enjoy functions such as e-mail, web browsing, entertainment and apps.

It fits perfectly in one hand at only 195.4 x 122 x 13.2 mm and just 421g (battery included) weight, which makes it easy to handle while on the move.

The 7-incher is powered by a single core 1.5-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and packs 32GB of internal memory, 1GB of RAM, as well as microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB).

The Flyer comes with HTC's proprietary Sense UI and two sets of touch-sensitive controls that allows users to handle the tablet in landscape and portrait mode.

An optional HTC Scribe pen is also available, but U.S. Cellular has yet to announce its price tag.

With the pen users will be able to highlight text, make notes, draw and even sign documents right on the screen, thanks to HTC's Scribe technology.