HTC is well known for ploughing its own furrow when it comes to mobile devices. It insists on using its custom Sense UI on Android smartphones, and its first tablet, the HTC Flyer, is no different. Where most modern tablets are opting for Android 3, this device plumps for a Sense-enhanced version of Android 2.3.
If that sounds strange, just wait until we get to the rest of the Flyer’s quirks. Instead of joining the 10in herd, it’s a 7in device like the Samsung Galaxy Tab, and it doesn’t have a dual-core processor either – in its place there’s a fast, single-core 1.5GHz CPU. It comes with a stylus for old-school pen operation, augmenting the usual finger-driven tapping, swiping and pinching. And in another interesting move, there won’t be a Wi-Fi-only version of the Flyer – only 16GB and 32GB models equipped with 3G.
It’s definitely different, then, but the key question is: does this make it any better? Well, it certainly looks the part, and the 7in 1,024 x 600 screen is lovely. Anyone worried the stylus might mean reverting to resistive technology can breathe easy; it’s a capacitive unit, and a pretty bright one at that. We measured it at 379cd/m2, considerably brighter than the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Contrast isn’t bad either at 654:1, lending movies, games and pictures real punch and vigour.
We like the idea of the stylus, too. Tap anywhere on most screens and the Flyer takes a screenshot that can then be annotated using a series of pens and brushes. Hold down one button on the stylus and you can highlight text; hold the other and you can erase what you’ve just scribbled down. The selection of brushes and nibs, plus HTC’s Notepad app, will give your absent-minded doodles a whole new lease of life.
Build and design
As with most HTC devices of late, the Flyer is nicely put together. It’s hewn from a chunk of aluminium with white plastic bumpers at the top and bottom of the rear panel, and feels better made than the Galaxy Tab, which is built mostly from less classy, shiny plastic. It’s light enough to hold comfortably in one hand and use as an eBook reader, something you certainly can’t say of the 10in Android tablet crowd.
In fact, as it’s running Android 2.3.3, the Flyer feels more like a phone than the recent tablets we’ve looked at, and that’s an impression underpinned by the presence of the HTC Sense UI with its handy widgets and apps.
You get Friend Stream, the familiar flip clock on the homescreen, plus – as it’s a new version of Sense – a host of useful tweaks and enhancements targeted specifically at the tablet format. Flip the Flyer into landscape mode and the desktop rearranges itself appropriately (which HTC smartphones don’t do), and most of the Sense applications have a split-panel landscape view. Extra apps include HTC Watch, which adds a movie purchase and rental portal in a similar vein to Samsung’s Movies portal, while My Shelf adds an eBook store, courtesy of Kobo.
Churls may suggest that the Flyer should be roundly criticised for its decision to stick with Android 2.3, but on this evidence we’ve no problem with it all. If anything, the Flyer feels more rounded and mature than any of the Android 3 devices we’ve yet tested.
Performance
Our tests suggest performance is fine, too, with scores of 2,094 in Quadrant; two seconds in the SunSpider JavaScript test; and six seconds in our BBC homepage load test – all reasonably speedy scores, if not groundbreaking. The UI feels responsive, with transitions from desktop to desktop feeling snappy and immediate, but web page scrolling and panning operations judder occasionally.
Battery life is middling: our looped podcast video played for 8hrs 4mins before draining the life out of the Flyer. That’s on a par with the Samsung Galaxy Tab, but a long way behind the huge battery life of the iPad 2, or even the Motorola Xoom.
There are bigger problems, however. The 5-megapixel/720p camera on the rear has no flash or image stabilisation, plus quality is poor, with heavy over-compression ruining shots in all conditions and noise spoiling video and stills in low light. Although you can add a micro-USB card to the device, there’s no upstream USB port and, surprisingly, it also lacks an HDMI output.
All this pales into insignificance next to the fattest fly in the ointment, however – the Flyer’s frankly ludicrous price. The 16GB version will set you back £480 and the 32GB £600, prices that hover around the level of a 3G iPad 2 and exceed the Galaxy Tab by a long, long distance. Perhaps if the price had been £100 lower we’d have been able to give this tablet the thumbs up; as it is, though, it’s a tough, tough sell.
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