HTC Flyer in the flesh, first impressions

The elusive HTC Flyer made a quick stop-over at home over the week-end. It’s been out since last month although HTC Philippines did not really made any official launch event (which should have been done along with the Sensation and Wildfire S).

The HTC Flyer is a pretty solid tablet — think HTC Legend, Desire S or iPad1 build quality. It’s got a bit of heft to it due to the construction material which is mostly aluminum.

The 7-inch form factor seems like a good fit for a tablet that you want to always bring along with you outside — not too bulky nor too heavy to carry around the whole day.

The HTC Flyer does not come with Android 3.0 Honeycomb but the usual Gingerbread flavor for smartphones along with a custom Sense UI. It works nice and you get the impression you’re actually just using a big-assed phone but those who have tried Honeycomb will notice the difference in usability. I’m hoping HTC would release a Honeycomb update for this unit soon.

Despite its capacitive screen, HTC took the plunge and included a stylus. It’s not use for navigation but for taking notes and sketching on the screen (you can actually just make sketches on the screen whichever window or home screen you’re at, then save the screenshot for later). There’s even a dedicated touch panel for a paint palette that pops up form the side to allow you more paintbrush or sketching options. It’s an old but still intuitive approach that could attract a small segment of the market.

One biggest issue with the Flyer is its suggested retail price. At Php36,990USD 630INR 53,436EUR 600CNY 4,590, it would have been a great alternative to the Samsung Galaxy Tab if they released it in 2010 but at today’s Android tablet pricing, anything beyond Php30k it’s already bit much over budget of most people. It’s still comparable to the 32GB iPad 2 WiFi + 3G at Php35,990USD 613INR 51,991EUR 584CNY 4,466 though.

HTC Flyer
7-inch display @ 600×1024 pixels
1.5GHz Qualcomm processor
32GB of internal storage
up to 32GB via microSD card
3G, HSDPA 14.4Mbps, HSUPA 5.76Mbps
1GB RAM
5MP camera w/ 720p video
1.3MP secondary front-facing camera
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA
Bluetooth 3.0 w/ A2DP
Dolby Mobile and SRS sound
HDMI out
GPS w/ aGPS support
Android 2.3 w/ Sense UI

If you’re looking to get a cheaper HTC Flyer, Top Electronics is selling them for only Php30,000USD 511INR 43,338EUR 487CNY 3,723.