HTC’s first tablet, the Flyer, has hit store shelves in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania, costing €499 Euros ($668) for the Wi-Fi/16GB model, or Wi-Fi and 3G with 32GB of storage for €649 ($869). [HTC]
UK retailer The Carphone Warehouse has given the HTC Flyer tablet a pre-order price of £600, which converts neatly to $US980. Quite a lot of pennies, even if that is for the 3G and Wi-Fi version. The price for the Wi-Fi only model hasn’t been announced yet, but if it’s not equal or lower than the comparable iPad 2 model, HTC might have a tough time on its hands.
A Staples training document has appeared, showing that oft-mentioned 8.9-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab, as well as 10-inch tablets from Acer, Toshiba and HTC. As HTC’s only shown a 7-inch Flyer tablet previously, we’re quite intrigued by this mention. [Droid-Life]
What to make of the 32GB HTC Flyer? It’s a 7-inch tablet, which we’re inherently sceptical about, but it’s one that we actually really enjoyed using. And at the listed Amazon.de price of €669 ($730), it’s going to be cost-competitive with the current-generation 32GB iPad. And will be even cheaper if they can get a sweet US carrier discount.
Like every other 7-inch Android tablet, HTC’s Flyer is essentially a very big phone. It even looks slightly phonier than the rest. But it might be the nicest oversized phone-tablet yet.
According to the always-rumourmongering, often-incorrect Taiwanese publication Digitimes, HTC’s got three tablets for the first half of 2011, with the first launching in the US in March.