Rating 7/10
A HTC Flyer review that's easy to digest
The HTC Flyer has a faster processor than most of the Android pack: it’s powered by a 1.5GHz ARM Snapdragon processor, but it’s more oversized smartphone than of-the-moment tablet. It runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread rather than Honeycomb, reflecting the fact it was developed and first unveiled prior to the advent of that version of Android. HTC has always maintained it always intended to offer an upgrade as soon as Honeycomb launched, but the Flyer is still being sold without it. However, HTC has ‘unlocked’ the Flyer and there’s an update available at htcdev.com for those that care to chance installing the upgrade themselves. The Flyer’s main issue, though, is that it’s expensive.
We are very fond of its aluminium finish and vibrant, but rather shiny 1024x600-pixel screen. The large icons of the smartphone OS play well here as accuracy is all but guaranteed. The screen orientation updates in one direction only, which is annoying. In portrait mode, there’s a great preview feature for emails, plus useful icons showing which messages are yet to be replied to. The web browsing experience is hobbled by the need to press a + button to create a new page, but pages appear quickly and are crisply rendered. Pinch-to-zoom page expansion helps you zero in on detail.
Entertainment is largely well-handled. YouTube clips can only be played from the accompanying app, not as embedded web video. There’s a microSD card slot rather than a full size SD card slot. Thankfully, the impressive HTC Watch portal lets you access paid-for content. The movie library is relatively limited, but now Google has launched YouTube movie downloads in the UK, you at least have an additional option.
One putative use for the Flyer is as a graphics tablet. There’s no reason why touchscreen devices should only be viewing and playback terminals, after all. A stylus is supplied (it can be stashed in the Flyer’s snug carry pouch when not required). Compared with some of our finger-based drawing attempts on the Sony Tablet and Acer A100, we felt satisfactorily creative here. You can annotate photos too. An upside to HTC’s focus on resolution and the stylus input is a more precise touchscreen experience than on other tablets.
The 5Mp camera is an above-par snapper with autofocus, flash and responsiveness on its side. This is joined by a 2Mp front-facing camera that acts in a similar fashion to FaceTime, with several zany effects to try out for size. The Camcorder function does not integrate directly with the stills camera. You can easily view your handiwork in the Gallery though.
Verdict
As a smaller tablet with graphics slate aspirations and entertainment options, it’s actually rather good. HTC really ought to drop the price of the Flyer if the promised Honeycomb upgrade is not going to materialise.
Comments
Simon Jary said: Calling the iPad 2 an altogether useless device rather marks you out as the zealot
Rosemary Hattersley said: Hi KyriakosThanks for the feedback Benny youre quite right about it having expandable memory Theres a microSD card slot Ive now updated the reviewI actually had the Flyer for a couple of months over the summer My analysis of value is partially based on it running the older version of Android ie not one built one for tablets but for smartphones and the poorer screen and navigation Ive tested many tablets and I like the Flyer very much but I didnt find it as slick its interface as well integrated or its features as good as some of the others here
Kyriakos Christodoulou said: A trully rubbish reviewIll go through point by point and pull this apart On the HTC Flyer being expensive a quick Amazon search reveals that it is available at 444 for the 32GB WiFi 3G version comparable to Apples iPad 2 equivalent of 460 without an extendable memory by microSD albeit with a larger screen but an altogether useless device or Samsungs Galaxy tab at 367 for a 16GB The screen orientates to two sides primarily because landscape is used for video calls and both sides have hardware buttons in the bezel not accessible from other angles The button cannot be considered to hobble the opening of another window when browsing this idea of yours that it does is ridiculous how much simpler would you want the process to be Just think about it and it opens We arent that far along with technology yet There is a microSD memory expansion slot which enables up to 32 extra GBs of space a whopping 64GB in total then YouTube videosare viewable from within the browser and also automatically zoom to full screen when the orientation is changed to landscape the stylus comes acompanied with a very powerful note-taking application which was the point HTC tried to sell the Flyer on Its ability to record audio recognize hands from the stylus and take and anotate screenshotsmakes it a fantastic notebook with the original sense of the word On the downside there is no flash for the rear camera I really struggle to imagine where you found the information to write this article which also instills great doubts in the advertismet at the end of your article Want to learn more about tablets Pick up a copy of TabletWorld Today and become a tablet PC expert in no time Your type of expertise leaves much to be desiredAs Benny below stated have you actually used it or are you just falling in line with the rest of the world and becoming an iZombie
Benny said: It does have an SD card slot Have you actually used it