HTC To Roll Out ‘Flyer’ Tablet In May

HTC’s first tablet, the Flyer is relying on a magic pen’ stylus for note taking to differentiate itself, and will be available in the UK in May.

The gadget is now available for pre-order at Carphone Warehouse, with a price tag of £599.99 for a SIM-free 3G model. The Wi-Fi only version is expected to ship later this year, at a lower price.

Sporting an aluminium body, the HTC’s Flyer was announced at Mobile World Congress in February. It will feature a 7-inch touchscreen that displays up to 1024 x 600 pixels, along with a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm single-core processor, 1 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal storage, which can be expanded up to 64 GB via a microSD card slot.

Initially, the tablet will be released with Google’s Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) operating system. However, an Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) update is expected shortly after launch.

HTC Scribe technology

To make its way into the already crowded market, the Taiwanese manufacturer differentiates its forthcoming device from other Android tablets with the HTC Scribe technology, which includes a stylus or ‘a magic pen’, according to Horace Luke, chief innovative officer at HTC.

“There are certain things that are natural about the way we write and collect information,” Luke said. “Not everyone knows how to type, but the second you pick up a pencil, you start scribbling.”

The HTC stylus can draw, paint, write and retouch pictures. “It also serves as a highlighter for the reader,” the company describes on its website. By tapping the screen, users can also send their notes to their contacts or upload them onto social networking sites such as Facebook.

According to HTC, the Flyer tablet also allows users to take an audio snapshot of their meeting or class and link it to the notes. Moreover, “it can add voiceover to a storybook you’re drawing up at home,” the company adds.

HTC Watch

Besides the digital pen, the tablet will also come with a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera and a 5-megapixel model at the back.

With the HTC Watch video streaming service the Flyer offers a selection of Hollywood blockbusters for on-demand viewing. The gadget also features Adobe Flash support, multi-window browsing with pinch to zoom, and a quick look-up that lets users tap into Wikipedia, Youtube and other web resources.

Currently, the exact release date is not available. However, according to Carphone Warehouse, the Flyer is expected to reach the UK “early May 2011”.