Orlando, Fla. – HTC will bring a Wi-Fi-only version of its Flyer tablet to
the U.S. later in the spring, when the device will be launched exclusively
through Best Buy, the companies announced here at the CTIA show.
Availability of the Flyer, shown at
the recent Mobile World Congress with
HSPA cellular data for overseas
markets, will precede planned summertime availability of HTC’s Flyer-based
3G/4G
Evo
View 4G for the Sprint network
. The
Evo View 4G will be Sprint’s first 4G-equipped tablet.
Prices of the Android-based tablets haven’t been disclosed.
The Flyer will be available through BestBuy.com, through all 160 stand-alone
Best Buy Mobile outlets, and in Best Buy Mobile outlets within all of Best
Buy’s big-box stores.
The tablets offer similar features, including the HTC Sense user interface
brought to tablets for the first time. Other features common to both include 7-inch
1,024 by 600 display with multitouch capability, 1.5GHz processor, 5-megapixel
rear-facing video camera with auto focus, 1.3-megapixel front camera for video
chatting, 4000mAh battery and new
HTC Scribe technology.
Scribe is a digital-ink
technology that lets consumers use a stylus to handwrite notes in script, sign
contracts, draw pictures, or write on a web page or photo. A related feature
called Timemark lets users integrate notes taken at a meeting with audio of a
recorded meeting. When a user taps on a word in the written notes, the audio of
that portion of the meeting is replayed.
In one difference, the 3G/4G Evo View features 32GB of embedded memory plus a MicroSD card
slot, while the Wi-Fi-only Flyer features 16GB of embedded memory plus MicroSD
slot.
The Evo View
4G will ship initially with Android 2.3 OS but will be upgraded to the
tablet-optimized Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) OS.
The U.S. Flyer’s Android version wasn’t announced.
