New York – The tablets and smartphones keep on coming.
AT&T will expand its Windows 7 smartphone selection to
four models with June 5 launch of the $199 HTC HD7S, announced at the CTIA
convention. It joins the $49 Samsung Focus, $49 LG Quantum, and $99 HTC
Surround. Those three were initially priced at $199 when launched late last
year.
For its part, Best Buy plans May
22 availability of the $499 Wi-Fi-only HTC Flyer tablet, which will be
available exclusively through Best Buy as previously announced. The tablet has
been available for preorder.
For use on the AT&T network,
the touchscreen-only HTC HD7S features a 4.3-inch WVGA Super LCD touchscreen,
1GHz processor, 5-megapixel camera with dual LED flash, 16GB of memory, 720p
video capture, and the latest version of Windows Phone software, which offers
such new features as the ability to copy and paste text.
The HD7S features a larger
screen than AT&T’s other two Windows 7 phones. The LG-made Quantum, for
example, features 3.5-inch touchscreen and slide-out keyboard. The Samsung-made
touchscreen-only Focus features 4-inch display and is only 9.9mm thick. And HTC
Surround features 3.6-inch screen and is promoted as a media and gaming phone.
The AT&T Windows phones
feature preloaded AT&T U-verse Mobile application, enabling qualifying
subscribers of AT&T U-verse home service to download and watch TV shows on
the Windows Phone. Non-U-verse customers can subscribe to U-verse Mobile
for $9.99 a month and choose from a broad selection of programming to watch on
the phone.
The new AT&T phone is
similar to the HTC-made HD7 Windows 7 phone already available from T-Mobile
with 4.3-inch touchscreen.
At Best Buy, HTC’s Flyer tablet
will be available through all Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile standalone stores
and through BestBuy.com. It features
Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system, HTC’s Sense user interface, 1024×600
7-inch touchscreen with pinch-to zoom capability, 1.5GHz processor, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/, 16GB
of embedded memory, microSD slot, stereo Bluetooth 3.0, DLNA certification,
HDMI output, Flash 10 and HTML 5 for web browsing, and fingertip and pen
interaction with the screen.
Other key features include
5-megapixel camera/camcorder with 720p HD video capture and autofocus,
front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera for video chatting, microUSB port, and
4,000mAh battery.
The tablet also features new HTC
Scribe technology, 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.
Notes are also integrated with the calendar.
