HTC has integrated a new technology to the tablets, which it says makes it different from others. The HTC Flyer is a $500 tablet with a 7-inch screen.
Tablets are basically designed to sense the touch of a finger. The screen layer looks for big, electrically conductive objects such as fingers, and not sharp objects like pen or stylus.
There are third party styluses for iPad, but they don't really work the way they are supposed to. Drawing isn't that easy.
The Flyer has a second layer apart from the finger sensing screen layer, which detects the movements of specially designed pens. The pen moves smoothly over the screen, though it has a sharp point. Now that seems to be new, but does it change a bit of consumers perspective?
Making a decent notepad out of a tablet seems to have an edge over Apple's iPad, where the feature is still in its nascent stage.
You can write notes and mail it. Sender's handwriting is sent in the form of an email attachment. But there seems to be a drawback; what if a person wants to edit the content and add stuff to it? It's going to be a lot of hard work. Moreover, Flyer does not have the broad range of sketching apps that are available on iPad.
It would be shocking if this tablet does not come bundled with the tablet after paying such a hefty price. But seems like HTC has no plans to woo its consumers, as the pen is optional - priced at $80. Ironically, there is no slot on the tablet to hold the pen when not in use, and trust me there is no effort made by HTC to keep the pen and tablet united. Be ready to buy a new pen if you lose it.
The Flyer runs Google Inc.'s Android 2.3 software "Honeycomb", which is used on most of the smartphones.
The new technology could be a change according to HTC, but consumers know who the reliable source of tablets is, don't you?