HTC takes a flyer on tablets HTC has entered the tablet game, announcing at Mobile World Congress a 7in, 1024 x 600 Android slate that will arrive in Q2. Called the HTC Flyer, the tablet provides the customary features: 1.5GHz processor - dual- or single-core, HTC didn't say, so presumably the latter - 1GB of Ram and 32GB of storage. For a gadget that …
Unless it's a resistive display or some kind of resistive / capacitive hybrid. The latter would be very cool. The former, not so much.
Yes you can use special wands with capacitive only displays but the results are pretty lame. Capacitive displays aren't very precise and can't easily tell the difference between a wand and someone's hand resting on the display.
I read elsewhere that it's actually a sort of wireless mouse that senses position on the screen rather than actually using the capacitive screen.
Sounds cool actually,
http://www.slashgear.com/stylus-wars-htc-strikes-back-15133538/
"What’s different is the active stylus HTC has also included. It’s no plastic toothpick, as we’ve grown to hate from resistive touchscreens, and nor is it a so-called capacitive pen which mimics a fingertip for some semblance of increased accuracy on slates like the iPad. Instead it’s a truly different way of interacting with the Flyer by touch: the pressure-sensitive nib communicates its position wirelessly with the digitiser, while two barrel buttons default to erase and text-selection. To HTC’s specially-coded apps, which at launch will be the only software that supports the stylus, the nib presents as a new type of touch event, distinct from a finger."
I miss Graffiti text input (from the glory days of Palm).
There's a version available for Android:
http://www.access-company.com/cgi/nflife.cgi?a=app&aname=graffiti
which I am using (a bit) - but it's tricky to do well with a finger... ( "finger-painting vs nice sharp pencil")
intrigued t know how well a stylus will work.
A ten inch one of these things... could well be really useful - and novel :-)
S.
Finally my tablet wish is fulfilled. I have been waiting patiently for this, the Sense UI rocks just wish they would put a price to it already!
Also a point i don't understand the whining about the Desire battery life, i have one and its fine, when compared to my mates jebusphone it always comes out on top!
...a decent tablet but I don't think the 7inch form factor is for me and unless they bring out a 10 incher before the summer I will, unfortunately, be shopping elsewhere. Also, it's currently running 2.3 with Sense... I think anything not running Honeycomb on launch might well flop but hey, it may get an upgrade in the next 4 months before it's on shelves.
On a plus note, the OnLive, Scribe & HTC Watch stuff look bloody (quietly) brilliant!
Paris? We all know what large portable screens are REALLY for.
They've had a go at a (keyboarded) tablet before. The Shift. An okay machine, crippled with Vista. I've given up waiting for reliable Win7 drivers for mine. A slowish machine I can live with, but the dreadfully slow Vista startup time - and the - bizarrely - even slower return from hibernation made it a pain to get along with.
... and the misses got HTC Desire's just before Christmas and we think they are great phones. The Sense UI is fantastic and would recommend to anyone, even scaled up for a tablet. My requirements would be on par with some of the comments on here, 10inch responsive screen, stylus and good battery life.
For me the tablet would just be a more portable, 'portable PC', problem is they are cost prohibitive at the moment as I can pickup a light weight netbook to do the job for much, much less that the tablet offerings...
I've been patient, I've been frustrated, I'm now sick of waiting. They know what they want to charge, they know what they have to charge so what the hell is with every manufacturer suddenly becoming so quiet when it comes to tablet pricing? Are they all really hoping that if they hold back until a week before it's due out that a price of £stupid will be acceptable? It didn't work for the Galaxy Tab, that's now hanging around the £400 mark and was around £360 briefly on Amazon. Just announce a damn price already!
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