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The sometimes-questionable Digitimes has a new report claiming HTC is setting fairly low expectations for their upcoming Android tablet, the HTC Flyer. The company has been ordering up the Android Gingerbread tablet to the tune of one million units by August, a fairly conservative number parsing out to about 170,000 slates per month.
The tablet is rumored to sell for right around $600, a price that could make all the difference in whether or not the HTC Flyer gains much traction. It is launching with a smaller screen size in a sea of upcoming Honeycomb tablets, not to mention the newly announced iPad 2 from Apple.
Whether or not the initial order has a lowball figure because HTC expects low sales isn’t clear, but it can’t be a good sign.
[via Electronista]
Could they be expecting low sales because it is running gingerbread.
I’m usually a HTC fan, but they really screwed the pooch on this one.
Non-Honeycomb (not even Homeycomb?)
Too small/too expensive for it’s size.
cost too much and not even running honeycomb – thumbs down
I love HTC. I would think about getting this because I know there will be a lot of neat stuff for it available for it once its rooted. I would really like to see how the modify Sense UI for use on tablets. I am sure it will be awesome.
But maybe they expect low numbers because of the level of competition/saturation that is coming this year to the tablet scene?
Works for me though. I love having options.
I don’t care about ipad, xoom, etc but I do care about the asus memo which has honeycomb. It all comes down to the software. If HTC has better software support for the stylus then I’ll just wait for honeycomb.
@MT agreed. $600 for a gingerbread android tablet? A million units by *August*?! In August, the Xooms will be well under $600 everywhere. What the hell are they thinking?
I think this can be classified as “fail”. Tablets coming out at that price point without Honeycomb I see being DOA. For their next trick, maybe they’ll release a new phone running 2.1 for $599 off-contract. I guess someone at HTC had a brain fart.
iPad2 is going to walk all over all these android tablets. If the Flyer was $399 it might be interesting. Same for the Xoom. $1 dollar higher and I’d rather have the iPad2. Hell, even the iPad1.
ipad2 doesn’t support flash and xoom doesn’t have netflix. Fail.
If the price is right, this is the tablet I want.
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HTC already announced it’s getting Honeycomb, they just have to ready their pen for it.
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I like the size, it’s just right IMO. My Nook Color is much easier to hold than my iPad( Developer, so I had to get one. ) and it just fits better into my cases. I like that I can hold it in one hand and that my thumbs reach easily across the screen when typing.
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The pressure-sensitive stylus is the primary reason I want one. It’s what makes this tablet practical/useful IMO. I like that it has a real tip, not the blunt crayon-ish tip I get on my Boxwave and any other popular styluses that actually work. A stylus makes all capacitive screens easier to use, especially the 10″ tablets and it cuts down big-time on finger prints.
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Anyways, here’s hoping for $500 or less. I’ll look into one when they ship with Honeycomb later this year.
/n
line break test.
line break test.
I can’t justify $600 for only 2 extra inches over my phone…especially without honeycomb
htc needs to step up their game, they have grown kinda stagnant over the past 6+ months
The version of Android is not the problem (2.4, I think). It does not matter since this tab is using the Tablet version of Sense. The problem is I heard it is not dual-core. Though, the capacitive stylus is cool!
@DJ the XOOMs will be under $600 shortly when they come to Sam’s as they are supposed to be $539 at that point, aren’t they?
Isn’t this rumored to be the Sprint HTC View?
The weather widget there looks enlarged and just stupid. It occupies a lot of space it doesn’t need to occupy.
Complaining about screen size vs. price doesn’t hold that much water for me, since the part cost really isn’t that different, and it’s more a matter of use case and personal preference than anything else. On the other hand, the Flyer is thick and heavy, and the specs are pretty disappointing. There’s no reason to get one instead of, say, a Nook Color.
I think HTC just understands that tablets are a niche market. They’ve actually made tablets before and know what to expect. Unlike Moto and Samsung.
Nobody really knows if the Sam’s Club thing is true or not.
Not sure when the different tablet vendors get the point, in order to compete properly the tablet has to be priced better than an ipad and running honnycomb, otherwise its just going to catch the eyes of the android faithful.
@Hotmann do you own Dell 5″??
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7″ devices are extremely portable and useful for comfortable web-browsing on the go, I don’t want to carry 10″ all day long.
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HTC is called ‘Device manufacturer of 2011’ after MWC 2011 in February.
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HTC Scribe technology is that what business users want.
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ipad 1.5(2) looks stagnant.
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HTC Flyer will obviously be the best 7″ tablet computer.
Xoom is the best 10″ tablet computer. If Xoom wasn’t SO PERFECT, Apple wouldn’t be in a hurry to launch the next pad, not waiting for April (1 year production cycle). They’re just scaried of Xoom. They’re scaried of Honeycomb.
Motorola said we’ll see 4G and wifi-only Xoom 7″)
It’s a mobile like platform rather then the Honeycomb tablet platform. Smh
im excited about this tab. i dont care that it isnt honeycomb.. i want to see what this tablet version of Sense UI will be capable of doing. i have a xoom and love it but this is going to be legit as well
Wow, $600? At $350, it would have made a good tablet…
Not seeing how some of the claims in these comments actually map to this reality – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u_m66NG_5c
Imagine a student. You can record the lecture and the notes that you take are linked to the place in the lecture. You’re in math class…now how are you going to write down square root of x squared with a keyboard or voice input? You can’t. You need something like this.
Ari-Free, what you need is an inexpensive RESISTIVE screen device, like one of the new Coby tablets. Cheap, powerful and you can use a stylus. With the extra $200, you can use that to pay off your education :)
I didn’t even know Coby made android tablets
I want to buy the HTC Flyer to use at work. Not buying it for home use. If it does what I think it can do, I will gladly fork over the $600 since no one else is putting out a tablet with tightly integrated active stylus. If it isn’t as cool as I think it is, I will pick up an Asus MeMo at a cheaper price hopefully.
Wouldn’t it be 250000 a month since it was never slated for release this month and there’s only 4 months until August?
Also, I am still baffled at idiots who keep pining for a $300 price point. It is never happening. Do people not realise the unsubsidised prices of phones these days? How do you think they’re going to take better internals and sell it at a lower price? Go buy an Archos, cheapskates.
It may have sold if it came out a year ago. Xoom has raised the bar. HTC a bit slow to react.
I love my HTC products but I have to agree with many on here. This thing isn’t going to sell at $600. With the size and lack of Honeycomb, its just won’t happen.
HTC said they were releasing several tablets this year. Some start with honeycomb and others will be upgraded to it.
There will be cheap ones and more expensive ones.
Please remember HTC is a business and they will not bring out a tablet with amazing specs and honeycomb just because someone complains. They have a plan and they are bringing things out to keep us all happy at various price points and screen sizes. I expect their 10″ to be a top spec but the 7″ now to be a little more basic. It does have a better processor. But they were late to think of a tablet. BUT then they have done this v2.4 with SENSE and the pen which looks good to me. I like sense UI – it has some good things going for it. Not everything has to be google you know…
I dont think i would buy one unless it was about $300 or $400 bucks… simply because i have the HTC evo which i paid $500… and im running out of money. plus it is only running android 2.3
That’s a $200 tablet, and I still wouldn’t purchase it because its sense. :(
I got Honey on my mt4g why would I want this?
I have Honey on my mt4g why would I pay for this crap?
I agree with the comments re gingerbread, single-core processor. I would also add that I deplore it has no GSM voice communication capability.