HTC Flyer hits Amazon Germany for equivalent of $904
updated 09:10 am EST, Wed February 16, 2011
HTC Flyer gets Amazon pre-order for steep price
HTC's just unveiled Flyer tablet may already face an uphill battle based on price. The Android 2.4 slate has been listed at Amazon Germany with a price of 669 euros, or the equivalent of $904 with tax. The trim level carries 3G and 32GB of built-in flash memory.
The price is less expensive than the equivalent current 3G iPad, which costs 699 euros ($945), but is coming just before an upcoming iPad update that would provide many of the same features but with a larger, higher resolution screen. Apple's design may also use a dual-core processor versus the 1.5GHz single-core chip of the Flyer, and the iPad will use an optimized version of its OS where HTC is layering a tablet-optimized Sense on top of a phone OS instead of using Android 3.0.
HTC is in part counting on both the popularity of its Android devices to drive the tablet as well as the rare use of a pen with a capacitive screen. The stylus can support pressure-sensitive actions like drawing but still supports proper multi-touch on the seven-inch display.
Seven-inch tablets from major manufacturers have so far had a difficult time significantly undercutting Apple and may have pushed Samsung to unveil the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Apple has repeatedly said it prices the iPad "aggressively" and is believed to be taking advantage of long-term contracts to get better prices. [via TabletBlog]
