The world’s most expensive seven-inch tablet might just be the HTC Flyer. Over at Carphone Warehouse pre-orders for the bite-sized tablet are underway, fetching £599.99 sans contract. With 3G and WiFi connectivity, a single-core 1.5GHz processor and 32GB of internal storage, is this Android Gingerbread tablet an expensive gamble?
If there’s one thing we’ve learned using Android it’s that updates are neither timely nor guaranteed. Short of rooting your device, the safest way to navigate Google’s gauntlet is with a device sporting a vanilla Android kernel. The HTC Flyer, unfortunately, does not fit this bill since it uses the latest version of HTC’s Sense UI atop Android 2.3.x Gingerbread. While an Android Honeycomb update is expected, £599.99 is a lot of money at stake for a pre-order.
Compared to the iPad 2, £599.99 for a 3G/WiFi 32GB HTC Flyer is not much more expensive than a similarly spec’d Apple tablet (+£20.99). For that reason alone, price-wise, the HTC Flyer looks to be a solid value if the capacity and included 3G radio meet your needs. The real question is whether the price will drop, much like the Motorola Xoom, following the early pre-order listing.
Is anyone else worried about the Android Honeycomb update for the HTC Flyer?
Pre-Order Now | Carphone Warehouse | £599.99 [via PhoneArena]
