High flyer
If the silver lining has a cloud, then it’s the price. At £599, the 32GB Wi-Fi/3G version is £20 more than the equivalent Apple iPad, which itself is hardly a bargain. The 16GB Wi-Fi model at £480 is £100 more than the Asus Eee Pad Transformer, and that has a 10.1in screen. Gulp.
A quality performer with a price to match
Verdict
In a nutshell, very good but very expensive sums up the Flyer. HTC clearly thinks it can now charge a premium for its devices and adapter cables – a policy I take issue with no matter what the brand or logo. Still, if you have the money you won’t be disappointed. If you don’t have the money wait for a few months until the 10in HTC Puccini tablet arrives – I’m betting the price of the Flyer will float gently earthwards then. ®
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HTC Flyer 7in Android tablet
COMMENTS
Way too much money
Cut the price in half and it starts to look like good value. At £480 for wifi only it is stupid expensive and is doomed.
Hmmm
I am sure if you can afford it, it will leave you in a blissful state of post Metrosexual wank-spasm.
Anecdotally confirmed
I was on a flight back from NZ with an iPad, via Thailand. I managed to get through 5 of the six parts of the SE version of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy and about an hour into the final part before we were coming into land at London. During the brief stopover at Thailand, I did a bit of e-mail and web browsing over a 2G SIM (no 3G there) for about half an hour. I also spent around an hour listening to music when I was trying to get some sleep.
Both were night flights and obviously while in the plane the iPad was in flight mode. The backlight was turned low - about 25% - since the plane was dark anyway. Nonetheless, sitting there watching movies, listening to music and with the half hour non-flight-mode 2G session, I must have used at least 12 hours of battery. According to the meter there was still 15% charge left when I turned it off for landing and IME the battery indicator is fairly linear and accurate in its behaviour.
That's the closest to a continuous playback stress test I've put it through. Even so, heavy use since I got it last year has drilled home one thing that's the stand-out feature of the device for me, as someone who hates having to keep charging things: The iPad battery life is absolutely outstanding. It can be completely relied upon to last a full day without charge under heavy use.
Nope
The bottom line is this is a toy and you have to draw a line somewhere. Very few people actually "need" a device like this. People often conflate "want" with "need".
Bullying HTC into paying you because you failed at selling your own product is unconscionable.
I will never "need" anything enough to be enabler for that behaviour.
RE: Why is it muppetry?
But let's say, hypothetically, that the Flyer happens to be the device that meets your needs perfectly. Isn't avoiding it so MS don't get $5 a classic case of cutting off your nose to spite your face?
