HTC prepares Flyer, Stylus-based iPad 2 rival

With the launch of Apple's new iPad 2 imminent, companies like Samsung are rethinking about their tablet strategy, while deep discounts are expected for Motorola's Xoom tablet. But HTC, the company responsible for the Evo 4G and Droid Incredible smartphones, has already lined up a million orders for its new Flyer tablet from retailers and carriers.

That number may not be the best comparison point. Samsung moved 2 million of its tablets to retailers, while Apple sold that many iPads in just 60 days. But the HTC Flyer has some interesting features to recommend it, perhaps even over the iPad 2.

The Stylus is the draw..
Windows-based tablets of old, like Palm Pilots, needed a pen-shaped stylus to interact with their pressure-sensitive touchscreens. You could use your fingers, but it wasn't as precise and you needed to apply more pressure. Capacitive touchscreens like the iPad's, meanwhile, are sensitive to body heat, making them easy to use with your fingers but hard to draw or write on.

The HTC Flyer features the best of both worlds: It has a capacitive, multitouch screen like the iPad 2's, but it also comes with a working stylus accessory for drawing and taking notes. An app syncs your drawings with the online Evernote service, and the built-in e-reader app lets you highlight and annotate books. And despite the Flyer's 7-inch screen size - making it about the same size as a Kindle, or half the size of the iPad 2 - it recognizes when you've got your hand on the screen while drawing.

Content and apps..
Since it's powered by Google's "organic," open-source Android operating system and meets Google's hardware requirements, the HTC Flyer will let you buy apps from the Android Market, which has over 150,000 at last count. It will have its own "HTC Watch" movie store, for access to video content; and apps for Pandora Internet radio, Amazon's MP3 store, and Jamendo's free Creative Commons music are all available in the market.

The downside, of course, is that it doesn't have access to iTunes or the iTunes App Store. There are already 65,000 apps designed just for the iPad, whereas very few Android apps have been designed with tablets in mind. Now that Android has seen its 3.0 "Honeycomb" release, though, which was made for tablets, more tablet apps are on the way and while the HTC Flyer isn't shipping with Honeycomb, HTC has tweeted that an upgrade to Honeycomb will be available soon.

Live video gaming..
Perhaps the Flyer's most interesting feature, besides its stylus interface, is its integration with the OnLive gaming service. OnLive lets you stream games to your PC or television using a controller and a high-speed Internet connection, and it will be built into the Flyer at launch. No word yet on how well it performs, though.

As another possible downside, the pen input feature didn't seem quite mature when the Flyer was introduced last month, plus there's no silo to store the pen in. Worse, it requires its own batteries. The feature of having one, though, may be compelling on its own if HTC works the bugs out; and my personal experience with HTC products has been that they're extremely well-made.

Coming soon..
No release date for the HTC Flyer has been given. But, Sprint is rumored to be debuting an Evo-branded tablet at the CTIA Wireless conference this month.

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