HTC Flyer Tablet Priced at $499

The 7-inch Android tablet, HTC's Flyer goes up for pre-order in Best Buy stores. The tablet will cost $499 for a 16 GB model with Wi-Fi, but there's no firm release date. For now, Best Buy is going ahead with a vague timeline of "later this spring." A 4G model will launch on Sprint this summer as the HTC Evo View.

The Flyer's claim to fame is an optional pen-HTC calls it the "Scribe"-that doesn't quite behave like a stylus. The Scribe isn't used for navigation, but for marking up web pages and creating handwritten notes. A built-in notebook app allows the user to record audio. Eventually, HTC will open up Scribe to third-party developers who want to add notation to their own apps. No word on HTC Scribe pricing just yet.

It's a neat-sounding feature that distracts somewhat from the Flyer's potential drawbacks. Instead of Android 3.0 Honeycomb, the Flyer will ship with Android 2.4 and tablet optimizations through HTC's Sense interface although HTC's Flyer only matches it. The Flyer is also a bit chunky, at 0.51 inches thick.

Best Buy is taking pre-orders for HTC Flyer at $499.

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