The HTC Flyer Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on June 21, 2011 4:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- HTC
- Android 2.3
- Mobile
- Flyer
The Cameras
The Flyer's rear facing 5MP camera doesn't have a flash however even in well lit areas its image capture quality is pretty bad, even compared to other tablets. The verdict is still out on whether or not camera quality matters in a tablet, but given that you can quickly integrate photos you've taken with the Notes app I would've hoped for a better quality sensor.
Stills are shot at 2592 x 1520 and the camera app offers the usual set of adjustments (white balance, sharpness, saturation, contrast, exposure, ISO). You can also apply real time filters (yay sepia!) to the image although I rarely find myself wanting to.
The front facing camera is no better. Images are captured at and don't bother asking about quality. It's ok is about the best I can offer.
Switching between front and rear facing cameras does take a couple of seconds but it's accomplished via a single tap. There's a little green LED that lights up to the left of the front facing sensor when it's active.
Capturing images takes about two seconds regardless of which camera you're shooting with. It's laggy enough to make capturing a moving object difficult but quick enough to be competitive with most other solutions on the market today.
Video can be recorded at up to 720p. Image quality is still pretty bad here as well. Switching between still and video capture is very quick and accomplished using a single tap.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
26 Comments
View All Comments
piroroadkill - Tuesday, June 21, 2011 - link
.. and should include the pen. Oh well.nitin213 - Friday, June 24, 2011 - link
At a recent roadshow in Singapore, HTC flyer was available for S$550 in a whispered deal (~US$460) and came bundled with the scribe and a cover.. I guess wait for similar deals in US if you really want it bundled.That said, I still went with an iPad even though i bought N1 immediately at launch. The key reason was quite simple... while numbers suggest that flyer is lighter, the smaller size meant it has much more heft and thus fingers get tired a bit faster (I was always holding flyer with a stronger grip). the scribe though useful addition wasnt always avlbl right away as there is no old-stylus style storage area on the tablet.. And lastly, the old adage.. never buy a first generation product from a company...I like HTC and am sure their next gen product would blow the competition, but flyer was not for me.
cheers
m.amitava - Tuesday, June 21, 2011 - link
I've seen that HTC Sense's facebook app captures higher res images of your contacts than the regular facebook app so that when you receive a call ( I am on a Desire HD on Gingerbread) from your contacts, their pic doesn't come out as a pixelated hash.So in that small way I do prefer the Sense implementation
Impulses - Tuesday, June 21, 2011 - link
HTC's whole FB contact integration system works better than the native one from the official FB app... That and the lovely lockscreen previews of calendar events, messages and music (plus app shortcuts now!) are the two biggest advantages that Sense has over stock Android. There's other minor things here and there (camera interface, motion sensing settings for the ringer, notification pane toggles, etc) but you can replicate most of them with market apps, and in some cases it's stuff that Honeycomb has addressed (and ICS surely will too).arbarath - Tuesday, June 21, 2011 - link
nice tablet.. but too expensive..therealnickdanger - Tuesday, June 21, 2011 - link
I wouldn't pay more than $200 for this. 7", not 10". Gingerbread, not Honeycomb. Poor battery life. You'd think with the that much thickness, they could have fit a huge battery in it. Oh well...xSauronx - Tuesday, June 21, 2011 - link
I think 300 or so is a fair price with the scribe stuff included, tops, considering the size and screen quality. Maybe 250 (since the nook color can pack an ips panel in a 7" tablet for that)but 500? No way. Why do companies keep pricing their devices so poorly?
Souka - Tuesday, June 21, 2011 - link
in attempt to recover part of development cost and because people keep buying themap90033 - Wednesday, June 22, 2011 - link
I agree this is a rip off and not that great of a product...Cow86 - Tuesday, June 21, 2011 - link
In Europe the pen IS included with every purchase, and the 16 GB model goes vor 499 euro's here...after the conversion maybe not really better value, but it's worth noting anyway. Puts it 20 euro's above the Ipad 2 16 GB wifi though, and I'm not sure a lot of people would pay that, except maybe the niche that really wants the scribe.