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astrodad · 05-21-2011, 06:46 PM

This isn't a formal review, as I don't own the device, but I spent about 30 minutes with it at Best Buy this morning.

The device was solid, almost heavy. I can see getting tired trying to hold this in one hand. It felt well-built and, aside from a well-documented separation where the plastic meets the aluminum body on the bottom left corner, it's up to par with the HTC's usual standards.

I found it just a bit uncomfortable to hold with one hand, as opposed to the Samsung Galaxy Tab, which feels quite good in one hand. I had to really stretch to hold it one hand.

HTC's Sense UI on the device ran pretty well, but I saw lots of sluggishness launching and switching between apps. Coming out of lock mode took about 6 seconds. That's not too good. The weather app animations were smooth, though, as was playing video from YouTube and onboard videos. Other than same nice animations, I don't see much improvement over stock Android in terms of user experience.

The built-in reader application had a nice book browser and was speedy and responsive. Several reading themes were available which varied the background, font type and size. I could not figure out how to read in landscape mode. There was this odd setting that said something about 'optimizing' the book for mobile reading. Page animations were smooth. The formatting looked bad, at least for the on-board books, which included Jane Eyre and Dracula. I couldn't find a way to fully justify the margins. For me, though, the built-in reader wouldn't be used as I would just load the Kindle app.

Overall, it looks like a nice tablet. It matches the form factor I want but it's too big for one hand. And it's priced way too high at $499. The pen, which is supposed to make this tablet unique, wasn't on display and I couldn't demo one. Plus, it's $80 bucks more. I couldn't see anything about the device that made it so much more than the Samsung Galaxy Tab. So I think I will pass and either get the Samsung Galaxy Tab (on eBay for under $300), the Nook Color, or see what Amazon has rolled up their sleeves.

05-21-2011, 06:46 PM	#1
astrodad Guru Posts: 962 Karma: 568242 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle Oasis 3, Kindle Paperwhite 1, iPad, iPhone	HTC Flyer quick impressions This isn't a formal review, as I don't own the device, but I spent about 30 minutes with it at Best Buy this morning. The device was solid, almost heavy. I can see getting tired trying to hold this in one hand. It felt well-built and, aside from a well-documented separation where the plastic meets the aluminum body on the bottom left corner, it's up to par with the HTC's usual standards. I found it just a bit uncomfortable to hold with one hand, as opposed to the Samsung Galaxy Tab, which feels quite good in one hand. I had to really stretch to hold it one hand. HTC's Sense UI on the device ran pretty well, but I saw lots of sluggishness launching and switching between apps. Coming out of lock mode took about 6 seconds. That's not too good. The weather app animations were smooth, though, as was playing video from YouTube and onboard videos. Other than same nice animations, I don't see much improvement over stock Android in terms of user experience. The built-in reader application had a nice book browser and was speedy and responsive. Several reading themes were available which varied the background, font type and size. I could not figure out how to read in landscape mode. There was this odd setting that said something about 'optimizing' the book for mobile reading. Page animations were smooth. The formatting looked bad, at least for the on-board books, which included Jane Eyre and Dracula. I couldn't find a way to fully justify the margins. For me, though, the built-in reader wouldn't be used as I would just load the Kindle app. Overall, it looks like a nice tablet. It matches the form factor I want but it's too big for one hand. And it's priced way too high at $499. The pen, which is supposed to make this tablet unique, wasn't on display and I couldn't demo one. Plus, it's $80 bucks more. I couldn't see anything about the device that made it so much more than the Samsung Galaxy Tab. So I think I will pass and either get the Samsung Galaxy Tab (on eBay for under $300), the Nook Color, or see what Amazon has rolled up their sleeves. Last edited by astrodad; 05-21-2011 at 06:47 PM. Reason: Minor tweak.