The HTC Flyer has gone up for pre-order at Carphone Warehouse, with the retailer announcing that the 3G version of the tablet will be available for £600. That works out to about $980 on the other side of the Atlantic. HTC will likely adjust pricing once it launches stateside to remain competitive, but for a for a 7-inch screened, single core device, running Android 2.4 instead of the tablet-optimized Honeycomb it still feels rather expensive. By comparison, the Apple iPad 2 with Wi-Fi + 3G is priced between £500 and £659 in the U.K., depending on storage capacity.
As previously reported, the HTC Flyer is powered by a 1.5GHz Qualcomm chip along 1GB of RAM and 32GB of flash storage. It features a 1024 x 600 display resolution, an aluminum construction, 5MP camera on the back, 1.3MP front-facing camera for video conferencing, HSPA+ support, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi. A refreshed version of the company's Sense UI will run on top to optimize the software for tablet use, and HTC is including a pressure-sensitive stylus with a companion app that supports sketching, handwritten text and annotation of imported photos and clippings.
The tablet is expected to start shipping in early May, contract-free and SIM-unlocked. The price for the Wi-Fi only model hasn't been announced yet nor has an approximate date for a U.S. launch. When that happens buyers are in for an extra goodie, as HTC will be offering the Flyer in the U.S. with OnLive's cloud-based gaming service preloaded on it.