Flyer review- Who knew??

[rushmore]

I picked one of these up from Best Buy today...Just to try out (so I thought).

Good

1. Build is solid

2. External speakers are louder than expected

3. Sound quality is good

4. Display looks good with good angles as well

5. Nice size

6. Snappy device with 2.3.3 (did not see an update for 2.3.4, mentioned in another thread)

7. Responsive touch function

8. Wifi has good range, stable and makes the A500 I owned seem like a little wimp. Wifi is as good as my Thrive.

9. Game emulators play faster on this device than any I have owned: gTablet, A500, Thrive, DX2 and Droid 3. This is a single core, but clocked at 1.5ghz. Noticeably faster than the dual cores and does not appear to get as hot as those devices.

10. Plays video well. Tried some 720p MKV files and they played fine. One odd thing is though MKV files played better on the Flyer, WMV 720p plays better on the Thrive. Weird.

11. Seems the right size for games compared to the Droid 3 and Thrive I own ATM. Not too big or small. Juuust right.

12. Charges through the USB port, so no worry need to lug the power supply!

Added: 13. Hi def Flash content also plays much better than the Droid 3 and Thrive. Anandtech's comments and benchmarks in their review support this too.

Added 14. Boots up a lot faster than any Android I have tested, so far.

Bad

1. Do not like the location of the SD card, but at least it has one.... cough... Kindle Fire... cough.

2. The white on the ends. Why?

That is all of the bad I can think of ATM. For $300, the Flyer rocks real hard and I am wanting to keep it....

BTW, I like Gingerbread on smaller displays, since no black navigator bar taking up 10% of the display.

Any game emulator fan would be doing good getting this.

 

[breadnatty08]

Rush, BB just slashed the price to $100 this morning. I'd look to go back and try to get those $200 back! Thanks for the detailed review.

 

[rushmore]

I did in Lexington, but they were not honoring the price error, even though the price was also at the stores. Best Buy is saying it was an online error, which is FALSE. The online and store systems are both seperate cost centers and entities. This was a higher level screw-up.

I was going to buy another and get my current one adjusted to $100. Bummer.

The wild thing is they were talking yesterday how the Flyer had become a huge seller for Best Buy at $300 and the plan was to keep selling at that price. Best Buy had no apparent plan to liquidate the product and HTC was making price allowances.

At $300, the Flyer is a great device, but the pricing screw-up is pure stupid. Still, IMO, the Flyer is the best 7" display device.

 

[fillyo]

I got two at $99 each before the store opened, had no idea of the error. I hope I didn't get the guy in trouble who sold me two early before the store opened.

 

[rushmore]

I got two at $99 each before the store opened, had no idea of the error. I hope I didn't get the guy in trouble who sold me two early before the store opened.

If he is in trouble, it will be due to him selling them before the store was open, so less chance to catch the price error once open.

How did you even get in? Ours was locked tight until 10am and the posting was listed. Slacker duty manager at that Best Buy, it seems?

Joking, since they might not have "got the memo", so slacker regional manager?

 

[breadnatty08]

They pulled the price sheet right when I got in but was still able to get 1 for $99. Still looking for a solid root method and some Honeycomb goodness. Won't completely replace our GT10.1 but seems to be a nice device so far.

 

[rushmore]

They pulled the price sheet right when I got in but was still able to get 1 for $99. Still looking for a solid root method and some Honeycomb goodness. Won't completely replace our GT10.1 but seems to be a nice device so far.

Guess it depended on who was on watch making the decisions. The general manager happened to be in at the Lexington store and refused the price, even though it was listed as $99.99 on the shelf ticket.

Hard to believe 40 people were in line this morning and all waiting to get the Flyer. In Lexington (this aint' no Boston or NYC).

 

[breadnatty08]

Wow, 40? There were several people in line at our store in DC (there's two in DC) but only one other guy got one before I left.
Also, since I don't feel like making another thread, could you point me (or PM) in the direction of how this S-off works (using Revolutionary)? I've rooted every Android device I've gotten and this one seems to be missing in details.

 

[rushmore]

Yep. 25 in line when got there at 9:50. 40 when the doors opened, all to be greated with the correction bulletin posted on the inner door.

We missed the price by thaaaaat much.

I have not rooted, since do not see the need. The thing is already faster than my rooted Droid 3 and anything else I have tried.

Host function would be nice, by reports are our can not use storage devices unless they are self powered.

 

[Vipfreak]

I still like my Flyer even though it was $400... :\ No love for the decent batt life?

 

[rushmore]

After having it for several days, the battery is better than expected and has great power management. Uses next to nothing when sleeping, even after 12 hours. The ability to charge through the usb is versatile goodness.

 

[Dolmangar]

Having a standard micro USB connection was one of the main reasons I bought the Flyer back in June. The high power port around it is handy, but being able to trickle charge and just plug it in anywhere for data with a standard cable is key.

I won't touch a tablet with a proprietary only connection, to much of a PITA.

After having it for several days, the battery is better than expected and has great power management. Uses next to nothing when sleeping, even after 12 hours. The ability to charge through the usb is versatile goodness.

 

[astralknight]

See HTC flyer forum

 

[rushmore]

Flyer is a good tab and a shame was not lower cost out of the gate, since a lot more people would have it.

 

[maximise]

I picked one of these up from Best Buy today...Just to try out (so I thought).

Good

1. Build is solid

2. External speakers are louder than expected

3. Sound quality is good

4. Display looks good with good angles as well

5. Nice size

6. Snappy device with 2.3.3 (did not see an update for 2.3.4, mentioned in another thread)

7. Responsive touch function

8. Wifi has good range, stable and makes the A500 I owned seem like a little wimp. Wifi is as good as my Thrive.

9. Game emulators play faster on this device than any I have owned: gTablet, A500, Thrive, DX2 and Droid 3. This is a single core, but clocked at 1.5ghz. Noticeably faster than the dual cores and does not appear to get as hot as those devices.

10. Plays video well. Tried some 720p MKV files and they played fine. One odd thing is though MKV files played better on the Flyer, WMV 720p plays better on the Thrive. Weird.

11. Seems the right size for games compared to the Droid 3 and Thrive I own ATM. Not too big or small. Juuust right.

12. Charges through the USB port, so no worry need to lug the power supply!

Added: 13. Hi def Flash content also plays much better than the Droid 3 and Thrive. Anandtech's comments and benchmarks in their review support this too.

Added 14. Boots up a lot faster than any Android I have tested, so far.

Bad

1. Do not like the location of the SD card, but at least it has one.... cough... Kindle Fire... cough.

2. The white on the ends. Why?

That is all of the bad I can think of ATM. For $300, the Flyer rocks real hard and I am wanting to keep it....

BTW, I like Gingerbread on smaller displays, since no black navigator bar taking up 10% of the display.

Any game emulator fan would be doing good getting this.

Ok, looks very promising as in previous reviews. *BUT* what about a wordprocessor that actually works? How do we drag-n-drop files to folders? How do we delete/rename folders. Font rendering is not reliable. Unless I am missing something I cannot find the answers to a dozen questions. Again, the Flyer does not appear on my PC on 'My Computer'. Have I really bought a duff product????

 

[Dolmangar]

For a word processor you'll probably want to get something like Documents To Go. This works pretty well, and handles a BT keyboard nicely.

For file management, there are a lot of options, but OI File Manager does what I need. If you're talking about folders on the desktop you can Add them with a long press on the screen.

Not sure what you mean about fonts, however I have noticed the occasional visual glitch, especially in widgets like FaceBook. Usually a flip between landscape and portrait will solve that.

To get the Flyer to show up as a drive on you PC, you'll need to select the option "Disk Drive".

When you have the tablet plugged into USB, you should see a listing in the Notifications with a status of "Charge Only". When you select that you'll get a select list of several options, one of them will let you mount the drive.

Depending on your settings, it may bring up a selection list when you plug in, but I think it has a "Don't ask again" that would remember your previous decision.

Something else you might want to check out is Thumb Keyboard. It has a great set of options to customize your soft keyboard and it works very well.

Ok, looks very promising as in previous reviews. *BUT* what about a wordprocessor that actually works? How do we drag-n-drop files to folders? How do we delete/rename folders. Font rendering is not reliable. Unless I am missing something I cannot find the answers to a dozen questions. Again, the Flyer does not appear on my PC on 'My Computer'. Have I really bought a duff product????

 

[Shofar]

I don't live in the States, those of you who got the Flyer for $99 must be very happy.

Visiting Germany and I have found it for what equals $700 for the 32 GB, 3G model.

What is the going rate these days? Amazon has it for $600+

Is it worth it?

Need a quick reply please as I leave Wed.

thanks,

Shofar

 

[jlbattagli]

@ Shofar- Best has the 16GB version listed for $300, but they're on backorder. Amazon shows one in stock at $400. Don't know about getting a 32GB model in the US. BTW, those are wi-fi only.

 

[Mikenk]

I can confirm that no Best Buy stores in the Dallas area seems to have them. I just ordered one on ebay (16gb) for $300 with free shipping. l also ordered the digital pen for $30 and a nice looking Yoobao case for $33. All are supposed to arrive this week.

Mike

 

[rushmore]

Beginning to wonder if Best Buy is simply burning through inventory. Shame the device did not release at this price at launch. Would have ruled.