Flyer for HTC could be a Standout in the crowded market Tablet

I had a close up look at the new HTC Flyer HTC tablet at an event here at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

HTC wouldn't let anybody touch the new tablet today, but a rep gave me a close up demo and showed me what I wanted to see. I liked what I saw. You can see a demo that the embedded video.

The tablet device is smaller than the size of a Galaxy Samsung than an iPad. The screen is 7 inches across. It's also lightweight, weighs only 530 grams lighter than all other tablets of new that I saw at the show. For me, the size of the flyer and its seven-inch screen looks right. But this is a matter of taste.

Hands on with the HTC flyer

showVideoPlayer ("99");

The Flyer has a nice body, satin and tapering to the edge, which makes the device seem even smaller. The card, on the contrary, has squared edges.

But as more Android tablets came out, it's getting harder and harder for Tablet PC makers differentiate their products from others in the market. The main point of differentiation so far seems to be the size of the device--this may only last as long as they appear in tablets of all shapes and sizes. But HTC has done some stuff with the UI of Android that I had not seen on other tablets.

As you'll see in the video, HTC has built a special version of the Tablet his sense UI on top of OS Gingerbread (2.4) for Android. Turns the gingerbread interface looks pretty flat in a 3D environment with a lot of movement. For example, the application time shows a beautiful shot of clouds floating by. When scrolling through book titles in the app, it seems that you are running a virtual cube with books on every surface.

HTC reaches back to yesteryear by including a stylus pen with the Flyer. Don't worry, it is not necessary to operate the device. The pen is primarily used in the Application Notes: you can draw out ideas Blackboard style-and talk, while you're doing-and the app keeps track of everything that happens. Or you can just back up the whole thing for Evernote.

You can also use the stylus to make comments on web pages or e-books and share them with your friends. Pretty cool.

The tablet will be available in the second quarter of this year, and wireless carriers in the United States will make their ads the latest pricing and release dates.