HTC Flyer hands-on (photos)

BARCELONA, Spain--Meet the HTC Flyer, unveiled here today at Mobile World Congress 2011. This Android 2.3-based tablet features a 7-inch Super LCD touch screen that's encased in an aluminum unibody design. This is a design that the company has used on a number of its smartphones, including the HTC Legend.

The tablet measures 7.68 inches long by 4.92 inches wide by 0.51 inch thick and weighs just under a pound. HTC calls it a tablet that's both compact and powerful, the power coming from a 1.5GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon processor.

The tablet also has 1GB of RAM and 32GB of ROM, along with a 5-megapixel camera, a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera, HSPA+ support, HTC's Sense UI, a microSD card slot, cloud gaming through OnLive, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi. There's a 7-inch (1024x600 pixel) display and the main menu has a standard icon-based design. Below sit the usual Android touch controls.

The availability date was not released at press time, but the Flyer will probably land in the European and Asian markets first. The HTC Flyer has an estimated retail price of 499 euros ($674). Here you can the photo gallery application. Above the display is the second 1.3-megapixel camera.

Thanks to the HTC Scribe technology you can use the included pen for a variety of functions. Not only can you can sketch and write text on the display, but also the Timemark feature allows you to sync the audio of a meeting with your written notes. Tapping on a word in your notes will take you directly to that portion of the audio.

The Flyer also has a virtual keyboard for text entry.

You can use the pen to select and highlight text.

The pen's buttons help you perform the various functions.

You can save all written notes and voice memos to a central menu.

In the media gallery you can swipe between your saved videos and music tracks.

This photo doesn't quite do it justice, but the videos looked great.

The Flyer also functions as an e-book reader. Here you can see the various titles displayed.

On the Flyer's back side you'll find the 5-megapixel camera.

The Flyer is comfortably thin (0.51 inch). The volume rocker rests on the right spine.

Luckily, the Flyer has a standard micro-USB port for your charging and syncing needs.

A 3.5mm headset jack and power control sit on the Flyer's top end.