Flyer rumored to be first of three HTC Android tablets
"Quietly brilliant" HTC is said to be prepping three tablets for the first half of 2011, with the first expected as early as March.
DigiTimes is back again, adding fuel to a fire that doesn't want to die. According to the site's sources, HTC is said to be readying not one, but three Android tablets for the first part of the year.
The first device, the Flyer, may begin shipping in the United States in March, with the other two devices following in June. The Flyer should resemble a large HTC Desire and run a pre-Honeycomb version of Android. As for the other models, they will make their debut with Gingerbread (Android 3.0).
It's worth pointing out that the information should be considered rumor only, as HTC has yet to publicly admit to any tablets. DigiTimes is often a source for rumors that either hit the mark dead-on or miss it completely, so view them accordingly.
At this point, however, it's not much of a stretch to envision HTC working on a tablet. In my opinion, it's not so much if HTC is doing it, but when. As companies like LG (G-Slate), Motorola (Xoom), and Samsung begin rolling out their own devices, it would not make sense for HTC to sit on the sidelines. Also, since much of HTC's ascension over the last two years has been due to Android, a tablet is just the logical next step. The quicker it moves into this territory, the better for all involved.
Previous rumors about HTC tablets include a presumed 10-inch screen running at 1,280x720-pixel resolution, an Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor, and upward of 2GB internal memory. One potential name for a tablet could be the Scribe, which was uncovered in trademark filings back in December 2010.