Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Review: HTC Flyer tablet mates with slippery pen

In this product image provided by HTC, the HTC Flyer tablet is displayed with a battery powered pen.(AP Photo/HTC)

Is it better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all? That's the question posed by a new tablet computer that takes aim at one of the deficiencies of the iPad: that it's difficult to write on it with a stylus or pen.


The HTC Flyer is a $500 tablet with a 7-inch screen. At a glance, it's not much different from the other tablets that are scrambling to compete with Apple Inc.'s iPad.


The iPad and all its copycats are designed to sense the touch of a finger. The screen layer that does this looks for big, blunt, electrically conductive objects such as fingers. It doesn't sense small, sharp ones like pens.


That's why third-party styluses for the iPad are blunt rubbery sticks. They're essentially imitation fingers. They're not very good for drawing, but some people find them better than nothing.


The Flyer has the same finger-sensing screen layer. But it backs this up with a second one, which looks for the movement of a specially designed, battery-powered pen.


The pen moves fluidly over the screen, with a relatively sharp (but non-scratchy) point. The pen even senses how hard it's being pressed on the screen. The tablet responds by making the line thicker or thinner.


The pen makes the Flyer a great notepad and a decent sketchpad - at least one that's better than the iPad. The Flyer includes a note-taking application that's compatible with the Evernote online storage service.


You can jot off a note and send it by email. The recipient will see your handwriting in an image attachment. You can also snap a picture with one of the Flyer's two cameras and color over the image with the pen. In the e-book reading application, you can scribble notes in the margins and underline with the pen.


Unfortunately, the Flyer lacks the broad range of sketching and doodling apps that exist for the iPad. You can't dispense with finger-typing on the on-screen keyboard because the tablet doesn't understand what you're writing. Because no other tablets work with this type of pen, only apps from manufacturer HTC Corp. are compatible.


The other sad thing about the Flyer is that HTC has chosen to treat the pen as an optional accessory. For the $500 you plunk down at Best Buy - the same price as the larger, more capable entry-level iPad - you don't get the pen. It's $80 extra. Yet it's a mystery why anyone would buy a Flyer without it.


Worse, HTC makes zero effort at keeping pen and owner united. There is no slot on the tablet to hold the pen when not in use. There's no case for the Flyer that will hold the pen. The pen doesn't even have a little loop that would let you tie it to the tablet or something else that won't get lost.


In two weeks of use, I dropped the pen a dozen times. I'm proud that I managed not to lose it, but I doubt I could go another two weeks. I would then have the privilege of buying a replacement for $80, a price for which I could get about 300 Bic pens.


In that context, "never to have loved at all" looks like the cheaper option. Paper pads and ballpoint pens, too.


Sprint Nextel Corp. will sell a version of the Flyer it will call EVO View 4G, starting June 24. It will have 32 gigabytes of memory, double the storage in Best Buy's version, and it will have access to Sprint's data network. In a smart move, Sprint is including the pen, but only "for a limited time." However, buyers will need to sign up for two years of wireless data service from Sprint, so the final price will be considerably higher.


Some other things to consider: The Flyer runs Google Inc.'s Android 2.3 software, which in plain English means that it uses the same software as a lot of smartphones, but not other recent iPad rivals. They use a more recent package, "Honeycomb," that's designed for tablets. HTC promises to upgrade the Flyer's software to Honeycomb soon, helping it stay compatible with tablet-specific apps.


In my video-playing test, I got 7.5 hours of play time out of the Flyer, which isn't very good for a tablet. The iPad 2 gets ten hours; the Asus Eee Pad Transformer gets nine.


The Transformer is a better example of a tablet that tries to compete with the iPad by doing something new - in that case, by doubling as a small, elegant laptop thanks to a clever accessory keyboard.


The pen-sensing layer of the Flyer could be a great addition to the world of tablets, but someone really needs to figure out how to make the pen cheaper or easier to keep track of. To end on another corny quote, "If you love something, set it free; if it comes back it's yours, if it doesn't, it never was" is not a phrase to live by when it comes to $80 pens.


?2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Video recording spy glasses coming to a face near you

(PhysOrg.com) -- ZionEyez, a Seattle-based startup, has created a pair of spy glasses that have the capability of recording and sharing HD video discreetly. The product in question, which has been named the Eyez video recording glasses, comes equipped with a 720p HD recording camera; microphone and 8 GB flash memory. The system has up to three hours of battery life and can share information tirelessly with both the Bluetooth and WiFi standards.



When users pair their special glasses with an iPhone or Android-based smartphone the system can transmit the video directly to the web. If users do not want to stream the video users can save the video and export it through a microUSB port that is hidden on the glasses.


The device is currently still in its prototype stage, and since the company has not chosen a final piece of hardware for the recording device, no sample of the quality of the video recording is available at this time, though they do promise that the camera will be able to record in high definition, at 1280x720p.

Of course, the use of a device such as this one in the real world may raise some legal issues, depending on how it is used. A user on a public street may be fine, but inside someone’s home or recording and broadcasting a person without their consent could be a different issue completely. This video is not supported by your browser at this time.

Eyez HD Video Recording Glasses

When the glasses go on sale they will retail for $200. Users who take advantage of the current pre-order on Kickstarter will get a $50 discount on the price.

More information: http://www.zioneyez.com/


? 2010 PhysOrg.com


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US tablet users paid $53 for apps: study

Customers try the iPad 2 at the Apple store on Fifth Avenue in New York in March 2011. More than 90 percent of US tablet computer users have downloaded applications and most have bought apps, spending over $50 on average during the past 12 months, according to a study released on Wednesday.

More than 90 percent of US tablet computer users have downloaded applications and most have bought apps, spending over $50 on average during the past 12 months, according to a study released on Wednesday.


Twelve percent of the total US population own or use a tablet, the study by the Online Publishers Association (OPA) found, with the number expected to rise to 23 percent, or 54 million people, by early 2012.


Ninety-three percent of tablet users have downloaded apps, the study said, with the average tablet user downloading 20 apps, predominantly for weather, games and music, social networking and news.


Seventy-nine percent of those who have downloaded apps have paid for apps during the past 12 months, spending $53 on apps during the period, the OPA study said.


Twenty-six percent of all apps downloaded are paid apps with games making up more than 50 percent of the apps people paid for, it said.


The study also found that 60 percent of tablet users are men and 48 percent are between the ages of 18 and 34.


Tablet owners were largely happy with their devices, the study found. Eighty-nine percent said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their tablet.


Apple's iPad was the tablet of choice among those surveyed with 46 percent saying they owned or used an iPad and 21 percent saying they owned or used an iPad 2.


The next most popular tablets were the Android-powered Samsung Galaxy, the Dell Streak and the HP Slate.


The survey of 2,482 people between the ages of eight and 64 was conducted by Frank Magid Associates between April 15 and April 20 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.97 percentage points.


(c) 2011 AFP


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