gdgt

When I heard that HTC was releasing a tablet that had had-written note-taking capabilities, and that it integrates with Evernote - I immediately became very interested in this product. I wanted it mainly for work, since I take a lot of notes at a lot of meetings and I don't like balancing a laptop on my knees for hours on end. So I went down and bought it two days ago. I was slightly annoyed of having to spend $80 on the stylus separately - even though the stylus is the main reason to own it over similarly-priced tablets with more power and better design.

I got home and booted it up, and began to fill in all my credentials for the various services - Google, Corporate email, flickr, and Evernote.

I went to the 'notes' app and it began to sync my notes from Evernote. I opened a new note to try out the stylus and wrote a few words and suddenly I got a 'Force Close' error message. I hit 'ok' and it seemed to be fine again. It kept syncing and I went to the home screen and about 2 seconds later another 'force close' message popped up about the 'notes' app. This kept happening. I left the device on for the next 8 hours and Evernote was still syncing! I don't have THAT many notes! I took it to work the next day and was able to take a few pages of notes (only getting the 'force close' message three times).

I decided to perform a hard reset of the device and got back to the original configuration - I still had the 'force close' problems. I want to be clear - the 'notes' app isn't something I downloaded from the marketplace - it's built into the original software configuration - and it's the primary reason I chose it over other tablets.

I would not concern myself if one or two apps don't work - that happens on my phone all the time - but the built-in 'notes' app was the critical one that made me choose the Flyer over, say, a Galaxy Tab or G-Tablet - I think it's the reason a lot people may choose it - and as it turns out, the pen really only works with the 'notes' and 'Google Books' app. I don't believe that there are any other apps out there at this time for Android that allow handwritten notes that sync with Evernote.

If I considered this to be only a minor problem and I simply used it as a normal tablet, then I would not have purchased this device - a person sacrifices a lot of options from other devices to get the Flyer and its handwriting capability. Besides, even if I never use the 'notes' app, it runs in the background and crashes spontaneously - the 'force close' message for the 'notes' app was popping up on the tablet home screen, and even while using the browser.

I can't risk $600+ in the hope that *maybe* HTC will release a patch - Best Buy has a 14-day return policy. Put simply - the original hardware and software needs to work out of the box, or it's defective.

So, here are my issues:

-High price ($499 for a single-core processor 7" tablet)

- stylus not included ($80 for a pen? That's way too much money and it put the total cost above $600 after taxes)

- kind of ugly (although made with an aluminum frame, it has some ugly white plastic bumpers on each end)

- software problems (It does not use the honeycomb version of Android, and it suffers from a 'force close' issue with the 'Notes' application. I have read other posts where people have the same problem).


I think there is going to be a slew of pen-based tablets coming out over the next 18 months. They will all come with at least dual-core processors, and a more advanced OS. I have even heard that Apple will eventually be releasing an iPad with stylus capability.

If a person wants something to simply take digital notes, consider waiting for the ASUS Eeee Note AE800: www.asus.com­/Eee­/Eee­_Note­/Eee­_Note­_EA800/ It's not available yet in the U.S., but when it arrives, the expected price should be below $200 - it will even serve as an e-reader and black and white browser.

I had to bring this back to the store.