HTC Flyer Android tablet priced at £600

Tablet due to start shipping in mid-April

Online retailer Clove has opened up pre-orders for the highly anticipated Android-based HTC Flyer tablet, pricing the device at £600.

The 7in device, which will be the Taiwanese manufacturer's first tablet, could be available in the UK as early as next month, but Clove warned that the price may change before that date.

"We've had some good news this afternoon - the first stock of the HTC Flyer is due to land mid-April," the firm stated.

"As usual, prices on pre-orders will be amended prior to shipping once an official price is confirmed."

The 7in tablet will be the first tablet from HTC, following the firm's success with the Desire smartphone range. It will feature a 1.5GHz processor, 32GB of internal storage, micro-SD card expansion together with Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity.

HTC will ship the device with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and the popular Sense overlay that is found in the manufacturer's smartphones.

The Taiwanese firm has confirmed that the device will be upgradable to the tablet-specific 3.0 Honeycomb operating system, but it is unclear how long after release this will become available.

The retailer has also priced the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1in Android device at £600, although there is no information on shipping at present. A Wi-Fi only version of the Flyer has also appeared on the site, priced at £423.

V3.co.uk contacted HTC to confirm pricing and release dates, but the firm declined to comment.

Competition in the tablet market is set to heat up with the iPad 2 due to launch in the UK on 25 March. Judging by the opening weekend sales of the Apple tablet in the US, it looks like it will retain a lion's share of the market.

However, other devices such as the Motorola Xoom, BlackBerry PlayBook and HP TouchPad are also set to enter the market, with the latter two specifically targeting business users.