AT&T is now selling its first tablet compatible with its blazing fast new LTE network. Sad news, though: it’s not an iPad, just a crummy Android tablet.
Previously known as the Puccini — I can see why they changed it — AT&T’s first 4G LTE tablet is called the HTC Jetstream. It’s a 10-inch Honeycomb affair, boasting a dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon processor that is fast enough to record and play 1080p video. Other specs include a front 1.3MP webcam and an 8MP camera on back
For the Jetstream, HTC has adapted their custom Sense UI to tablet form, which is a first, and includes many of the same widgets as HTC Android phones, including HTC Hub for news, the company’s Watch movie streaming service and Friendstream. Early adopters will also get an optional Scribe stylus for free.
As for 4G, the HTC Jetstream will connect to AT&T’s new LTE network, where available. If you live in an area without 4G, though, it’ll fall back to HSPA+ 3G speeds, which are still pretty fast.
Don’t expect AT&T’s first LTE tablet to be cheap, though. The entry level model will cost you $700. To try to make that price a little more palatable, AT&T is offering a 3GB data plan for customers willing to sign up for a two-year data contract.
[via Electronista]
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
20 responses to “AT&T Starts Selling Its First LTE-Capable Tablet”
I don’t get what people see in Android tablets. Â I’ve been using a Xoom a lot lately and Honeycomb UI is dark, confusing and just plain old hard to navigate IMO. Â I couldn’t imagine anyone but a techie liking it. Â At least not after they have used an iPad. Â
Love the pricing. They know how to do it. *sarcasm*
personally I would have a android tablet any day over an iPad just because of the customisation it offers, being able to have widgets on your homescreen is very useful on a large screen in whatever layout you want, as a go to device being able to use whichever music player, video player, launcher etc you want can give you a pretty amazing experience, iOS is great for a small screen device such as that found on a phone, its very underwhelming on a tablet I think
True, but iPad users use their iPad. Android tablet user customize their tablets. There’s a difference.
How about battery life?
The thing with android is that you HAVE to customize it, being so ugly, buggy etc
At the nod of the day do you get a device in order to use it or just to customize the home screen (and a bit more)
to your preferences?
I wouldn’t say you have to customize it but you have the option which can enhance using it, neither would I say its buggy in my experience, I think its totally personal opinion which one each person prefers, some people might prefer the ipad some might prefer using an android tablet each beats the other in some areas and loses in others. Some are balanced. You don’t have to put down a competing product to the one you prefer :)
I use and customise my Asus transformer. I can do both
Most people see this: “NOT an iPad”. There are a great number of people looking to buck current trends (despite the cost). There are also a lot of Apple haters, as well as Android fanboys. This entire collection of people have been working diligently to convince themselves that Android tablets are a solid alternative to the iPad. Someday, they may be right. They’ll claim they were “early adopters” with all the pride that implies. But today, it’s just a delusion.
Where does an Android tablet beat an iPad? I’ve played with the Xoom and own an iPad 2. There’s literally no comparison. Customization is a silly argument – the iPad is very customizable with settings and apps (with iOS 5, even more so). If you boil it down, there’s really one reason to like Android tablets over the iPad (and even this is open to opinion): “Openness”. Yet this is already becoming a PROBLEM, not a benefit. Android’s openness is resulting in some borderline unresolvable fragmentation, as well as a growing host of malware.