HTC Jetstream AT&T 4G LTE Tablet Hands-On Sneak Peek

A few days ago, HTC and AT&T announced that the HTC Jetstream Android 3.1 tablet would be coming to AT&T’s network. The Jetstream’s standout features include a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core SoC with Adreno 220 graphics, a 10.1” screen with a resolution of 1280x768, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, 1GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage, which can be supplemented by a user accessible microSD slot. The Android 3.1 OS is also skinned by HTC's Sense UX and the tablet will work on AT&T’s brand-new, not-yet-fully-online 4G LTE network.

We had a super-quick moment to get some hands-on time with an HTC Jetstream and wanted to give you all a sneak peak in the video above. And when I say super-quick, I mean super-quick. We had only minutes to prod the device, and even then, the battery had only a 9% charge left. After a quick factory-reset, we could only install a few benchmarks and shoot a few pics with a tiny point-and-shoot camera. Please forgive us for the quality.

 
 
 
 
The HTC Jetstream Android 3.1, AT&T LTE Tablet

Aesthetically, the HTC Jetstream is somewhat underwhelming. The screen has good brightness and pretty good viewing angles, but the saturation and contrast are not as good as the Galaxy Tab 10.1 or iPad 2. Touch is very responsive, however. The enclosure has a very solid feel with brushed metal throughout (save for a strip along the top, on the back of the device), but the Jetstream is over a half-inch thick and weighs over 1.5lbs, so it’s definitely on the larger side compared to some of the more popular tablets currently on the market. A small removable panel on the back of the Jetstream gives users access to the SIM card slot and a microSD slot.

We also ran a couple of quick benchmarks in the very limited time we had our hands on the Jetstream and its performance was good, but not great—at least according to the two tests we ran.

(Bottom Image: Full An3DBench Result)

We obviously ran into the V-Sync wall in An3DBench and the 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon didn’t seem to help much in Linpack either. Navigating through the OS and launching apps seem faster on the Jetstream than they do on the Galaxy Tab 10.1, however, and the UI animations are buttery smooth, so we suspect these two tests aren’t telling the whole story. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to run a full suite of tests on the HTC Jetstream in the not too distant future and can paint a more complete picture.

The HTC Jetstream will be going on sale tomorrow for $699 w/ a 2-year contract and $849 without a contract. A potentially more affordable, Wi-Fi only model has not been announced. Those are some lofty prices in light of competing offerings, but we won’t pass judgment until we’ve had a chance to spend some significant, quality time with the HTC Jetstream. Our initial impressions, however, lead us to believe that the HTC Jetstream is going to a tough sell for that kind of money.