Dutch site Android Planet is reporting that HTC has been secretly inviting industry insiders and media to an event happening on June 27th in London to announce the "latest addition to the HTC portfolio". The are a couple of likely candidates including the oft-rumored Kingdom, the 4.3 inch 1.2 GHz single core better-than-mid-level Android device. However, a device thought to be the Kingdom was just spotted going through the FCC with Sprint WiMax bands, making a launch announcement in London unlikely. The more likely story? HTC's first entry into the Honeycomb-based tablet market.
Supplier leaks indicate the first rumored device, code named Puccini, will feature a 10.1 inch display with WXGA resolution and a 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor. In addition, the device, like its Flyer/View 4G little brother, is said to work with either a finger or a special stylus. The same source says the device will come equipped with LTE on U.S. AT&T bands, which would again be unlikely at a London-based event. The tablet will run Android 3.0.1. The code name Puccini comes from 17th century composer Giacomo Puccini, which indicates that the device may have be heavily focused on music.
Another theory being thrown around is that the device might be a 7 inch tablet based on Android 3.2. Hauwei just recently announced its MediaPad tablet, the first tablet to run Android 3.2. This point release update to Honeycomb is specifically geared towards smaller 7 inch tablets and would be the successor to the Flyer tablet.
It's unknown what exactly we will see come out of this announcement, but given the fact that almost every other major Android phone manufacturer besides HTC has announced a Honeycomb based tablet, these rumors start to seem a little more than likely.
Image credit: Android Community
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