In Depth: HTC Tablet rumours: what you need to know

Once upon a time, Apple made a phone. Rivals tried to copy it, but the iPhone was too good and their efforts too bad.

And then HTC appeared. "Look!" it said. "A smartphone!" And the HTC phones were good, and lots of people bought them.

Now, though, Apple has seen similar success with its iPad – so does HTC have a tablet of its own to take on the iPad? If anyone can make a real iPad rival it's HTC, and while the HTC Tablet and specs haven't been acknowledged by HTC, the rumour mill says it's real.

Here's what we know and what we'd like to see in the HTC Tablet.

HTC Tablet: Chrome OS no more?

We expected the first Chrome-powered tablet to come from HTC last month, but it didn't turn up. That's apparently because HTC has shifted its efforts to Android; the change of tack has put the HTC Tablet release date back, too.

HTC Tablet: Android 3.0

Pocket Lint says Taiwanese component manufacturers are gossiping like fishwives, claiming that the HTC Tablet OS will be Android 3.0.

The HTC Tablet features look pretty nifty

If DigiTimes' sources are correct, the HTC Tablet and specs are in the capable hands of Taiwanese notebook maker Pegatron, whose name sounds fantastic if you shout it in your best Movie Trailer Man voice. Pegatron - PEGATRON! - has declined to comment, but DigiTimes says the tablet it's building runs a Tegra 2 processor, has a 1280 x 720 multi-touch panel, a 32GB solid state drive, 2GB of RAM and the usual Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS.

The HTC Tablet features include "multimedia performance… stronger than that of iPad", Chrome Web Apps and the Android Market. Imagine an HTC Desire HD scaled up a bit and you get the idea. Sounds good to us.

The HTC Tablet release date could be in early 2011

Taiwanese gossips predict a Q1 2011 release, says Pocket Lint.

The HTC Tablet release date might be in Q2, not Q1

According to DigiTimes, Apple Daily says that a JP Morgan analyst says that Google is messing around with its Android support. Motorola is Google's priority for 3.0, LG will be priority for 3.5 and HTC follows on, which means the HTC Tablet won't ship before the second quarter of 2011.

HTC Tablet features include something "really compelling", like a free horse or a time machine

Speaking to Pocket Lint, HTC's global PR boss Eric Lin said the firm wasn't interested in me-too devices. "If we just release an Android tablet we're one of 81… whereas if we have a compelling feature, a really compelling use, anything like that, then it'll help us to stand out. It's going to take a lot of work searching for that."

What could it be? A free horse? A time machine? We'll be gutted if it's just a slightly tweaked Sense UI.

The HTC Tablet may be called the HTC Evo Shift 4G

Engadget spotted some trademark filings where HTC was attempting to trademark the term HTC Evo Shift 4G.

Another smartphone, or something even bigger? Slashgear hopes it's "a 7-inch HTC tablet with integrated 4G to take on Samsung's Galaxy Tab". Any evidence for that? Of course not. This is the internet!

The HTC Tablet price may be $790

The DigiTimes report we mentioned earlier took a stab at the HTC Tablet price, and it predicts that without subsidy it'll be $789.75.

The HTC Tablet price might be zero

Download Squad says the HTC Tablet will launch on Verizon in the US with a price tag of zero depending on the tariff you choose. Similar deals are likely here: we've already seen Three, T-Mobile and Orange offer.