Dell officially announces Streak, the first Android tablet

 

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Posted on 25 May 2010 at 10:38

Following our report that Dell's new 5in tablet had been demoed, the company has now announced that the 'Streak' will go on sale in a matter of days on the O2 network in Carphone Warehouse stores, and later in June directly from Dell.co.uk.

The Google Android-based device is "designed to provide people the best on-the-go entertainment, social connection, and navigation experience."

Pricing and data plans for the UK will be announced by O2 imminently. Unusually, the UK launch is ahead of the US, as Dell doesn't plan to make Streak available across the pond until later this summer.

In a similar fashion to Apple's iPad, the Streak's screen is larger than current Android smartphones and should make it ideal for using the thousands of Android Market widgets, games and applications, without squinting or compromising portability.

Built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G connectivity brings easy access for downloading and listening to music, updating social networking status in real-time, and staying connected to friends and family through e-mail, text, IM, and voice calls.

According to Dell, users will find the Streak’s web-browsing capabilities as natural as a laptop. Not going quite as far as Apple's Steve Jobs when he claimed that the iPad would give "the best browsing experience ever", Dell says the Streak's 5in screen is large enough to present Web pages in their natural form, create a comfortable viewing experience, and make turn-by-turn navigation (with Google Maps) simple and safe.

The Streak has the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 1GHz processor as smartphones like the HTC Desire and 2GB of RAM. Unlike the iPad, it will have a removable battery and a microSD slot for adding storage. The capacitive multitouch screen has a resolution of 800x480 and there's a 5-megapixel camera on the rear with a VGA front-facing camera. It will support over-the-air updates including platform upgrades, Adobe Flash 10.1 on Android 2.2 later this year.

"The Dell Streak hits the sweet spot between traditional smartphones and larger-screen tablets," said Ron Garriques, president of Dell's Communication Solutions Group. "Its unique size provides people new ways to enjoy, connect, and navigate their lives."

We'll bring you a full review of the Streak, and updated on pricing and data plans, as soon as we can.

Author: Jim Martin