Dell Streak tablet finally shipping

Dell today finally outlined plans to ship its first pure touch tablet, the Streak. Following pre-orders, the company is shipping the Android tablet on Friday the 13th for $300 with a two-year AT&T data plan or $550 as an unlocked device. Those who pre-ordered beforehand will have the option of finishing the order a day earlier and will get both the promised free second-day shipping and a Plantronics Bluetooth headset.

The Android device is considered a crossover and can work both as an extra-large phone and as a data-only tablet. It has just a five-inch, 800x480 display, but it also fits both front (VGA) and back (five-megapixel) video cameras and has a 1GHz Snapdragon processor. It faces an uphill struggle in competition with both other Android devices as well as tablets the iPad, as it still runs Android 1.6 and carries just 2GB of built-in storage. Pricing is also a factor as it costs more than almost all smartphones on contract but is less than $100 away from its much larger Apple 3G counterpart with more space. An update to Android 2.2 or 2.1 that may add 720p video recording.

The Streak has had one of Dell's longest-lasting appearances in the public eye before a launch. We were shown the device as far back as CES with specs having remained virtually unchanged since then. Delays in getting it to production may have dampened expectations as Apple both announced, shipped, and achieved record sales for the iPad in between CES and the Streak's ship date over seven months later.

By Electronista Staff