Android Streaks into UK as Dell pops tablet

Electronics manufacturer Dell continues its love affair with Android, lifting the curtain on a five inch tablet to be made available on the O2 UK network in early June.

The Android-based Streak has a five inch touch screen, which Dell claims is large enough to present web pages in their natural form. It is based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 1GHz processor, a firm Android favourite, and packs 3G, wifi and Bluetooth connectivity as well as GPS.

Despite its size it can also be used to make voice calls, and also boasts a five megapixel camera, a Micro SD slot, 2GB of internal storage, integrated Google Maps with turn-by-turn navigation, and a removable battery.

No word on pricing yet, which should be announced by O2 shortly, but Dell said it also plans to make the Streak available in the US later this summer.

Always looking for a new niche in the netbook/MIDs/smartbook/whatever market, Ron Garriques, president of Dell communication solutions, said: “The Dell Streak hits the sweet spot between traditional smartphones and larger-screen tablets. Its unique size provides people new ways to enjoy, connect, and navigate their lives.”

On a related note, Android 2.2, codenamed FroYo, is right around the corner. The seventh platform release since Android 1.0 launched in September 2008 introduces; the Dalvik JIT compiler, which delivers between a 2-5X performance improvement in CPU-bound code vs. Android 2.1; Exchange capabilities including account auto-discovery and calendar sync, remote wipe, minimum password, and lockscreen timeout; the V8 JavaScript engine integrated into the Android browser; new data APIs to enable apps to participate in data backup and restore, allowing an application’s last data to be restored when installed on a new or a reset device; app installation on device or memory card; and application error reports.

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