Dell Streak now available unlocked for £449
By Vlad Savov 
posted June 28th 2010 5:04AM
posted June 28th 2010 5:04AM
[Thanks, Manuel B.]
posted June 28th 2010 5:04AM
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shame no 802.11n
i notice the streak "only" has three front facing hard-buttons
IIRC microsoft dictated that hardware must only have three buttons
does this mean we *might* see a streak with win7 mobile come October?
thoughts?
@SiG Well it's got a 1Ghz snapdragon processor which I believe is the min spec for WP7 and as you say the 3 buttons so I think it's possible. Not sure what the graphics requirements for WP7 are.
Hopefully someone will hack it, make it dual boot Android or WP7.
@SiG Those are touch buttons (Home, Menu and Back) and similar to the layout specified by Microsoft. It makes sense and uses the web browser analogy which in my view as a software designer is one of the most sensible human factors concepts since the advent of the computer. It replicates how we do things in real life. We go Home when unsure where else to go. We go back if we make an error or wish to retrace our steps, or we examine (select Menu) if needing to learn more where we are. Food for thought! (I think the Streak excellent and just wish two things of it, HD video and a higher resolution display.) I'm thinking of hooking a bluetooth keyboard up to it to create a modular 'netbook'. Way better value and more practical than certain iDevices. :)
@SiG The Home, Back, and Menu buttons are required for most Android based hardware. Otherwise, it's pretty standard, really. Doubt it's indication that WinPhone7 will make it on the Steak, but I could be wrong.
I'm still hoping Motorola will launch a GSM version of the Droid X (Milestone X?) for Europe/Canada, but, in case it doesn't, this will do just fine.
I'm the anti-Paul Miller - in the sense that, pixel density be damned, I want a big-ass screen.
@rav97
The streak screen still has a great pixel density in any case, just because it's not ridiculously high doesn't mean it's more than adequate
Why will they not give an official us launch date if it's suppose to come out next mouth here it's driving me crazy !
Oh great, I was just about to flush my half a grand down the toilet, but this'll be a much better way to throw good money at bad shit.
Engagdet-Buddies..I just want to ask you this:
I'm from Germany.. and damn I want this phone!!! if I wait 'til it hits the US, and import it from there (got family in the states), will it work in german cellular networks? (T-Mobile, o2 Germany ..)
Thank you for answering the question.
And thank you Engadget, for minding me as the one who sent you this tip :-)
@epuarlana Apologize for WWII first... =|
Ich mach nur Scherze. Keine Ahnung.
@Ducman69
NIEMALS! :-)
@Ducman69 Why should he apologize for WW2, he most likely didn't fight in it.
Gimme gimme for T-Mo USA!
@POZ
Gimme a AT&T version!!!!!
@PhillyZ There will be. Both clean and unlocked from Dell and I assume an AT&T branded version.
BTW TMO version too, as so I have read.
i have got this and its fantastic the only downside is only android 1.6. i had a htc desire before on android 2.1 you notice it a lot going from one to the other . but it's still a fantastic phone its thin and easier to get in your pocket then you might think
AFAIK Its Android 1.6. Is this going to get 2.2?
Too big for a phone IMO. Imagine sticking that in your skinny jeans. As a device though its lovely. Its only £50 cheaper than the iPhone. I don't think its 'significant' enough to sway users. £100 would be a different matter, plus people know what an iPhone is and does (clever Apple marketing) this ... other than the geeks of us will go, naa.
@stringent
I don't wear skinny jeans.
@stringent Free on a £35/month contract, or £25/month data only. An equivalent 16GB-equipped iPhone is still several hundred quid at that contract price point. And sorry to burst your bubble but not everyone is in awe of the iPhone, and it isn't iPhone vs the rest of the world. Choice is good, yes?
Does anyone have any idea when this will be available on contracts from different carriers in the UK? I dont want to pay £450 up front!
@Infradead it's £400 up front at O2
@yankdez This is an apple blog
I got one of the o2 dells friday, and after going from using the sony x10, its hard to go back so looks like its a keeper....
Great screen, fits in jeans pocket. And it runs faster on H not 3G than my shitty AOL...
Is this thing GSM?
If it uses a micro-sim I will be POed
@themadman
Well, there's two versions, one that supports AT&T 3G and one that supports T-Mobile 3G. Both will support EDGE as well.
Nah, it doesn't use the microSIM because regular SIMs are just fine, plus it has more than enough room inside of the device.
@themadman Not a big deal, micro sim to sim adaptor trays are easily and cheaply available. Thats if the Streak required one. Which it doesn't.
afaik its £399 from o2 on pay-as-you-go (locked)
BUT every pay-as-you-go ive ever got from o2 in the past
they force you to get a topup £10 or £20 at the time of perches.
anyone know if this is the case with the streak?
if so, then £450 unlocked isn't so bad, if when you take into
account that any firmware updates coming direct from dell 'may' be quicker
to arrive without the o2 branding (as little as it is on the streak)
@ArthurDaley the updates for this are supposed to be coming straight from dell mobiles.co.uk does an unlocked version
@yankdez Because people and the industry made it, iPhone killer this, that, iDont commercials etc....
I'll probably buy this thing in a month, complete with AT&T serfdom, but the Droid X could win me over yet. I want a MID and an Android development platform primarily, and I want to develop on the MID. I can't do that with a two-finger, hunt and peck keyboard designed for text messaging. Swype doesn't seem to be the answer either, but I'll explore it and other options. A solution is out there.
We're transitioning to a new standard, computing platform, as different from the PC as the PC was from mainframes and minicomputers. Smartphones are a transitional form, not the new standard. The standard is a MID, including multi-touch and GPS. It's handheld and pocketable but not necessarily in tight jeans. A coat pocket is more like it, so I'll start wearing coats again. The device is large enough for web browsing and rapid touch-typing of some kind, but the kind hasn't emerged yet.
Conventional telephony is not a killer app for this platform. Voice messaging is just another app.
I won't buy it with Android 1.6 though.
@restonthewind
This only makes sense if you are not planning to buy it with 2.1 or 2.2 either. If you are just waiting until it's been updated to buy, could you explain why you'd rather wait and use your current phone?
@zboot
I'll use my current phone a lot regardless, because my employer pays the bill, but I don't want the upgrade for this reason.
Apparently, Dell has customized Android a lot. It don't know how much. Customization is not a problem for me as long as Dell Android is a skin easily stretched over succeeding versions of the OS. To be successful ultimately, Android must have a standard kernel and a standard GUI, both with standard APIs supporting a standard hardware architecture. Dell may influence this evolving standard, but if Dell Android sits at v1.6 too long, I must wonder why.
If the cost of upgrading Dell's customization is decisive, then the customization presumably deviates too much from an evolving standard. To convince me that it takes an Android standard seriously, Dell must show me an upgrade.
My first PC, back in 1983, was a Heath-Zenith Z-100, an MS-DOS machine with an S100 bus that wasn't IBM-PC compatible, back when such a thing existed and seemed a viable alternative to what came to be called the Industry Standard Architecture. The Z-100 was a great computer in its day, but it quickly became obsolete, because it didn't adhere closely enough to the standard. Android platforms are at this stage of development now.
@restonthewind
Thanks. I've not had anyone articulate a reason for the I'll wait until the upgrade caveat to buying.
I don't 100% agree with your reasons. For example, skin or no skin, the streak can run Android. By definition, an Android device today should support a good number of future releases. That means one could presumably buy it now, root it, and install a newer version of the OS on the Streak. IBM compatible is like whether or not a machine is an Apple or not. If it is not an Apple, you can never (well. . .) install their OS on it. Similarly, IBM compatible spoke more to the capability of the hardware to run software that also ran on IBM machines. In the case of the Streak, the hardware is perfectly capable of running the latest OS.
I'm not sure you can evaluate Dell's commitment to Android based on their availability of an upgrade to the Streak. Like I said, you don't need Dell to effect an upgrade if that was desired. What Dell provides is an upgrade to their custom UI. I think if the argument was structured to say that in a couple months, you would essentially have in the market a choice of compelling Android tablets running the latest release, with the UI and other individual elements (aside from supported carriers) being the only actual decisive factor, then by not having a 2.2 build with the Dell UI, the Streak is effectively removed from the marketplace, and thus there is no point in buying it now when you would potentially replace it a couple months later - that is a more compelling argument to me.
@zboot
You could be right, but I'm skeptical. Dell made its reputation selling PCs a la carte. If the upgrade is as simple as you suggest, why isn't Dell offering 2.1 or 2.2 as options now? If I try to upgrade it myself, does software supporting the front facing camera still work? Has Dell hacked the kernel to improve multi-touch performance? Does the touch screen become laggy with a do-it-yourself upgrade? I've read several tales of do-it-yourself upgrades and android ports in this blog, and most come with caveats.
Android is not like Windows at this point. I don't expect to buy an Android upgrade from Google at Best Buy and simply install it on my Streak. I'll probably need to obtain my Dell Android upgrades from Dell unless I want to do a lot of hacking with every upgrade, so I want to know that Dell has organized its Android customization development to keep up with Google's development. I want to develop applications for this thing, but I'm not buying it to hack around with the system software, and I'm not sure I can get the source for Dell's customizations anyway.
Thanks for a substantive exchange.
Perhaps I'm stupid but hasn't this always been available in the UK for £429 from the carphonewarehouse.co.uk site?
@zboot
yeah since it's release a couple of weeks ago. But now it's available UNLOCKED. O2/carphonewarehouse are selling it with o2-netlock/simlock.
@zboot
And O2 haven't messed with it.
I had one for 2 weeks but O2 network was a pain, waiting on 2.2 and free car kit.
@epuarlana
Are you sure about that - because from what I've read from some who have bought the streak from the carphonewarehouse site, they got theirs unlocked.
Why do we need this 'unlocked' version when you can buy it from o2 with no plan?
@Monkeyman1311
I'm guessing that means the no plan version was locked to O2. So, you could buy it, but you'd have no phone service and could only use wifi (or maybe an existing plan with O2). The unlocked version allows you to goto some other supported 3g provider.
I was concerned about the size of the streak, but at 152mmx80mm its about the same size as my casic fx991ms scientific calculator. I'm relived that it can fit my jeans pocket easily.
I think i'll get this phone, it comes to US.
gawd it looks for all the world like a storm; let's hope it performs better lol
@Monkeyman1311
The contract streak from o2 and the pay-as-u-go even the CPW stock are all locked to o2.
pay-as-u-go o2 streak = £399
CPW locked to o2 = £429
same phone, same lock different price..
but now dell sell direct @ £449, it signals the end of o2's exclusive deal with dell.
i suspect any cpw's new stock may now be the unlocked dell direct ones.
(once the o2 stock are sold out)
it remains to be seen if the dell-direct ones are unbranded by o2's wall papers or was it boot screen? (dunno what other branding)
so long as o2 dont force a topup at POS the pay-as-u-go deal is the best value for me (im on o2)
@GAM3R
802.11bg, no 802.11n.
I´m definitely getting this phone as soon as dell starts selling it unlocked, down here in Mexico we haven´t got any android love, and the last phone I got was a Sony Ericsson w760 for $325.00 ($4,100 pesos) so this definitely sounds looks like the best deal ever to me.
£450? Ripoff Britain in full effect! I assume the $500 US price is for an unlocked version. The free-on-a-monthly-£25 tarriff is OK but the machine is still locked.
£450 is a ~£50 surplus per unit that greedy retailers are trying to grab from you. They will lose money until they discount it, which they will quite soon.
NA RELEASE INFOZ pl0x
It's amazing how products can feel old before they're even available.. I'm primarily thinking about the Snapdragon.