Dell's Kevin Andrew answered a few questions about the
Streak in a new "vlog" on YouTube, and it's a mixture of encouragement and confusion. On the good side, Kevin showed off Android 2.1 up and running on the phone / tablet / lady-killer. It looks just like 2.1, of course, but with Dell's customizations still riding atop it. Oddly, while showing off 2.1, Kevin reassures us that Dell is still planning to go to Froyo (2.2), which is reiterated by the text below the video, with no clarification if 2.1 will actually be released as an intermediate measure. Either way we don't have a timeline, which is pretty much the same tune we hear with every Android handset. In other news, Dell is planning to launch the cherry red version of the streak "shortly" after the international launch of the graphite model -- which might be as soon as tomorrow (Dell's site still says "late July," but they just wrapped up a 24 hour pre-sale and said to check back tomorrow, possibly just for more pre-sales). Check out the video after the break.
[Thanks, James H.]
Update: Matt at Dell (conveniently tweeting under the pseudonym @mattatdell) has clarified that the Streak is
not going to be released this week. That seems odd, since that vague "late July" window ends this week, but hopefully we'll know more soon.
Update 2: Check out our
preview over at Engadget Mobile.
posted July 27th 2010 10:19AM
upgrade.
@ror
verizon.
*fingers crossed
@MGore32
Just give me STOCK FROYO. -_____________-
@Revolutionary
Oh, an Engadget app! Dell must be a huge fan of you guys. Congratulations.
@Revolutionary Why the long face?
:P
@Revolutionary
this might be getting more and more attractive... i just hope I can play around with one of these at a store to see for myself before making a decision.
@ror Hey guys, I just wanted to know what he meant by international and around the world? Will I be able to buy this thing in Canada or is he just messing with us, because I really want this phone.
@MGore32
Canada i hope ! hahaha !
@ror Damnit Dell! We don't want your shitty custom skin! What are you even trying to make that look like?! The glossy menu bar fad died ages ago.
@ror Too huge to be a phone, too microscopic to be a tablet. Enjoy droidboy sheep.
@Kid Red
Unlike the tablet that's too weak to be a computer and the phone that's too crap to be a phone?
Had my streak for about 2 weeks on Tmobile (UK) and must say that this is a superb device
I dont talk loads but still no one really bats an eye when i hold it up to talk tand tbh im not a person who gives a **** what others think anyhow
For reading webpages, PDF mags, E books and video it cant be beat
has revolutionised my daily commute
Sorry to all you of you with small ones but size DOES matter
@Kid Red , these days 95% of the time your using the phone will be for apps, internet, e-mail, videos, music etc... this is why its big.. because its primarily an entertainment unit and secondly a phone, thus it is shown in the physical representation... The reason its not to huge is because of the other 5% where it needs to be a portable phone.
Idiot.
WTF Dell I saw this phone teased months ago as the Dell mini 5 & was willing to fork over $400 or more cause I like big phones!
Go Big or Go Home, right?
So Dell release this gosh darn it I'm willing to fork my $$$$$$ over now just release the dan thing!!! Update it sooner rather than later but I want the phone in hand b4 I bug u about updating it cause what good is Froyo on this sweet device if I can't even buy it Your blowing it Dell!
Need to come out ASAP so that the depreciation clock can start ticking until I can pick one up on eBay.
@paul34 Anyone know where I can get a Streak in Canada?
@Coffey
Resellers will most likely get their hands on a few of them, but like all resellers, the prices are way above the retail cost. For example SN Traders apparently is going to sell it:
http://www.sntradersonline.com/phone_details.php?product_id=snp1404
They haven't listed a price yet though because..... Dell hasn't said anything on that yet....
(-____-)
nice, but can we really be "impressed" or happy? I mean they got a phone with specs that can handle 2.2 running 2.1 when I had 2.1 a month after I bought my phone, and this one has better specs. Dev's can have 2.2 on the first android phone in a week or 2 but dell's whole phone division of android cant get 2.1 out on a phone? .... very weak dell.
@patp I guess I should take it that you don't flash dev versions of 2.2 on devices that it hasn't been released yet on, very often. You are many times plagued with Force closes and other errors. I flash them all the time and know the inherent problems with using dev rom's. I have a nexus one and go with pauls desire port all the time.
However, I also recognize that dell has a much large development team than the developers in there spare time at xda or modaco. If 2.2 wasn't out by the end of august I would be disappointed, but expecting 2.2 to already be production ready when it was only released to manufacturers a couple weeks ago I think it a little bit wishful.
@Heroman clearly you don't know what your talking about almost every 2.2 droid rom has 0 fcs and 0 problems, porting sense to a nexus 1 is completly different my friend, sense requires ALOT more than porting plain 2.2
@Heroman a couple weeks ago? If cyanogen can have 2.2 on like 6-7 phones dell can manage 1 and there are plenty of 2.2 nexus roms with no fcs idk what your talking about
@patp I agree, maybe Cyogen (spelling?) should handle all Android releases for Google/Hardware vendors. Until then, release fragmentation lives on.
I keep reading steak.
Just release it already dammit!
2.2 preferred, but 2.1 has to be better than 2.1. To be fair, what they did with 1.6 /was/ pretty neat, but even so, gimme stock!
(on t-mobile)
@Jyve they are not making a Tmobile version
per the dell blog post
@DefPoet
Aye, this is just nuts. TMobile's the carrier that seems to have done the most for Android. Not having this on Tmobile? Mad.
(Is the frequency of the O2 ones in the UK able to work on TMobile?)
man, the auto-focus on that camera they were using sucked...
These companies need to get on the ball--pardon the cliche--with these Android updates.
At this rate they'll get Froyo on their devices by the time Gingerbread (or whatever Google is calling it) comes out.
They also anouced that there will not be a T mobile 3g version
@DefPoet
Really?!
I was going to buy one but no T-Mobil killed that idea
Fuck Dell!
Never received my pre-order link after signing up... im getting ticked this thing still isnt available to buy stateside. WTF is dell thinking.
@SHIFTER Me neither. I've been trying to get every piece of information possible about this thing for the last six months. Dell finally opens a pre-sale page, where I sign up, and I don't even get an e-mail.
You know what? Eff it. I'm moving on. Dell...you blew it.
@Hexydes im in the same boat... guess ill switch and get the evo finally i think
@SHIFTER
I'm guessing you lost the ability to read. . . the link you get in the email from dell is a link to buying the Dell Streak. They won't send you a link. . . until they are ready for you to buy it.
If you've not gotten an email (and nobody has), then you cannot buy it. Does that make any sense?
looking forward to streak 2 with tegra 2 or to ddt@ or even next gen snapdragon :). In the mean time I "may" pick this one up.
Oh and talk about THE WORST product launch ever. Start teasing it almost a year ago, and close to the date of its US launch they are still not saying shit about price or launch date.
Dell vs Apple. Huge difference in presenting a product.
GTFO with this Dell. You can't come and show your products on the kitchen table, saying that they work but they still need some tweaks. That's just weak.
Awesome! What's the release date for this 2.1 and the froyo update?
@NextGen …Nevermind.
I don't understand why these companies lag so much with their updates.
It would be nice if Google made it so Android was more like a Desktop OS where in place updates are easy and regulated by the maker of the OS, rather than the hardware manufacturer. Of course, this would mean that the hardware manufacturers would have to stop making custom OSes and skins that are implemented deeply like that.
@DJ
What's even worse is not even just them being slow to update but with the release of phones with year old versions of the OS, I really wish Google would put their foot down and not allow new devices to be released with anything less than 2.1 at this point.
@DJ This is what Android 2.2 brings. The compile-on-runtime approach means users can download individual updates to say, the mapping or email program, and they don't need to wait for a full build from the supplier.
This is possibly the reason why it's so late in coming out. Manufacturers refuse to let go of their grip on the SW releases as they make money out of them, they think.
Also. Worst product launch ever. Over here in the UK, the streak has been a total Ginger-Stepchild of a product. O2 simply never mention it. Most people don't know what one is when I talk about it.
@Joylove No, 2.2 brings a JIT that improves speed. Most Android apps run in the virtual machine (except things that need native code for speed reasons) and can work between different versions of Android.
In a normal JVM environment, the bytecode for a program is run through an interpreter, which simply blindly translates bytecode to native ARM (or x86 or whatever platform it's running on). A JIT actually takes the bytecode and runs compiler optimizations on it before it executes the code.
In theory, this actually adds another layer of delay between code and execution. But in practice, being able to profile the hardware allows the compiler to make optimizations that wouldn't be known ahead of time.
Apps are no more or less update-able in 2.2 than they were in 2.1 or 1.6, etc.
@Joylove
I had heard this was the plan for 2.2, but I hadn't heard any word one way or the other for weeks. I'm not really sure if there is any way to know if this is true until there is an update.
This is probably one of the worst product launches from a US corporation in recent memory. You would think this was some low level start up company that keeps everyone in the dark, doesn't answer emails or speak to it's community. As if they don't want people to buy it, lol.
They said late July and there are only 4 days left in the month. They weren't kidding eh? They might as well have said August. Also, there is STILL NO PRICE on this thing, lol
Dell is still not giving a price, release date and final specs. How much more can you screw up a product launch?
Why isnt this -breaking- news? this actually makes the streak alot more tastier =)
Don't like the icon style. Prefer default android w/o the frame, but nevertheless, that's cool.
Still trying to figure how you use the thing in landscape without you palm accidentally touching the *touch control buttons*. Maybe we need to hold it like Kevin Andrew.
Whoever recommended that the Dell Streak have 1.6 upon the US release in July *2010* needs to be fired