Dell: Streak likely going straight to Froyo in US
By Sean Hollister 
posted August 15th 2010 11:23AM
posted August 15th 2010 11:23AM
posted August 15th 2010 11:23AM
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This is good to hear. I'm still not pleased about it being locked to AT&T no matter what, but Froyo is an absolute must.
@MRCUR
Yeah. At&t killed this one in the US.
@MRCUR I agree completely, Att bands = Fail for many people.
@MRCUR
Why is it such a problem for manufacturers to keep their Android handsets up to date? If they can't keep up with the current release, why do they put on their pointless little skins?
@MRCUR
I would have bought this with 2.2 on Verizon. AT&T kills it.
@MRCUR
I wonder if with 2.2 they'll go back to allowing 8 icons across as it totally breaks having two 4x4 widgets on one page in 2.1......
@MRCUR
The best 3G GSM carrier in the U.S. is ATT hands down. So "locking" it in is kind of a moot point as the Euro people already have their version so why would they even buy this. Also it doesn't even have TMO 3G bands so for a TMO person to buy this and pass on 3G is questionable. 3G is the only way to go IMHO. So a TMO person could buy the Euro version and use it on TMO and it won't matter because neither work on that 3G network.
I just hope HD recording and portrait orientation get enabled.
@uwaga dude : The skins are a non-issue with upgrading. The real problem is that the manufacturers have to make sure that their hardware works with all new OS. A new android release would probably mostly work, but their customer service people would be overwhelmed by hardware specific issues that would pop up. Phone's and phone OS's aren't quite as robust as PC's when it comes to upgrading across diverse platforms of hardware.
Honestly do you people think that Motorola or HTC can just slap some chips together with a display in some plastic and load Android and all will be good?
@Gadget Addict
Also ATT will unlock it for you if you're traveling overseas. You may have to own it for 3 months or something but they usually will always unlock your device. Especially if you bought it outright. It's just a formality IMHO.
Also going to 2.2 instead of 2.1 is a no brainer. Otherwise I would peg Dell as an underachiever...
@Shnugi
How long does that take though? Some manufacturers (samsung) don't even bother keeping their phones upgraded altogether. Froyo was released almost 3 months ago.
@Shnugi
Actually man, the skins are definitely the issue the streak's hardware is totally capable. Most hardware for high end smartphones are pretty stock. There are the arm processors, Samsung has the Hummingbird and i believe the Streak along with newer HTC phones use the snapdragon etc. There aren't really any huge differences. All the new chips are roughly 1Ghz and most screen resolutions are fairly close. companies have to recode their skins for updates. Which is where the end user's wait comes from.
@MRCUR
At this rate, it should have a day 1 approval to go right to Gingerbread.
@SParklingCYaNide Whatever... AT&T bands work great in my area.
@Gadget Addict - I should clarify what I meant by my comment.
I have no issue with it being on AT&T's 3G bands. In fact, I prefer that as I use AT&T personally, and have a data-only SIM for use in something like the Streak.
What I'm not pleased with is the fact that the contract-free, or "unlocked" price as it was referred to before launch, is just purchasing a locked Streak directly from Dell. I have no problem paying $550 for this, but I want it to be unlocked out of principle.
@MRCUR My company uses AT&T, so while a lot of people hate it, I have no choice but to use them (unless I want to pay for the phone myself). Also, in my area, I have very few problems with AT&T, and I'm grandfathered in on unlimited data as well.
The streak is looking better by the minute. My final concerns would be the camera portion; can we expect smooth 720p video in the future, and less compressed 5mpix pictures? It seems the iphone4 trumps the streak on both accounts so far.
I think the streak will be superior for reading web, ebooks, gps use(without paying extra..plus the screen is more fitting sizewise) and video of course. the size doesn't bother me either in terms of pocket ability. I also believe froyo will bring flash support?
@MRCUR
Locked = fail
@tosvus - I'm not sure about all of your questions, but yes, Froyo will bring Flash 10.1 support (so long as Dell doesn't lock it out of the Market).
@ericlin Name a phone sold by 'the big 4' carriers in the US that is unlocked by default.
@MRCUR
I agree. It's basically locked anyway with the bands the fact that they locked it via software is overboard. It's a slap in the face to ATT customers I'll admit. They shouldn't have done that. ATT doesn't really give a shit about it's customers they just want our money. I understand we live in a capitalistic society and thats how things work but sometimes some companies will appear to more generous to it's customers(Sprint) where others obviously are not(ATT).
@tosvus I'm using the leaked 2.1 and 720p video is smooth. 20fps. Sure it could be better but it looks alright to me :)
In regards to the SIM-lock please remember that AT&T isn't even selling this device directly. You can only buy it from Dell, so the fact that it's SIM locked and you're not buying it from the carrier, is BS.
@MRCUR
Froyo or not froyo this thing is dead. Due to the fact that you can't get rid of AT&T, even if you pay full retail. Dell is trying so hard to copy Apple model in this matter, the only problen is: this thing is not an iPhone. Is going to have the same fate as the nexus one (the former iPhone killer).
@uwaga dude
Best comment I've seen on Android phones. Phone Manuf. should worry more about reliability and relativity than making a statement with their own UI.....a new phone running 1.6? A huge joke. Nobody cares what your UI looks like if your running "windows 95" on a "windows 7" machine, if you catch my drift.
@Gadget Addict
at&t best carrier hands down? I don't think so. Not only is their network slow compared to t-mobile but their service sucks(and rip you off). If you have tmobile coverage in your area... that's the way to go. Especially with no data cap.
@MRCUR First of all, I don't understand this whole "out cry" against the Streak being locking to AT&T when purchased at the full retail price. I'm not sure if you guys are aware, but every single handset that you purchase at full retail is still locked to the carrier. Maybe you should do some research before you say something.
@deliteguy Alright, I normally don't do this because there is no reason to call someone a name on the internet. That being said, you are an unimformed moron. At&t's 3G network is faster than T-Mob's. Period. There is no refuting that. Read this.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2364263,00.asp
As for which carrier is better, this is such a useless argument to get into. It is riddled with personal preferences and bias and really just depends on your service area. Didn't think you would learn anything did you?
@Why should I have all the fun If this wasn't carrier locked and could be purchased to run on t-mobile networks and with froyo it would be a great sidekick to my nexus ... my first android tablet is what i would call it
@DroidYou
Read your own link ass hole. It states "while editing this article Tmo rolled out its faster 3g hspa + but FOR NOW, att wins." Aka att now looses as do you and this stupid ass post. Hspa + is faster than sprints 4g real world speeds.
@uwaga dude
"Why is it such a problem for manufacturers to keep their Android handsets up to date?"
You should be blaming Google for their massive failure to enforce makers use the the newest OS version. No wonder 50% of all Android phones on Earth are still running 1.6 or lower. Makers continue to do what they want looking only for their own interests and without regard to anyone else's aims. Who can blame them when Google simply just looks the other way and doesn't care.
@shocklat The Streak wouldn't exist without a "custom skin" because though the Android platform has the infrastructure to support its screen, no work has been done on any of the system UI to actually run on such a screen. Sure you could just take the generic platform and throw it on that device, but without tweaking it for the screen it is going to be pretty cruddy in places.
People don't appreciate how much is involved in porting to different hardware and how different that hardware actually is. For example, though all these devices are ARM CPUs, they come from a variety of manufacturers (Qualcomm, TI, Samsung) who each have their own tweaks and specializations that you'd like the software to take advantage of. And then there are the various custom DSPs, GPUs, radios, etc. For example DSPs are used to accelerate things like media codecs, and the media system in Android has been changing significantly over the last few releases as it moves to stagefright.
Add on top of that carrier requirements (which may require changes to the UI flow for activation or phone calls), tuning of the entire system to work well with the available RAM (a process that can go on for weeks), the process of QA and carrier certifications, etc., and a couple months is the very baseline for updating to a new version of the platform.
@MRCUR - TEST
(Sorry guys, just testing email forwarding...)
@Tipsofme Lol. You also seem to be a moron. You're comparing HSPA+ with UMTS 3G bands. A more accurate comparison will be to LTE that will be rolled out next year which is true 4G. HSPA+ is not considered actual 4G. Do homework.
@MRCUR being sim locked from att?
what was the last phone you purchased from a service provider that was sim unlocked?
remember the nexus was sold directly through google.
the evo, the vibrant, the captivate, the droid (1,2,X, incredible) all are sim/service provider locked.
I don't understand why everyone is pissed about this! I'd be pissed if dell sold it locked through the Dell Home website.
@MRCUR It is locked? Geez..
@Gadget Addict
My Dell Streak has T-Mo bands.
@AT&T Haters
Look, if AT&T sucks in your area then use another carrier. They are fine in the other 95% of the country. You'd think that they have this horrible network that doesn't work at all of anybody if all you read was these blogs. Now if you want to talk about poor smart phone selection (outside of the iPhone) then fine. They totally blow in that arena. At least they are finally starting to do something about that, though. They still aren't pushing Android much but they did go after WP7 and nabbed the Torch recently as well. Of course, if I didn't want an Android phone, I'd probably say that Sprint's and Verizon's phone selection sucked too since that's about all they have.
@DroidYou AT&T faster than T-Mobile? You're out of your frigging mind:
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh3/josesxi/NYC3G-1.png
@uwaga dude That the elephant in the room! It shouldn't take any company more than a month to upgrade. best comment ever!
@VLangs - Uh, the Streak isn't sold by AT&T genius. The Streak is to Dell as the Nexus One was to Google.
@Scrubs If you buy Dell Streak from:
1. o2.co.uk it's GBP400, contract & locked
2. dell.co.uk it's GBP450, no contract & unlocked
3. dell USA it's USD550, no contract BUT LOCKED!!! WTF
I'm returning mine once it arrives!
@MRCUR If you buy your Dell Streak from:
1. O2.co.uk, it's GBP400 - Contract & Locked (OK with that)
2. Dell.co.uk, it's GBP450 - No Contract & UNLOCKED (OK with that)
3. Dell USA, it's USD550 - No Contract BUT LOCKED!!! (WTF!!!)
I'm returning mine right after it's delivered.
@Gadget Addict Y'all keep forgetting about Canada, where the Big 3 carriers all use a 3G/UMTS network that's 100% compatible with AT&T devices. Except for that whole SIM-locked to AT&T thing.
I just returned a Captivate that I bought on launch day, because after a month, there was still no way to unlock it, despite trying every social engineering trick in the book on AT&T, and using all the 3rd-party unlock services. Fuck AT&T's SIM lock.
@HighestRanked1 - These guys will figure it all out pretty quickly when the older OS versions don't sell. OTOH, if they can get away with selling Android 1.6 and 2.1 devices, then they have no reason to rush to 2.2.
@Croak
Good point. I forgot about Rogers and Telus. Yes, good point. They shouldn't have locked it.
And to the person who says they have Tmo bands on their Streak. Show me a 3G signal... You have EDGE not 3G as I stated.
@Shnugi Cyanogenmod managed to get froyo working on several platforms in about 2 weeks and his current froyo version is simply brilliant. Dell's OEM is just incompetent.
Personally I don't get the appeal of this device. I'm all for an Android pad. But where is the actual iPad competitor? For this price I expect the same fit and finish and size as an iPad.
Try again.
@roxics
You can get q 3G ipad for $550? Where? I want one.
@roxics
iPad is a large iPod Touch. This is a phone. Big difference IMHO.
@Gadget Addict
Yeah but is there really a need for such a big ass phone? That's the question.
@Gadget Addict
Cos the big screen gets you a better 3G connection? Or does it improve call quality?