DellStreak
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DISA gets a spoonful of Froyo, approves Dell Venue for military use
Remember when the DoD approved the Android-powered Dell Streak for military use? Well the DISA's latest list of approved gear now includes Dell's Venue and the custom version of Froyo that it runs. Sadly, there are some limitations: operatives won't have access to the Android market, all surfing has to go via a secure proxy server and there's a ban on all classified information being received on the handset. Now if you'll excuse us, we're gonna imagine a unit of Venues at boot camp all chanting "If I play Angry Birds in a combat zone, box me up and send me home."
Dell delivers official Gingerbread ROM to the discontinued Streak 5
Although we wouldn't go as far as saying the Streak 5 is coming out of its grave, we can tell you that Dell is making an effort to help it regain consciousness -- which is great news for those of you who own the device. Don't mind that ICS is here, or that it's been 12 months since we first met Android 2.3, what's important is that the smartphone / tablet is ready to get its first (official) taste of some Gingerbread goodness. Needless to say, we know you're thrilled to make the OS transition, but before you do so, hit up the source link for all the nitty-gritty from the XDA folks to help guide you in your quest.
Dell halts online sales of Streak 7 tablet, turns toward a new mobile future
You might wanna pause for a moment of silence, because it looks like Dell has just discontinued its Streak 7 tablet. As the folks over at Streak Smart recently noticed, the Android slate has mysteriously disappeared from Dell's website, replaced only with a note to confirm that it's no longer available online. Dell, which axed the smaller Streak 5 back in August, provided us with the following statement: Dell remains committed to the mobility market and continues to sell products here and in other parts of the world. Streak 7 delivered a unique experience for customers who wanted a larger screen-size yet the freedom of staying connected to their personal and professional content while on the-go. It continues to be available in many markets through retail, distributors and carrier partners such as Optus in Australia. A 10-inch version of the tablet, Streak 10 Pro, is currently offered in China, offering the ultimate digital divide between work and life. The Venue and Venue Pro devices, as well, continue to earn accolades for performance, design and functionality around the world. We also recently launched the Latitude ST, a 10-inch Windows 7-based touch-screen tablet designed for vertical markets such as education, finance and healthcare in November of this year. We remain committed to expanding our reach beyond PCs with a targeted set of open, standards-based mobility solutions and services designed for commercial and mobile professional customers. So Dell isn't leaving the mobile space entirely, and it doesn't look like the Streak 7 is completely dead, though based on the above statement, it certainly seems to be on its way to pasture.
Lenovo LePad S2005 vs. Dell Streak 5... cuddle!
It's inevitable that these two 5-inch tabletphones -- the Dell Streak 5 on the left and the Lenovo LePad S2005 on the right -- are to meet in the Chinese capital. With the exception of the slightly taller body on the S2005 everything else are suspiciously similar, especially the button and camera layout. Well, there's a good explanation for this: we've been informed that this new tabletphone hails from the same ODM, Qisda, as Dell's counterpart. Too bad Lenovo decided to keep the same screen resolution though. According to Stone Ip from Engadget Chinese, he found that the S2005 has a nicer grip than the Streak, and he also digs its more masculine appearance -- obviously this is open to debate. Performance-wise this slate responded well to our input, but the lack of promise on an Ice Cream Sandwich update will probably make potential geeky buyers think twice. Well, good thing we have some awesome modders around the interwebs these days. %Gallery-140564%
Dell Streak gets DISA approval, Androids look to Pentagon invasion
Android conspiracy theories? They go all the way to the top -- or will soon, thanks to the US Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). The department has given the green light to use Dell's Mobile Security for Android platform on defense networks. The testing process utilized the Dell Streak, because apparently being giant is an important part of national security.
Refresh Roundup: week of September 26, 2011
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging to get updated. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery from the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy! Official Android updates The top story this week revolves around the HTC Thunderbolt's long-awaited Gingerbread OTA update. It was finally rolling out, which was exciting news for owners of the device -- until it had to be pulled because of some rather significant bugs. The largest of them all was that voicemail notifications no longer worked properly; video chatting through Google Talk was also slightly messed up as well. No word on when we can expect to see it come back with those bugs fixed. [Droid-Life] Unfortunately, the Thunderbolt isn't the only phone falling victim to pulled revamps; the LG Optimus S on Sprint had its Gingerbread update kiboshed, though users have had two weeks to get it -- plenty of time for anyone to experience some of the bugs, which included the phone not charging, the SD card not being recognized when the phone's connected to the computer, no access to data services, and predictive text on the virtual keyboard stopped working. It's disappointing to see this happen so soon after the Kyocera Echo update went through a similar debacle. [SprintFeed] LG Optimus 3D: V10K firmware update, enables phone to convert OpenGL-capable 2D games into stereoscopic 3D. Note: this still runs Android 2.2.2, so we're still waiting for Gingerbread. [AndroidCentral] Motorola Xoom WiFi: Android 3.2.1 is beginning to roll out. [AndroidCentral] Dell Streak 7: Honeycomb update rolling out now to unspecified regions [AndroidCentral] Asus Eee Pad Transformer: Revamped to Android 3.2.1, adds other bug fixes [AndroidCommunity] Casio G'Zone Commando: Gingerbread rolling out now [Droid-Life] Motorola Droid 3: Minor maintenance refresh; enhances Google Talk with video chat support, several other fixes. [PhoneDog] T-Mobile Samsung Nexus S: OTA install (with option to manually install) to Android 2.3.6; doesn't appear to break tethering. [AndroidCentral] Unofficial Android updates, custom ROMs and misc. hackery The Android 2.3.5 ROM for the global Samsung Galaxy S II leaked early this week. [Pocketnow, SamFirmware] You can now download the Android 2.3.4 SBF for the Motorola Droid X2, courtesy of XDA. [Droid-Life] If you have a Sony Ericsson Xperia-branded device from 2010 or 2011, CyanogenMod7 support will most likely come included as part of an upcoming update. Ten Xperia devices will be added, though a timeframe for release wasn't announced. Check here to see if your device made the list. [XperiaBlog] Other platforms Check here to see if your phone is ready to receive Windows Phone Mango. The ultra-rare AT&T HP Pre 3 just received an OTA update to 2.2.3.2207, right after a new webOS Doctor became available for the same refresh. [PreCentral] Refreshes we covered this week Windows Phone 7.5 Mango update now rolling out How to force Mango to your phone right away Samsung Taylor receiving Mango?
Dell Streak 5 tablet gets the axe
Another would-be "iPad killer" has fallen in battle. The Dell Streak 5 tablet is no more. Despite CEO Michael Dell's insistence that Android tablets will overtake the iPad, sales of the Dell Streak 5 were low enough in the Americas that it's been end-of-lifed in that region. As Macworld's Macalope points out, at least one pundit (with well-known ties to Dell) once lauded the Streak as "better than an iPad and an iPhone." It does not appear that consumers agreed. The iPad has sold in excess of 30 million units so far, while all Android-running tablets combined have sold less than two million units. The device is still on sale in other regions (for now), and the Dell Streak 7 is still available. However, with total sales for all Android tablets combined summing less than several semi-obscure 1990s-era video game consoles, it doesn't look like Dell or any other company that's hitched its wagon to Android is going to be overtaking the iPad any time soon.
Dell quietly kills Streak 5 while nobody's looking, mourns end-of-life status
The Dell Streak 5 has always been an outlier, and it's traveled a bumpy road ever since the unveiling when Dell insisted its smartphone was in fact a portable tablet. From the delayed launch in the US to its $549 price for a SIM-locked unit -- not to mention the uncomfortably long dance with Donut -- perhaps this moment has been coming for a while. That's right, folks, the Dell Streak 5 is no more. Last month we reported it had been taken off the market while it received a software update, but the hive mind in Round Rock must have changed its sentiments along the way. The company now hosts a web page that declares its spacious smartphone / compact tablet has met end-of-life status, and it's offering little information other than the ominous phrase, "Streak 5 is no longer available." Perhaps spinners such as DJ_Steve will keep the misbegotten wonder alive with projects like StreakDroid, but for the time being, we're forced to hang our heads to honor the Streak's passing. It's been a great ride, indeed.
Dell Streak 10 Pro tablet makes global debut in China, we go hands-on (update: video!)
There's a Chinese saying that will suit most of our Western readers here: "quenching thirst by gazing at plums." Oh yes, we're talking about Dell's Streak 10 Pro alright. Just as promised, said US company has skipped its home country to debut its first 10.1-inch Honeycomb tablet in China (ka-ching!), and we happened to be at the Beijing press event for some intimate hands-on time. To be honest, you won't be needing many imaginary plums for this Android's rather mundane specs: it's equipped with the oh-so-familiar 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 T20 chip, 1GB DDR2 RAM, 1,280 x 800 LCD (with Corning's Gorilla Glass), 5 megapixel camera and 2 megapixel camera back and front, and regular-size SDHC expansion. That said, Chinese buyers can grab this 16GB WiFi tablet plus 2GB of cloud storage for just ¥2,999 ($465) a pop -- a slightly more attractive price compared to its competitors. Check out our impressions after the break. Update: Hands-on video added after the break. Update 2: We've also done a comparison hands-on with our very own Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. You're welcome. %Gallery-129455% %Gallery-129450%
Dell quietly pulls the Streak to perform an update, might bring it back next month?
What Dell can give, it can taketh away. That's the story with the Streak, which has quietly vanished from retail as well as the outfit's online storefront. We first got wind of this when a tipster wrote in to say he had spoken to a company employee, who said the 5-inch Android tablet / phone had been discontinued. When we reached out to Dell's PR team to see what's up, we got the pat "Dell does not comment on rumors, speculation, or unannounced products." So then we called customer service, pretending to order one, and that's when things got interesting. The rep told us the Streak hasn't, in fact, been end-of-life'd; it's just been pulled from shelves while it receives an update. The gentleman couldn't say how severe the issue is, though he insists it has zilch to do with Android. Whatever it is, Dell isn't even accepting orders for the 5-inch Streak at the moment. If all goes according to plan, though, we're told it should go back on sale in early August. [Thanks, Venkata]
StreakDroid 2.0.0 gives the gift of Gingerbread to Streak hackers
If you've been following along, you know that a phone enthusiast named DJ_Steve has kept the Dell Streak fresh, thanks to a series of hacked ROMs, dubbed StreakDroid. The latest version, 2.0.0 (or GingerStreak, if you're feeling cute) brings Gingerbread to the 5-inch smartphone -- expanding on the last ROM, which gave hackers the option of selecting Gingerbread's app launcher. As always, though, dear Steve has noted a handful of bugs in the ROM's early stages, including issues with the Superuser app, less-than-stellar graphics performance, and the fact that both GPS and 720p video recording require an engineering baseband and DSP to be flashed. As of this writing, all of the comments are from Streak owners eager to download this for themselves. We assume you are, too, so let us know how the new ROM works out for ya.
Dell XPS 15z coming tomorrow for $999? (updated)
The thinnest 15-inch laptop "on the planet" is coming tomorrow, costing a measly $999, according to the Wall Street Journal. In a profile of Dell's recent history and forthcoming plans in the consumer electronics market, the financial paper twice makes reference to an ultrathin, $999 laptop that is set to launch on Tuesday of this week. Pairing that intel with the abundance of leaks surrounding the slinky 15.6-inch XPS 15z -- including a Michael Dell tweet promising it's "coming soon" -- leads us to the conclusion that we've finally gotten ahold of the price and date for Dell's next big thing. Interestingly enough, the WSJ article goes on to say that Dell had canned a similar set of slim laptops earlier in the year, which might give us greater hope for the quality of the 15z -- it survived where others didn't. Other disclosures in the piece include a quote from Michael Dell, saying that he "didn't completely see" the tablet boom coming, which might explain why sales of his company's Streak tablets have been low enough to be described as "immaterial." There's also a discussion of the abortive Zing music service and related MP3 players that never were, but you'll have to hit the source link to learn more about them. Update: As further evidence of the 15z's imminent release, the tease has turned into a show with a video that fully reveals its slimline chassis and declares that the new Dell packs the Streak's Stage UI as well. [Thanks, Ishai and Ming Han] Update 2: And now we have the answer to our headline question: yes.
Keepin' it real fake: the 1.2GHz Dell Streak that can make phone calls and run Gingerbread
You know, knockoffs are usually meant to be downgrades from the real deal. In the case of Dell's Streak 7 tablet, its KIRF version actually has a few advantages over the real deal -- it can make phone calls, has a bigger (3000mAh) battery, comes preloaded with Android 2.3, runs at 1.2GHz, and happens to be cheaper at just under $180 unsubsidized. Of course, its 7-inch WVGA screen relies on resistive technology for touch input, it only has one core, and there's no evidence of this Gingerbread installation actually running, but are you really gonna let such trifling details stand in your way? Hit the source link to get an eyefull of this Welldone tabletphone mashup -- it might not be real, but it's definitely red!
Screen Grabs: Newly minted Bengals wide receiver AJ Green rocks Dell Streak during NFL draft (video)
Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dot com. A tipster sent us video from ESPN's NFL draft coverage, asking us to identify the giant phone in University of Georgia wide receiver AJ Green's hand. Turns out it's a white Dell Streak, perhaps the only phone on the market capable of dwarfing the Cincinnati Bengals' fourth overall pick by comparison. Keep in mind, Green is a big guy -- he's 6 feet, 4 inches. He also catches footballs for a living, so we figure that, at the very least, he's got to have average hands for a man of his size. We're happy to report he didn't spike the phone after hearing the news. Videographic evidence after the break. [Thanks, Ramon]
Dell's 10-inch Android and Windows tablets get names, specs, release dates
Well, well, what have we here? A pair of 10-inch Dell tablets, one running Windows 7 on those fancy new Oak Trail chips from Intel and the other pushing Android 3.0 with a Tegra T25. We already saw these devices leaked in February, but now we have some specs and release dates. The Wintel powered Latitude ST boasts a resolution of 1366 x 768, 2GB of RAM, up to a 128GB SSD, GPS, an accelerometer, both front- and rear-facing cameras, an 8-hour removable battery, and "1080p video output," which we assume means HDMI-out. The Android-flavored Streak Pro opts for a 1200 x 800 panel, but keeps the pair of cameras (and two mics) for video chats, while adding an unspecified mobile broadband radio and slathering Dell's Stage UI on top of Honeycomb (whether or not that's a good thing is purely a matter of taste). Pricing is still up in the air, but the leaked roadmap indicates the Streak Pro will land in June, followed by the Latitude XT3 convertible tablet in July, and the Latitude ST in October.
Dell Streak 10 to launch mid-June with Honeycomb, possible name change in the works
Dell's Windows 7 Rosemount tablet may not make it to the beach with you this summer, but that doesn't mean the company won't have an Android alternative when it's time to start applying sunblock. According to Forbes, the 10-inch Android-powered slate we got an oh-so-quick glimpse of at CES should be ready to hit the market somewhere around mid-June, just a little bit later than we'd previously heard. The publication also hints that the tablet heretofore referred to as the Streak 10 may not retain that moniker when it's time to launch, but it will most definitely be running Honeycomb, though we're not sure if it'll keep the Stage UI. Either way, summer 2011 is shaping up to be the season of Honeycomb, and we're excited to see just what each manufacturer will do to differentiate themselves in the increasingly-crowded space.
BMW launches DriveNow, the 'premium' car sharing service with a Dell Streak on every dash (video)
If you liked the idea of the Car2go service we profiled a few weeks back, Smart fortwos available for rent by the minute with and some pretty fancy tracking apps to help you find them, but maybe you wanted to drive something a little bit bigger, BMW has you covered. Well, assuming "you" are German or at least living in Germany. The company has launched its own car sharing service it calls DriveNow. This one is billed as a "premium" -- though curiously none of the company's truly premium models will be offered. That said, the Minis and 1 Series autos that make up the initial fleet are hardly low-rent, and we'd be utterly shocked if the upcoming i3 didn't get added to the mix down the road too. Usage details are still a little bit scarce, but we do know that each car will have a dash-mounted Dell Streak through which users will log in after unlocking the car doors with an RFID-equipped membership card or even a suitably endowed drivers license. Renting a car costs 29 cents per minute, up to €14.90 (about $21) per hour, and there will be 300 cars available at first starting in the Munich area. If you're not in Munich it's tough cookies for now, but BMW is hoping to have one million members worldwide by 2020. Maybe one of them will be you.
Dell offers unlocked Streak for $99 with purchase of a new PC
Dell's Streak 5 tabletphone hasn't held our interest much lately, even with Android 2.2 on board, but Dell's got a new deal that may be too good to pass up. If you already had your heart set on nabbing a Dell notebook or desktop PC priced at over $699 -- say, one of those shiny new Sandy Bridge rigs -- you can add an unlocked Streak 5 to your cart for an additional Benjamin. Now that's what we call an impulse buy. [Thanks, Matthew K.]
Screen Grabs: Dell Streak serves as seismograph on Fringe, Android nowhere to be found
Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dot com. It ain't the first time Dell's Streak has been featured on a major network drama, but it's probably the last where it's used as a makeshift seismograph. Olivia managed to discover some fairly otherworldly facts with the use of this here handheld on a recent episode of Fringe, but mum's the word on whether she'll survive this season. You know -- the Friday slot. [Thanks, Michael]
Dell Streak gets Honeycomb SDK port, starting to look like a real tablet (update: video)
Dell always told us the Streak was a tablet and not a phone, so it makes perfect sense to see Android's latest version, the tablet-friendly Honeycomb, ported over to its 5-inch slate. As usual with these builds, we're still at a very early stage, with the chap responsible for the hack noting that "no way is this close to release," but it's still rather exciting to see that brand new interface freshening up familiar pieces of kit. And hey, it's not like Dell itself is going to be delivering Android 3.0 anytime soon either, right? Click the source link to keep yourself updated on how this community port progresses. Update: Looks like DJ_Steve got his hands on the build and made a quick video -- check it out after the break. [Thanks, Chris]
