Austin (ip-192.com): Dell's new Streak Mini 5 device (ip-192.com reported here) will hit the U.S. market at the end of July for $499, the Austin, Texas based information technology company says. The five-inch Google Android based tablet (some reviewers claim it is a smartphone on steroids and not a tablet) comes with 800 x 480 WVGA touchscreen, 2 GB of internal storage, and a microSD card slot. The 5 megapixel camera features a dual LED flash, and the Android operating system has been customized with a Dell skin.
The device will be available in Great Britain later in the week through O2. With a two-year contract, the wireless carrier will completely subsidize the device. Since AT&T is the only carrier in the U.S. that uses the same frequency as O2, several news reports speculate that the company is Dell's most likely distribution partner this side of the Atlantic.
The $499 price point for the unlocked device brings the Dell Streak in the same league as Apple's iPad. While the Mini 5 may be "the largest screen that would still fit in a man's shirt pocket," as Dell executive Ron Garriques positioned the device, $499 seem to be pricey for a unit that is not really a tablet yet and perhaps not a smartphone anymore. The Streak comes with 3G (UMTS, GPRS and EDGE) support, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi. Due to the lack of expansion ports, users will have to buy the optional docking station if they want to add any peripherals.
A video from CNET, available on YouTube here, shows the device in action.
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