Hasta La Gadget!

Now we don’t have much more to go on here than some analyst chatter and a lengthy article from TechCrunch, but if you believe what you read, a major player has just dropped Windows Phone 7 devices from its roadmap. And that player is Dell. According to Jonathan Goldberg, an telecom analyst at Deutsche Bank, the only remaining partners currently working on Windows Phone 7 handsets are HTC, Samsung, and LG. If this is true (and that’s a big if), that means that the seriously awesome looking Dell Lightning that we spied in leaks recently will never see the light of day — as a WP7 device, at least.

We already knew that HP was out of the game (instead focusing on webOS phones), but the casual suggestion that Dell has made for the door here is somewhat suspect. The company itself hasn’t made any statements (we’ve reached out but have yet to hear back), and while Dell has certainly concentrated a lot of effort on Android devices recently, its partnership with Microsoft is long-standing (despite dabbling in the world of open source). If the story turns out to be true, it could spell mixed (if not outright bad) tidings for the Windows Phone 7 launch, which Goldberg alleges may cost Microsoft upwards of half a billion dollars — no small fee. Losing two of the biggest computer-makers in the world can’t feel very good when you’re trying to fight your way back to relevancy, but at least on the bright side, neither HP nor Dell have a track record of making anything other than heroically mediocre handsets. Take this all with a grain of salt right now, however, as the author of the TechCrunch article provides no source for the statements from Goldberg, and… well, he’s an analyst, and they’re prone to making up all kinds of crazy things. We’re investigating, and will let you know as soon as we have more info.

Update: We’ve been pinged back by Dell’s Matt Parretta, and he was 100 percent clear that Dell was most certainly still part of the Windows Phone 7 game. In the company’s words:

Any reports, or speculation, that report Dell will not support Windows Phone 7 are false… Microsoft announced Dell as a supporting partner at this year’s Mobile World Congress and nothing’s changed. We are excited to collaborate with Microsoft on Windows Phone 7, and are looking forward to bringing customers amazing mobile experiences.

Furthermore, the analyst in question here (Jonathan Goldberg) has also reached out to us to clarify his statements, saying that he believes Dell is still a partner on Windows Phone 7, just not a launch partner. Dell was mum on release schedules, but one thing is clear — they intend to follow through on this collaboration.

Dell dropping Windows Phone 7 devices from its roadmap? (update: Dell responds, is definitely still in the game) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Business Insider  |  TechCrunch  | Email this | Comments

Even if you can look beyond the SIM lock and the aging Android 1.6 OS on the Dell Streak, there’s still one irksome problem: the lack of a mini or micro-USB port (Dell clearly missed the USB party last summer). Dissatisfied with this state of affairs, John from Linux Slate decided to build an adapter for his tabletphone’s dock connector, which he confirmed to be PDMI instead of a proprietary design. The procedure was simple: John cut up his Streak’s cable plug, soldered a mini USB socket onto the board, and housed the new assembly within the Streak’s cable clip. Voilà! Until third-party USB-to-PDMI cables start to show up in the stores, it’s either this mod or cough up $20 for a spare cable from Dell. See the adapter in action after the break.

Continue reading Dell Streak procures a hacked-up mini USB adapter, gets friendly with your dusty cables

Dell Streak procures a hacked-up mini USB adapter, gets friendly with your dusty cables originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Streak Smart  |  Linux Slate  | Email this | Comments

Dell’ mobile division can’t seem to keep a secret so get ready for a peek into the company’s next Android phone codenamed ‘Thunder.’

‘Engadget got its hands on two prototype Thunder phones, the yet to be released  smartphone that Dell  is working on. The phones have a 4.1-inch OLED touch display, a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and a 8-megapixel camera. One of the phones runs Android 2.1 and the other has version 1.6 of the Android operating system.

Despite being an early engineering unit, the hardware is impressive in its finish, says Engadget.

Dell got into the smartphone business last year with the launch of its first Android phone in Brazil and China. This year, the company struck a deal with AT&T in the U.S. to introduce its phone called ‘Aero.’ So far, AT&T and Dell have not announced a launch date for the Aero. Meanwhile, Dell has launched the Streak, a device with a 5-inch screen that it bills as a ‘tablet.’ The Streak will cost $300 with a two-year contract on AT&T and $560 without one.

Thunder could help Dell move deeper into the smartphone business. The leaked Thunder prototypes, though, don’t deliver a complete sense of what could be on the phone. For instance, the bootloader and debug software on the prototype units reference features such as FM radio support, dual microphones, HDMI output and a hardware dock connector that aren’t there on the early units.

Dell is also reportedly testing both GSM and CDMA versions so it’s not clear who will eventually steal the Thunder.

Meanwhile, if you want to see how the Thunder prototype works and get all the details, check out the video.

See Also:

• Teardown Shows That Resilient Dell Streak Is Easy to Repair
• Dell’s Tablet Aims to Stick It to Apple’s iPad
• Dell’s Streak Tablet Is Priced Like a Phone
• Bloatware Creeps Into Android Phones

Photo: Dell Thunder prototype/Engadget

First with HP, and now with Dell. The PC maker (and occasional phone dabbler) posted its second quarter fiscal 2010 report, which actually gives a good perspective on the relative position of each company in the global PC market. Whereas the House that Hurd once ran reported a $30.7 billion revenue and $2.3 billion operating profit, Dell posted $15.5 billion (up 22 percent) in revenue and $745 million operating income. Like we said earlier, operating income shouldn’t be confused with net income, which deducts those massive corporate taxes. Looking at net, the company profited $545 million, up an impressive 16 percent year-over-year. Focusing on the Consumer unit, revenue was flat at $2.9 billion, while at the same time operating income incurred a $21 million loss. According to the press release, the company “remains confident that initiatives underway will improve operating margins for the segment.” Is all this enough to quell irate shareholders? Chances are slim, but hey, it’s a start.

Dell’s Q2 2010 sees 16 percent increase in net income, flat revenue from Consumer unit originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Dell  | Email this | Comments

Our friends at iFixit have made short work of the Dell Streak, doing what they do best. They’ve torn apart everyone’s favorite giant mobile phone (or is it a tiny tablet?), and found some interesting innards in the process. iFixit reports that the Streak is extremely easy to disassemble, and inside they found a Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon CPU, and cameras which they report are “similar” to those found inside the iPhone 4. There’s nothing earth-shattering here, though iFixit’s taken the Dell Streak teardown as an opportunity to debut a new “fixability” rating — and you’ll be happy to know that this baby has scored an 8 out of 10. Hit up the source for the full rundown.

Continue reading Dell Streak gets ripped to shreds by iFixit, Blondie reportedly satisfied at last

Dell Streak gets ripped to shreds by iFixit, Blondie reportedly satisfied at last originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  iFixit  | Email this | Comments