Hasta La Gadget!

Let’s all feign surprise now, as Dell has just gone official with its worst kept, though perhaps sexiest, secret ever. The former Mini 5 has been christened the Streak and is launching at the beginning of next month. The UK will be getting the first bite at this cherry, with the rest of Europe following soon thereafter and the US a disappointingly distant third with a launch “later this summer.” If you’ve been living under a (Round) Rock, this is Dell’s big foray into the smartphone market: a 5-inch supersized Android handset, housing a 1GHz Snapdragon, a 5 megapixel cam, 16GB of built-in memory (expandable to 48GB via MicroSD) and a customized UI. Curiously, Dell’s opting to market the Streak as “the ultimate portable tablet pc” and would prefer that this device, albeit fully equipped to carry out cellular calls like a phone, not be called a smartphone.

We got a chance to play with it during a briefing in London recently, and frankly, aside from the snazzier paintjob, there’s nothing new to report. Just like the prototype unit we’ve previewed to exhaustion, the device on hand was running Android 1.6 and Dell’s skinning team hadn’t yet laid on the goodies that we’ve been promised. The battery is the same 1,530mAh cell as before, and we even managed to get the browser to crash in the exact same fashion that our own Streak exhibits on occasion. Now that’s consistency. We’re not being told the specific Android version that the Streak will ship with, but a couple of flavors are being mulled over right now. Till we get more info, we suggest sitting back, relaxing, and perusing the gallery below for the roaring red number that’s currently on show. It won’t be available at launch — you can have any color so long as it’s black — but “a range of colors and designs” will swiftly follow to sate any aesthetic concerns. Video and full press release after the break.

Update: The Carphone Warehouse listing for the Streak shows Android 1.6 as the OS with an “OTA upgrade available soon.” Pair that with word direct from Dell that Android 2.2 and Flash 10.1 are coming “later this year,” and you can connect your own dots [Thanks, Azza].

Update 2: O2’s website now has a precise date for us: June 4.

Continue reading Dell Streak official: exclusive to O2 UK in early June

Dell Streak official: exclusive to O2 UK in early June originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 May 2010 05:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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To say we’ve been waiting “awhile” for the ExoPC to fully emerge from under its veil and begin shipping to the world at large would be a startling understatement, but it looks like the holding period is just… about… over. We’re personally getting some one-on-one time in the coming days once we touch down in Taipei for this year’s Computex expo, but in the meantime, those who fancy machine translation (or who learned far too much during those high school French courses) can dig into an overview from the folks over at Blogue de Geek, who were recently able to sit down with a prototype version of the Windows 7 slate and give it a nice once-over. By and large, they were duly impressed with what they saw, noting that video playback was flawless (thanks, Broadcom!) and that bootup was shockingly quick considering that a full-on desktop OS is included. Hit that source link to get a taste (or just past the break for a video), and be sure to keep it locked here next week for continued coverage.

Update: Looks like the final product name will simply be “slate” and there will be four models to choose from: 32GB WiFi, 32GB WiFi + 3G / GPS, 64GB WiFi and 64GB WiFi + 3G / GPS.

Continue reading ExoPC prototype gets handled on video, looks downright delightful

ExoPC prototype gets handled on video, looks downright delightful originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 13:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well we just got to lay hands on the above Foxconn-manufactured, Tegra 2-powered Android prototype, and we’ll be honest — it was awfully sweet. There wasn’t much going on beyond some gaming action — we didn’t see it boot into standard Android — though it was running the 3D football title you see above at a pretty healthy clip (check out the video after the break). NVIDIA reps weren’t very keen on sharing info about the device, though we can tell you that it’s apparently got 1GB of RAM inside cuddled up to that 1GHz ARM Cortex 9 CPU, a front-facing camera, and the WSVGA screen measures 8.9-inches (it’s also a much wider aspect ratio than something like the iPad). We’re going to hold any judgment till we see this thing cooking with a full UI, but we’re not knocking it — get this in at the right price, and we’ll likely be first in line.

Update: Correction, the screen size is 8.9-inches, not 9.7.

Continue reading Foxconn’s Tegra 2-powered Android tablet hands-on (video)

Filed under: Handhelds

Foxconn’s Tegra 2-powered Android tablet hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 May 2010 19:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon had already said that it anticipated launching its first LTE handsets in the first half of 2011, but as we’re rounding third base toward the launch of Big Red’s first commercial 4G markets, it’s shedding a little more light on how it thinks this’ll all go down. Basically, wireless chief Lowell McAdam says we can expect “up to” five handsets by May of 2011, exactly a year from now — which could mean anywhere between zero and five, as far as we’re concerned — and that Motorola, LG, HTC, and RIM are all in the running to serve up that first volley of hardware. What’s not clear is whether these will make voice calls over CDMA exclusively (a la EVO 4G) or if they’ll be compliant with the IMS-based (and GSMA-friendly) voice the company expects to eventually roll out on top of its LTE network, but either way, it’s good news.

Turning our attention to Verizon’s recent tablet hullabaloo, McAdam says that although “there’s no reason [the company] couldn’t have an iPad,” the first tablets it offers will be Android-based — yes, “tablets” plural — and that most of them will launch in the fourth from companies “including Motorola, Samsung and LG.” Interestingly, this dovetails rather conveniently with an NVIDIA-powered Motorola tablet with Verizon branding that was briefly (and quietly) shown off at CES this January, so we wouldn’t be surprised if that was the unit we ended up getting. None of these devices might end up with the iPad’s name recognition, obviously, but an LTE-powered Android tablet with HTC’s good design sense certainly can’t hurt.

Verizon to offer ‘up to’ five LTE handsets by next May, Android tablets from HTC and friends originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 May 2010 17:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve already seen one prestigious institution reject the Kindle DX, but that’s not to say there’s no room for someone else’s digital textbook in the classroom. Kakai, an undercover startup that we heard whispered about back in April, is slowly but surely removing their own veil. Now, the company has decided to go by Kno (short for knowledge, dude), and will make its public debut at the D8 conference next month. All we’ve heard so far is that the company’s first product will be a Linux-based “foldable double-screened device, [which is] designed to feel like a mix of laptop and textbook.” It’ll be both portable and gesture-based, and as you’d likely imagine, will be aimed directly at the education market. We’re also told that the endeavor will include “robust software and a seamless website to deliver course material, allowing for note-taking and offering other audio and video capabilities,” and while that’s all a bit difficult to simply envision without a stiff cup of java to stimulate the imagination, we’ll be taking an up close and personal look in just a few days when we head out to California for Walt and Kara’s annual shindig.

Kakai morphs into Kno, aims to school you at D8 conference originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 May 2010 11:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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