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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You didn’t think Germany was gonna have all the Palm fun, did you? The UK is keeping pace with its longtime nemesis by matching the May 28 launch date for the Pre and Pixi Plus on O2, and has even supplied us with a handy reference sheet containing all price plans available for the handsets. You’ll find it after the break, but sadly it’ll only be of interest to true WebOS enthusiasts. There’s nothing south of £25 ($36) per month available, and if you want a reasonable call allowance, you’ll have to get on into the £30 and above bracket. All contracts do at least come with unlimited texts and data, but overall the cost seems too steep to entice us, what with all the Desires and Bolds floating around at better price points.

[Thanks, Chris W.]

Continue reading O2 UK will get Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus on May 28, skin you alive with pricing

O2 UK will get Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus on May 28, skin you alive with pricing originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 May 2010 05:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re still about a month away from OnLive dropping the green flag for American gamers who want to stream their games over the internets, but already the company is looking to colonize. It has reached an agreement with BT that sees the artist formerly known as British Telecom acquiring a 2.6 percent stake in exchange for exclusive rights to bundle the OnLive service with broadband packages. However, this startup doesn’t like to be tied down, so will still be offering its unique abilities on the side to anyone with a fat enough pipe — that’s download speeds, dig? OnLive isn’t saying exactly when its service will launch in the UK (or anywhere else in Europe, for that matter), just that the company is “completely focused” on the US release first. As well it should be; it has some mighty skeptical gamers to win over.

Continue reading Pip-pip, OnLive reaches agreement with BT, launching in Europe eventually

Pip-pip, OnLive reaches agreement with BT, launching in Europe eventually originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 May 2010 15:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Marko Ahtisaari will be a familiar name to Dopplr users, being both the CEO and one of the major investors in the startup’s social networking software. Having been acquired by Nokia in late September 2009, his team now works to help Symbian regain its world-conquering ways while Marko himself has returned to Nokia to helm its Design group — an outfit that, judging by the world’s disappointment with the N97 and other devices, is frankly in need of some fresh ideas. So, when we were invited to meet him this morning for a journalist get-together where Marko hoped to “begin the conversation” about Nokia’s future direction, we grabbed our pen, paper and DSLR and rushed off to go have a listen. The camera came in use when we got to handle a Nokia N8 prototype for the first time, but do join us after the break to see what else we learned.

Continue reading Nokia Head of Design Marko Ahtisaari talks about priorities, competition, and future direction

Nokia Head of Design Marko Ahtisaari talks about priorities, competition, and future direction originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 May 2010 12:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Good old London, full of little wonders and flagship devices for you to discover. We were at Nokia’s local HQ this morning to talk to the company’s Head of Design Marko Ahtisaari, and the good gent happened to bring with him a prototype N8 for us to play around with. It was stressed to us that it’s a prototype, so small cosmetic changes might still occur, but we are for most part looking at the hardware that will be hitting retail shelves in Q3 of this year. Speaking of Q3, Marko was adamant that that will be when Nokia “turns on” the Symbian^3 housed within the N8, which — disappointingly — meant that we couldn’t get to grips with the new UI experience in person. Ah well, there are plenty of pictures to be devoured in the gallery below, and we can provide you with a few observations of our own to tide you over till then.

The anodized aluminum shell feels very well built and is remarkably light. So much so that our first instinct was to ask whether the battery was inside or this was just a hollow mockup. We’d compare it to the feeling of picking up the Zune HD for the first time, it’s a strikingly light device. Plopping it into our pocket also felt extremely natural, which might be attributable to the particular curvature of the N8’s sides. Attention to detail in the physical design, as Marko said, was of paramount importance to Nokia. That doesn’t come without sacrifices, however, with the user replaceable battery being substituted by an integrated cell, but to quote the man himself, the “overall design concept overruled” such considerations. We found the home button on the front a bit of a pain to press in, but it’s still very early to form conclusions about the experience on this device. For now, just go gawk at it below and look out for the in-depth writeup of our chat with Marko Ahtisaari later today.

Nokia N8 hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 May 2010 07:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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