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Gadgets Android-powered Dell Streak Leaked
Shane McGlaun (Blog) - October 21, 2009 9:13 AM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 25 comment(s) - last by theapparition.. on Oct 22 at 2:10 PM

Dell Streak  (Source: SlashGear)
Streak is a 5-inch MID from Dell running Android 2.0

Dell is doing all it can to add new businesses to its offerings in the form of services for migrating to Windows 7 and new consumer electronic products. This is in the face of slipping from the second place spot in the global computer shippers list with Acer taking its spot.

Dell CEO Michael Dell has been talking quite a bit about the Dell smartphone that is coming early next year and rumored to be hitting AT&T. A smartphone isn't the only Android device that the computer maker has up its sleeves. Today a new MID based on Android from Dell has leaked online. The device is called the Dell Streak, has a 5-inch WVGA 800 x 480 resolution touchscreen, and runs Android 2.0.

Other features of the Streak include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and 3D WWAN connectivity. The device is a prototype and sports a 5-megapixel camera with dual-LED flash. A microSD card slot is available for memory expansion and the battery is a 1,300mAh unit. The front of the device has a minimalist design with only three buttons.

A front facing video camera is available for video conferencing. A docking connector is offered along the bottom edge and the label on the prototype reads US, which seemingly means versions for other countries will be offered as well. Other important details like pricing and availability are unknown at this time.

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WTF?
By Hieyeck on 10/21/2009 10:59:05 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
...3D WWAN connectivity...

You mean wireless don't travel in 2D?! OH LAWD.




RE: WTF?
By amanojaku on 10/21/09, Rating: 0
RE: WTF?
By nafhan on 10/21/2009 1:24:58 PM , Rating: 1
A wavefront can be viewed as a plane, but that doesn't mean electromagnetic waves move in only two dimensions. After a signal is radiated it expands in all directions unless constricted (parabolic antenna, atmospheric conditions, etc).


RE: WTF?
By amanojaku on 10/21/2009 10:26:32 PM , Rating: 2
Sigh... You confused the electromagnetic "field", which is omnidirectional, with electromagnetic "waves", which are Poynting vectors. The field is made up of the waves shooting in a spherical pattern, which is why I said the waves only travel in two directions.

Technically, I should be calling the "waves" by the term "radiation". EM radiation exhibits wave–particle duality, but the particle behavior was discovered later as it requires examination over shorter distances, i.e. more sensitive equipment. As a result the name "EM waves" came first and stuck, but what's key is the particle behavior.

Those particles are photons. They carry energy and radiate from a source of origin, which is represented by the Poynting vector. The two byproducts of the EM radiation are electric waves and magnetic waves, oscillating around the vector at 90 degree angles to each other.

So, each wave, electric and magnetic, actually operates in two dimensions. The first is the dimension that passes through the vector, from the origin to the photon's destination. The second is the plane of oscillation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poynting_vector
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flux
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiative_flux
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/Hbase/waves/e...
http://www.theory.caltech.edu/people/patricia/exp3...


RE: WTF?
By radializer on 10/21/2009 6:27:51 PM , Rating: 2
I think you are getting confused with the image of electromagnetic radiation that is used for explanation purposes in standard textbooks. The oscillations you speak of are fluctuations in the field - up/down and left right are just convenient 2D representations ... as another poster has mentioned, the actual waves, unless constrained, spread out in all directions.


3D WWN? Should be 3G WWAN.
By mxnerd on 10/21/2009 11:03:04 AM , Rating: 3
Typo I think.

Any device connected to the internet that can run a VOIP software (Skype, or SIP based softphone, or even messengers) with microphone and speaker can be used as a phone, if you assign a phone number to the software.




RE: 3D WWN? Should be 3G WWAN.
By steveb2005 on 10/21/2009 12:47:41 PM , Rating: 2
You mean software such as Google Voice (that yes, assigns you a phone number, and is already an app for the Android OS)? There's a good possibility that Google Voice could be upgraded to work over WiFi.

We'll just have to wait and see...


RE: 3D WWN? Should be 3G WWAN.
By mxnerd on 10/21/2009 1:16:34 PM , Rating: 2
Yes. If Google Voice is available on Android OS.

Google Voice or any SIP based (standard)softphone, or Skype (proprietary) can work over internet, be it wired, WiFi or WWAN.


It is a cell phone
By firewolfsm on 10/21/2009 12:03:40 PM , Rating: 1
People, use your heads, it's coming to AT&T for a reason, it will be a fully functional cell phone.




RE: It is a cell phone
By Taft12 on 10/21/2009 12:43:01 PM , Rating: 2
Maybe as the only WWAN provider?


RE: It is a cell phone
By GaryJohnson on 10/21/2009 1:19:04 PM , Rating: 2
I'm betting it'll get cancelled during the carrier testing phase like AT&T's last Android phone.


RE: It is a cell phone
By theapparition on 10/22/2009 2:10:05 PM , Rating: 2
Go back and read the article again.

There are two devices. One is a smart phone going to be offered on AT&T.

The other is the MID, which will be sold on Dell's website. The MID will not have built in carrier access.


Not a phone? But...
By Mugur on 10/21/2009 10:40:15 AM , Rating: 2
I can see in the picture a Dialer, a Sim Toolkit... Not to mention the sign of the signal strength (that could be wireless too, but it's usually asociated with GSM signal and also wireless signal looks to be on the left of that sign).

Maybe it's also a phone...




RE: Not a phone? But...
By cfaalm on 10/22/2009 6:55:01 AM , Rating: 2
In the lower right corner: Skype icon. You bet it is a phone, in some way at least.


Ipod touch competitor
By Taft12 on 10/21/2009 12:34:52 PM , Rating: 2
I've read the comments about how a MID should not exist since all this functionality can (and does) exist in smartphones.

I still think there's room for a device like this in the market and the iPod Touch proves this. That's probably the closest device this will compete against and if this is price-competitive (say 30% less at similar capacities?) it will be a good value.

Whether it can take much marketshare from the iTouch.... Not a chance!




WOW!
By Belard on 10/21/09, Rating: -1
RE: WOW!
By therealnickdanger on 10/21/2009 9:39:27 AM , Rating: 2
It's a MID, not a phone... ;-) So yes, when they try to make phone calls from it, it will certainly change the way they think about phones...


RE: WOW!
By ImSpartacus on 10/21/2009 10:12:37 AM , Rating: 4
I think at this point, MIDs shouldn't exist anymore. Why carry a phone and a MID when you can just have one gadget to do it all?

Some people like to carry more than one gadget in their pockets, but I prefer a more consolidated approach. Just a matter of opinion.


RE: WOW!
By amanojaku on 10/21/2009 10:59:28 AM , Rating: 2
Agreed. MIDs and UMPCs are wedged between smart phones and netbooks. With smart phones getting smarter and netbooks getting more powerful and/or cheaper a MID or UMPC makes no financial or functional sense.


RE: WOW!
By rudy on 10/21/2009 1:46:34 PM , Rating: 2
By your logic netbooks should not exist either they are just wedged between notebooks and phones.

If this really has a 5 inch screen that will be one of the biggest nices phones out there. And I will be interested.

I wish more companies would make phones and let you pick whatever OS you want on them. More like PCs are today.


RE: WOW!
By wvh on 10/21/2009 3:27:52 PM , Rating: 1
Since when can one pick the OS a PC comes with?...


RE: WOW!
By Aganack1 on 10/21/2009 10:18:18 AM , Rating: 2
The article says it is a MID, but it has a mic and a camera for video conferencing and WWAN connectivity. Even if it isn't marketed as a traditional phone it could be used as a VOIP cell phone.


RE: WOW!
By xSauronx on 10/21/2009 12:21:07 PM , Rating: 2
reminds me of the nokia n810, which had a touchscreen, slide out keyboard, linux OS, camera, etc...just lacked the 3g wireless, but had wifi, and i think there was a wimax version.


RE: WOW!
By Motoman on 10/21/2009 1:47:48 PM , Rating: 2
That's exactly what my take is. With VOIP, essentially any device can be a phone...Google Voice or otherwise.

This thing plus a BT or wired headset, I think, would be much more better for many people than a traditional smartphone. We'll see what the market does with it...if it gets it.


RE: WOW!
By Belard on 10/21/2009 2:49:35 PM , Rating: 2
Okay....

... What the Frack is a MID? Media Idiot Device?

It looks like a phone, does everything a phone does, but without the cell phone part... oh, so its a clone of the iTouch?!

As others below have pointed out.

Why bother? Its the reason PDAs pretty much died out. I dont think anyone really makes them anymore other than some cheap $10~15 device at Walmart like Franklin. Even PALM no longer has ANY PDAs in their product line (sad... a bit) yet earlier this year they used to sell a basic PDA with color for about $50.


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