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Dell continues Streak tease

Dell clears the air on a few mysteries surrounding the Dell Streak, but leaves the big questions, such as price and availability, unanswered.

Donald Bell Senior Editor / How To
Donald Bell has spent more than five years as a CNET senior editor, reviewing everything from MP3 players to the first three generations of the Apple iPad. He currently devotes his time to producing How To content for CNET, as well as weekly episodes of CNET's Top 5 video series.
Donald Bell
2 min read
 
Photo of Dell Streak tablet running Android 2.1.
The Streak, as demonstrated by Dell's Kevin Andrew, running Android 2.1. Dell

Update: Dell has published (and since removed) a "test page" stating that the Streak will go on sale tomorrow unlocked for $549, or $299 with a two year AT&T contract. We contacted Dell asking or confirmation on these details and were told that the test page in question was not intended to be seen by the pubic and may have contained inaccurate information. Furthermore, there are no plans for the Streak to go on sale or pre-sale today. In other words, we still don't really know how much the Streak will cost, when it will be available, or if it will be subsidized by a carrier. That said, we now have a pretty good hunch.

Dell is announcing more details on their Android Streak tablet, due to go on sale any day now. Unfortunately, of all the questions answered in Dell's official blog post and YouTube video, we still have no idea how much the Streak will sell for, when it will ship, or if it will be subsidized by U.S. carriers.

But hey, at least now we know the Streak doesn't support T-Mobile's 3G band, though it will support 3G from AT&T, as well as EDGE on either network. Dell also confirms that a "cherry red" version of the Streak will be available following the initial launch of the "carbon black" model.

The announcement from Dell also serves to keep our expectations in check when it comes to the version of Android we'll see on the final product. Although Dell is still pledging to eventually offer an over-the-air update to Android 2.2, the shipped version of the Streak will use Android 1.6 out of the box.

If Dell's Android upgrade promises and open-ended price tag are enough to get you on-board, you can sign up to participate in a 24-hour pre-sale window. The sane among you, however, should probably just wait to see how this all shakes out.