Up close with the Dell Streak

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif.--The tablet parade at D: All Things Digital continued into Wednesday afternoon, with Dell doing a brief onstage demo of its 5-inch Dell Streak device. The Android-powered gadget is bigger than any smartphone but smaller than nearly all other tablets. The size of the device seemed to puzzle the conference moderators, with Walt Mossberg saying that using it as a phone was like holding a waffle to his head, while Kara Swisher said the most likely use for the device was as something to eat. That reaction came in stark contrast to the veritable love fest being given by D8 speakers who universally praised Apple's tablet. Dell executive Ron Garriques positioned the device as the largest screen that would still fit in a man's shirt pocket. The Streak goes on sale this weekend in Europe with sales in the U.S. expected in July. Unsubsidized, the device will sell for around $500 via Dell.com, although Garriques said the preferred model is to sell the device to consumers through wireless carriers. That's the model it is pursuing in the U.K. Through carrier O2, the Streak will be free with a monthly mobile broadband contract, or 429 British Pounds ($630). Among its features is a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera along with a front-facing camera for video chatting. After the onstage presentation, Garriques gave CNET an up-close look at the device and its features (see video below). CNET's Erica Ogg contributed to this report.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)