Highlighting the care that carriers will have to take over positioning MIDs, tablets, ereaders and other internet-connected devices is the Dell Streak (AKA Dell Mini 5) launch at 02 UK today.

Early this June the Dell Streak will be available across the UK at O2 stores, O2.co.uk, The Carphone Warehouse, and later in the month at Dell.co.uk. Pricing and data plans for the UK will be announced by O2 ahead of availability. Later this summer, Dell plans to make Streak available in the U.S.

Dell have previously said that a Wifi-only version will also be available via their stores.

Carphone Warehouse says: “Dell Streak: our very first tablet inch and teases “A brand new range of Tablets is coming soon to The Carphone Warehouse, starting with the brilliant Dell Streak. inch

Dell says: “DELL STREAK TABLET ENTICES PEOPLE TO WATCH, SURF, CONNECT, LISTEN, AND PLAY ON 5″ OF POWER AND PORTABILITY”

A lot of people are questioning the use of Android 1.6 but we have to remember that the Dell Streak project was started over a year ago and that an over-the-air update will be available later in the year. It will include Android 2.2 and Flash 10.1

The big question is, will people buy this as a primary phone? Naturally there will be some that are happy with that and I have to say that given my data-centric usage profile (I use voice capabilities less than once per day) it would probably work for me too but unless the Streak is priced at a bargain-bucket level, which I doubt, it will stay with that niche of primary users and a secondary, iPad-like, community of users that want a casual, secondary internet tablet device.

Personally, I’m loving the look and specifications of the Streak. I’d kill for a Streak Pro with slider keyboard and double battery life (my ideal ‘Carrypad’) but this is about as good as it’s going to get in the ‘one-handed mobile internet device’ category for now. How do you feel about it?

Via Engadget.

Key Features:

• Integrated Google Mapsâ„¢ with turn-by-turn navigation, street and satellite views. [Note: Don’t expect navigation in the rest of Europe Chippy]
• A full screen browsing experience with a 5-inch capacitive multi-touch WVGA display
• Easily integrated social media apps: Twitterâ„¢, Facebook, YouTube
• High resolution 5 MP camera, VGA front facing camera, removable battery, built-in Wi-Fi, 3G and Bluetooth connectivity options
• 2GB* of internal dedicated storage provides plenty of space to access and download Google Android Market’s many options
• Packaged with cushions made from 100 percent sustainable, compostable bamboo

Specifications:

• Android platform complete with Android Market and Dell user interface enhancements
• ARM-based Processor: Qualcomm’s powerful and efficient Snapdragon chipset and software platform with integrated 1GHz processor
• 3G + WiFi + Bluetooth
• UMTS / GPRS / EDGE class 12 GSM radio with link speeds of up to HSDPA 7.2 Mbps* / HSDPA
• 5 MP autofocus camera with dual LED flash. Easy point, shoot, and uploads to YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and more
• User accessible Micro SD expandable memory available up to 32 GB*. Store up to 42 movies* or 32,000 photos*, or 16,000 songs* with 32GB* Micro SD

More specifications and links to Dell Streak news, reviews here on our Dell Streak tracking page.

Highlighting the care that carriers will have to take over positioning MIDs, tablets, ereaders and other internet-connected devices is the Dell Streak (AKA Dell Mini 5) launch at 02 UK today.

Early this June the Dell Streak will be available across the UK at O2 stores, O2.co.uk, The Carphone Warehouse, and later in the month at Dell.co.uk. Pricing and data plans for the UK will be announced by O2 ahead of availability. Later this summer, Dell plans to make Streak available in the U.S.

Dell have previously said that a Wifi-only version will also be available via their stores.

Carphone Warehouse says: “Dell Streak: our very first tablet” and teases “A brand new range of Tablets is coming soon to The Carphone Warehouse, starting with the brilliant Dell Streak. ”

Dell says: “DELL STREAK TABLET ENTICES PEOPLE TO WATCH, SURF, CONNECT, LISTEN, AND PLAY ON 5″ OF POWER AND PORTABILITY”

A lot of people are questioning the use of Android 1.6 but we have to remember that the Dell Streak project was started over a year ago and that an over-the-air update will be available later in the year. It will include Android 2.2 and Flash 10.1

The big question is, will people buy this as a primary phone? Naturally there will be some that are happy with that and I have to say that given my data-centric usage profile (I use voice capabilities less than once per day) it would probably work for me too but unless the Streak is priced at a bargain-bucket level, which I doubt, it will stay with that niche of primary users and a secondary, iPad-like, community of users that want a casual, secondary internet tablet device.

Personally, I’m loving the look and specifications of the Streak. I’d kill for a Streak Pro with slider keyboard and double battery life (my ideal ‘Carrypad’) but this is about as good as it’s going to get in the ‘one-handed mobile internet device’ category for now. How do you feel about it?

Via Engadget.

Key Features:

• Integrated Google Maps™ with turn-by-turn navigation, street and satellite views. [Note: Don’t expect navigation in the rest of Europe – Chippy]
• A full screen browsing experience with a 5-inch capacitive multi-touch WVGA display
• Easily integrated social media apps: Twitter™, Facebook, YouTube
• High resolution 5 MP camera, VGA front facing camera, removable battery, built-in Wi-Fi, 3G and Bluetooth connectivity options
• 2GB* of internal dedicated storage provides plenty of space to access and download Google Android Market’s many options
• Packaged with cushions made from 100 percent sustainable, compostable bamboo

Specifications:

• Android platform complete with Android Market and Dell user interface enhancements
• ARM-based Processor: Qualcomm’s powerful and efficient Snapdragon chipset and software platform with integrated 1GHz processor
• 3G + WiFi + Bluetooth
• UMTS / GPRS / EDGE class 12 GSM radio with link speeds of up to HSDPA 7.2 Mbps* / HSDPA
• 5 MP autofocus camera with dual LED flash. Easy point, shoot, and uploads to YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and more
• User accessible Micro SD expandable memory available up to 32 GB*. Store up to 42 movies* or 32,000 photos*, or 16,000 songs* with 32GB* Micro SD

More specifications and links to Dell Streak news, reviews here on our Dell Streak tracking page.

In a press conference today, Intel presented their processor range for ultrathin laptops. Naturally, many of us want to know if the processors will reach down into the tablet space so I put the question forward to Mooly Eden (right.) It was given a surprising answer. Intel will disclose a special tablet solution at Computex.

Here’s the question and Mooly’s answer as an audio file.

Click to play the audio segment.

I can only assume that Mooly is talking about something in the ‘Atom’ family of processors. This could be Moorestown, Moorestown-W or perhaps, something completely new. We’ll find out next week.

It’s a question I’ve been looking for an answer to for a long time. There are plenty of tablet manufacturers that are in the dark too. Why doesn’t Google allow Android Marketplace on non-phone devices?

It’s crippled the Archos 5, the Camangi Webstation, the Compaq Airlife 100 and many other devices. There are also OEMs out there that I speak too that can’t even open a dialog with Google on the subject.

It was fairly obvious that they wanted to protect and preserve the quality of the Android experience but it has taken until now for official words to reach the surface.

Google argues that the reason it doesn’t permit tablet vendors access to Android Market just yet is to prevent devices that fail comparability tests from actually fragmenting the platform.

Google, in this case, is none-other than Mr Android, Andy Rubin who in Michael Gartenbergs good article over at Engadget appears to argue that Android is not fragmenting, it’s just a fast developing environment that leaves older products in its wake and it’s up to everyone else to keep up. To me, it sounds like BS because 1 you’ve got a native code development kit that could break apps left right and center. 2 There are lamps, flashlights and screen sizes that have already broken compatibility. I have a Sony Ericsson X10-specific app that toggles the flashlight. 3 There are switches in the marketplace that try (and often fail) to prevent fragmentation and incompatibility reaching customers and 4 How can they say that when they’ve just introduced a huge element of fragmentation Google TV – a non-smartphone platform that uses a completely different set of silicon with a different instruction set. Fragmentation is already there.

As a customer, I find this ‘keep up’ message rather worrying although to be fair to Google, there aren’t any quotes from Andy Rubin to go on here and Gartenberg may have just spinned this message. To customers, fragmentation is real. Customers live in the wake of product development. Products may be released every six months but that doesn’t mean that all the old products are thrown away. Google needs to make sure it keeps up the pace of innovation but not so fast that the customer is left with a pocketful of six-month old products that are considered ‘old.’ Micheal Gartenberg picks up on this:

I’d argue perhaps Android isn’t fragmented, at least according to the classical definition, but that the practical result is the same. Devices going obsolete in months and new operating systems released on weekly cycles make it difficult for even Google’s best partners to keep pace. Worse, users care onfronted with a dizzying array of devices, many of which are out of sync from a software perspective at the time of purchase — causing some to delay purchases in fear of buyer’s remorse or purchase a competing platform.

Listen, I don’t mind fragmentation. I think it comes with the territory and I think it’s something dev’elopers will always have to consider. Sure, it would be nice to have one set of hardware but where would that leave us! Why doesn’t Andy Rubin just admit it it’s fragmented, that’s the way it will always be, it will get worse, deal with it. A non-fragmented Android is simply not possible any more.

Having got that out of the way, let us consider the marketplace for non-smartphone devices. Do Google consider tablets, MIDs, smart-books and related products to be a big market? With only one product out of hundreds actually having success and even then, only selling 1 million units you have to agree that it’s not exactly a proven market yet. These are niche categories right now and probably wouldn’t be big enough to support any large-scale business plan. The second consideration is, assuming Google do want to move forward with non-smartphone devices, how do they do it.

What devices are we talking about?

Tablets, navigation devices, ebook readers, slider handhelds, smart-books, cameras, gaming devices and a whole range of gadgets and gizmos that could benefit from a marketplace. [Sidenote: I’m looking forward to the day when a medium range digital camera is released with an ‘Nexus-One Back’ and access to all the hardware features. Can you imagine the applications that could be written!]

Solutions

There are three ways I see that Google could move forward. 1) Create multiple marketplaces. 2) Let the devices talk to marketplace so that incompatible apps can be removed from view 3) let the users provide feedback and the ability to remove down-graded apps from view and promote apps that are proven to work.

Of course, Google could also do nothing and let competitors like MeeGo and WebOS take up the strain. 3rd party Android marketplaces also have an opportunity.

Summary.

It looks like it will happen. Non-smartphone devices will get a real Marketplace. Obviously Google are considering it and when I see tweets from people like James Kendrick,  the GigaOM employee that was given a Nexus One running Android 2.2 before the Google IO conference saying “Android is getting ready for a serious run into the tablet space. Mark my words. inch then I have to assume he knows somethin that we don’t and that there’s work going on right now.

Dell are working on the Looking Glass and Huawei on the Smakit S7. There’s even a Wifi-only  Dell Mini 5 / Streak planned. These companies have experience with Google Android and they know the value of Marketplace. They also know what Google will require of them so I doubt they will be planning tablets without knowing that marketplace is going to happen for tablets soon. Look to the release dates of these products for clues about Marketplace for non-smartphone devices.

Fragmentation in Android IS happening and developers need to get used to it. Mr Rubin needs developers and will do everything he can to placate them in discussions about fragmentation but the truth is that it’s going to get harder to develop for Android in the future. Consumers, on the other hand, can look forward to some interesting developments soon. Computex, next week, should be an eye opener.

I’ve always imagined the Apple iPad to be one of the easiest purchases a Dad could make. It looks good (no more ugly laptops on the coffee table,) it can be used for multi-player games (something to bring the family together) and it can be used around the house (no more being stuck in the broom-cupboard with the family desktop.) Naturally the price can also be justified (have you seen how expensive those new coffee machines are and a BluRay player, PS3 or Wii isn’t ‘that much’ cheaper. Even smartphones are more expensive over 2 years.) With its relatively large-format text and screen, simple user interface, loungey two-handed usage and access to music, books and films from the device itself,  it’s difficult to imagine the device selling to anywhere else other than the living room. Apart from the tech bloggers, apple fans, the rich, early adopters, journalists, developers,  and businesspeople who also had a reason to get in early of course.

Thanks to TouchMeMobile who kindly did a short-term swap on this iPad for a Viliv S10 we’ve been testing at UMPCPortal. You’ll find the Viliv S10 articles here. (German)

I’ve had the iPad for a little over a week and have been experimenting. I compared it with an Archos 5 to see where it overlaps and testing different usage scenarios. In between, the iPad has been where it is likely to live for most people, in the living space near the TV and remote controls and among what I regard to be an average European family.

Firstly, I should say that the iPad was exactly what I expected. It looks great but is relatively heavy (especially for a tablet that doesn’t have a stand.) It is built with stylish materials that aren’t ideal for hand-holding and it has a user interface that puts all others to shame. The app-store is exciting and the battery seems to last forever.  It’s clear that the touch user interface provides the main excitement though and this is where the ‘magic’ is. I liken the feeling to using an Air-Hockey game. Fluid, physical and somehow detached from the real world. It really connects the device to the user in a natural way.

The iPad was used around my home for about a week and initially, everyone was keen to use it. The game Godfinger featured heavily as did web browsing which was as fast as almost any 700gm device I’ve tested. It was used for a small amount of ‘twittering’ and email too but in the end, that usage model, and anything else that involved my private data and accounts didn’t work in the family scenario. It turns out that multiple users aren’t really well catered-for on the iPad which really goes against the grain of how I see the iPad being used.

After a few days, in a family that has a number of netbooks lying around, the iPad usage faded away. My daughter, 9, uses the netbook once or twice a week to collect and print images of her favorite Disney stars and to browse videos in Clipfish or catch up on ‘Popstars’ via the TV station’s website – all flash-driven videos.  Clearly, printing and flash websites don’t work on an iPad. We’re not big electronic gamers (the Xbox is only used as a media player and DVD player and we’ve never had to tell our daughter to ‘leave that damn Nintendo alone for a minute’ ) and we don’t read e-books for hours on end (magazines, TV and books still feature heavily in our living room.) Short messaging and emails are generally done on phones (SMS still rules in Europe and there’s that personalisation issue to think about again) so I’m left wondering what the iPad would be used for. After a game of Jenga yesterday (try simulating that on the iPad!) while digital radio played in the background via our basic cable subscription, I realised that this family, despite its tech-journalist father, is just not aligned the way Steve Jobs would like and I’m imagining that the same scenario will occur right across Europe when the iPad launches leaving just the aforementioned early adopters buying.

I see where the ‘magic’ is coming from and I see that the iPad is a beautiful purchase. It’s an exciting experimental platform and connected entertainment device; I’d love to have one lying on the sofa or coffee table. Many will accuse me of not seeing the bigger picture too but, as so many people have written before, the iPad doesn’t have a unique usage case TODAY that can be used to lever a purchase TODAY. I can’t justify it.

You might think that a web site called ‘Carrypad’ is heavily pro-tablet but although we love choice, lightweight computing and sofa-surfing, we’re acutely aware of the issues of size, weight and software keyboards. Many tablets overcome the issues by being flexible in terms of connectivity or by being extremely mobile but the iPad doesn’t even do that so at 700gm / 1.5lb, I have to say that this time, Mr Jobs, you went too far in your quest for form over function and missed the mark for a general use media, web and entertainment tablet. You might have created enough marketing magic for the U.S. market and a number of ‘advanced’ European markets (UK, NL, Italy perhaps) but in the very weak Euro/Pound zone right now, where value and privacy are often concerns and where prices are very high compared to netbooks and where marketing doesn’t work as it does in the U.S, penetration isn’t going to be high.

Drop the size to 7 inch and the weight to sub 400gm, open up the connectivity so that we don’t have to treat the iPad as a PC accessory and lower the price by 200 Euro, add a docking station and I think a lot more people would be able to justify it but as it is, my EU sales predictions stay as they are. Touching the iPad didn’t really change my mind.

Notes made in first 5 minutes:

• Beautiful
• Pre-set up not needed (as this is a loan device that has been pre-configured)
• Wife’s first comment ‘too big’ followed shortly after switch-on by ‘is that for us? I want one.’
• First touch reminds me of a pinball machine.
• Web, fast!
• Email is nice
• Weight too heavy
• Slippery when dry
• Initial pics taken on camera SD card placed in netbook

Other thoughts.

• Enjoyed browsing. At last sub 10-second browsing on an ARM-based device.
• User interface a joy.
• Materials high quality but not built for use.
• Notifications system Well implemented apps need to catch up
• Flexibility Poor. Transferring files. Connectivity. Productivity. Hardly the Swiss Army Knife of tablets
• Weight poor.
• Keyboard very good technically. Few usage scenarios due to weight, lack of stand.
• Price Acceptable for a web/gaming device
• Most interesting usage scenario highly interactive musical instruments and musical experimentation.
• Battery life good

Wife’s final comment: Good for eyes, not for the back. (Followed by joke about ‘eye-pad’)

Not one, not two and not even three items of internet device news to update you on today. I’ve got no less than five news items here!

Lets start with Dell who’s leader, Mr. Dell, has provided an update on the Mini 5. According to reports, he’s let it be know that the Dell Mini 5 is coming to Telefonica O2 in June and to AT&T in the summer. The source article from EWeek is littered with incorrect information but the important info is that it is very close. Telefonica O2 operate in Spain (where they are launching the Android-powered Compaq Airlife 100 and have a big presence in Germany and UK amongst other countries where they have proven to be quite the progressive carrier in terms of advanced internet devices. Low data prices and multi-SIM options should really help the Dell Mini 5 to get off the ground. I’m expecting a 500 Euro SIM-free price but as yet, we have no real pricing indication.

While the Dell looks to provide the complete Google and voice experience, that’s not the case with the Archos 7 Home Tablet that has just been reviewed by Engadget’s Joanna Stern. At under 200 Euro it’s not quite targeted at the same usage model too. I’m encouraged to hear Joanna talk about a useful form factor but it seems to have been wasted somewhat because there’s no auto, or even manual rotation into portrait mode. Battery life looks good but as we’d expect with an ARM9-powered device, performance is not stunning. Here’s an educated guess you’ll be waiting three times as long for a web page to load compared to the iPad. Casual mobile web browsing, Google Reader and eBooks, video payback, photo viewing, podcast-catching and maybe even a little bit of casual gaming will be possible though and if you can add a portable keyboard, it would make a perfect emergency or travel device. Engadget Review

Lets turn to a device that might be a little more difficult to get hold of now. It’s the very interesting Sharp IS01 clamshell-style, 5 inch Android device. Like the Archos 7 above, it doesn’t have the Google Marketplace so Sharp are trying to seed some applications through their own SDK and a preview version of the device. The final version of the IS01 was due later in the year.

Pocketables have news today that not only is the SDK version ready but the final product will ship much sooner than expected. As soon as next month. While the device is targeted at the Japanese KDDI network, it is possible that some unlocked versions get through as imports and if that happens it will be great to be able to try a high-powered clamshell design using Android.

A device that has completely slipped us by here at Carrypad is something I’m imagining the Archos Gen 8 devices (due summer 2010) will look like. Clearly focused on home media and having a very interesting docking station, 3G and what looks like a capacitive screen, the Huawei Smakit s7 could be competition for the Dell Looking Glass. I’m assuming that Huawei are looking for customers for this though so it’s unlikely that we’ll see it soon but we’ll keep it high on the list as we cruise Computex in June.

BT have announced that they are getting into the home tablet game. The UK-based company broke the news at their strategy day. Apparently the device will be able to take calls, sms’ and will show weather and perform other functions. It will be smaller than the iPad and bigger than an iPhone. To us, it sounds like BT might have lined up to take the Intel Moorestown-powered Open Peek OpenTablet. Watch and wait.

Finally today, I want to highlight that the SmartQ V7, a slightly more powerful version of the Smart Q7 I reviewed,  is about to be launched in Android 2.1 form. Android has been running on the device via firmware updates for a while now but a new Android 2.1 release is due soon. The device, an ARM11-based tablet with a 7 inch resistive touchscreen, should be available in the next few weeks from Eletroworld priced at $230. Expect a similar experience to the Archos 7 Home Tablet although there’s potential for some nice hacks from the busy Smart Q7 community. We should be getting one for review soon after they become available.

That’s it for now. Hope it gives you something to think about at the weekend. Let us know if you have any thoughts on the above.

My apologies to anyone who got excited when we posted our last article about Archos 7 Home Tablet availability. It turned out to be, as we suspected, a trick by an online retailer. (Mental note: Never link to these chancers again!)

In a U.S. press release last week (PDF), Archos announced that the Tablet will be available mid-May.

The ARCHOS 7 home tablet will be available in June at $199.99 SRP through selected
retailers. Exclusive pre-orders are available at Amazon.com, with product shipping mid May.

Review devices have obviously gone out. Engadget have one for testing and UK newspaper The Independent has its mini review up already.

I’m getting the impression that the Archos 7 Home Tablet is going to be a bubble-wrapped tablet hanging on hooks at point of sale. Android 1.5 (really?) is on board and apparently there’s no plan to upgrade the OS. Built-in USB 2.0 helps for attaching accessories and apparently the stereo speakers are good enough for in-crowd use. Touchscreen quality sounds just like the Archos 5 resistive.

When it comes to the touch screen browsing don’t expect an iPad-like experience. There is no multi-touch support and the onscreen input often felt slow and unresponsive. There is also no support for Flash.

At 149 Euro for the 2GB model, if it provides a acceptable HQ video experience along with ereading, basic web browsing and audio, it’s good value and could make the perfect online Google Reader device but please don’t expect a swift web experience, rich video experience and anything like an iPad UI experience.

Via Ndevil , TouchMeMobile and Slashgear.

In press events on Tuesday, Intel launched Moorestown and gave journalists their full marketing package on the smartphone and tablet-focused platform.  The key highlight was ‘performance’ and one element I want to focus on is Web browsing.

In tests I’ve been doing with many devices over the last 6 months using the SunSpider javascript benchmark, the Atom CPU, running at 1.3Ghz, whips the A4 CPU into the ground with a >3X speed advantage. Moorestown, with its 1.5Ghz clock looks to improve that to a 4x speed advantage according to the slide below. That’s a huge win for web-based applications implemented in AJAX.

Of course, javascript is only a component of the total time needed to fetch and render the average web page so I decided to do a real world test.

To simulate how Moorestown would perform under web-browsing conditions I took the Intel Atom-based Viliv X70, a 7 inch tablet with a 1024×600 7 inch touchscreen running Windows XP Home, installed the latest Google Chrome, locked the CPU to 800Mhz and did some random web browsing tests. Remember that the Menlow platform used in the X70 is very close to the architecture used on Moorestown. The CPU are GPU are architecturally almost exactly the same. I side-by-sided it with an iPad which is, according to my tests with the Archos 5, X10 and HTC Desire (all running high-end ARM V7 architecture cores) the fastest ARM-based browser solution out there.

The video below shows that the browsing speed with the Viliv at 800Mhz is almost neck and neck. An 800Mhz Atom on a multi-tasking OS matches a 1Ghz A4 on a single-tasting OS. Ignore the UI and product, this is just a test of web page loading speed.

In the second part of the video I boosted the Atom CPU up to 1.3Ghz, the maximum on this platform, to simulate what would happen when a Moorestown smartphone ran at the highest clock-rate of 1.5Ghz. Remember the CPU and GPU architectures in Menlow and Moorestown are the same although Moorestown has a 200Mhz advantage here, can support faster memory and has a faster GPU clock.

The difference is very noticeable with the X70 rendering pages much more quickly, even with Flash enabled. Move to Firefox and disable flash and the difference is even bigger.

I see real-world advantages here. Faster, full Internet experience and a huge advantage for web-based applications and compressed or encoded content although it has to be said that in this high CPU-load scenario, battery drain on the Moorestown platform is likely to be slightly (although not considerably) more.

Remember, we’re ONLY comparing CPU platforms here and in this simulation, the Moorestown platform is showing great potential. It can deliver web pages, process script, decrypt HTTPS, GZIP and images much faster than the best ARM-based solution out there. It also adds multitasking and large memory support too. As a platform, if it delivers on the battery life claims, Moorestown is going to be a great, high-performance smartphone, tablet and even netbook option.

Recommended reading – Why social netbooks have a ‘lock-in’ opportunity. In this article I talk about key features of a smartbook. Many of these apply to a Moorestown/MeeGo-based product.

Recommended reading Anandtech on Moorestown. Detailed with good background research and knowledge.