Update: If you were thinking of getting the off-contract version of the Dell Streak to use with your carrier of choice, we've got some bad news. Your $549 will 'not' get you an unlocked device; it will still be SIM-locked to AT&T.

It took a bit longer than expected but Dell's finally ready to start selling its five-inch Android mobile internet device stateside. It will be up for pre-order on August 12, for $300 with a two-year AT&T data plan or $550 unlocked, and shipments should begin a day later. Described as a tablet by the company, the Streak has all the communications features you'd expect from a smartphone, including Wi-Fi, 3G connectivity, Bluetooth, and GPS.

Besides the large multi touch display, other specs include a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 5-megapixel camera with dual-LED flash and a VGA front-facing camera for video conferencing, and 2GB of built-in storage expandable up to 32GB via microSD cards. The one major weakness for now is that the Dell Streak will be shipping with Android 1.6. An update to version 2.2 ("Froyo") with 720p video recording support is expected by the end of the year.


The Dell Streak may not be the most pocketable phone out there, but for those who find themselves doing a lot data-related stuff on their phones it might hit the sweet spot between smartphones and tablets with larger screens.