Dell’s Streak tablet set for Aug. 13 release

After delays, Dell Corp.’s highly anticipated Streak mobile Internet device will finally ship on Thursday to customers in the U.S.

Earlier this week, Dell said it would begin shipping the product on Aug. 12 to select customers, and make it widely available on Friday.

The Streak — described as a tablet by the company — has a 5-inch screen and smartphone features for users to make calls. The device will be available through AT&T for a starting price of US$299.99 with a new two-year smartphone contract. The device is priced at $549.99 without a contract, and will also be available on Dell’s website. 

Dell first announced that it would ship the tablet in the U.S. starting in late July. However, the company delayed the shipment date without any explanation, leaving potential buyers unhappy. The tablet is already available in the U.K.

The company has described Streak as hitting the “sweet spot” between smartphones and tablets with larger screens. This 5-inch screen will provide a better multimedia viewing experience than traditional smartphones, the company said. Smartphones already come with screens in the 4-inch range. Motorola recently launched the Droid X, which sports a 4.3-inch display, and HTC announced the Evo 4G smartphone, which also includes a 4.3-inch screen.

The Streak comes with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor, running at 1GHz, and Google’s Android 1.6 OS. The OS will be upgraded over-the-air to Android 2.2 later this year, a company spokesman said. 

It includes a 5-megapixel high-resolution digital camera, and Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity capabilities. The device offers 3G connectivity through HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) networks.

It also includes a Micro SD slot for expandable storage of up to 32GB. It will include 2GB of internal storage, and users will have access to the Google Android Market to download applications.