Dell Unveils Streak Tablet With T-Mobile

Dell has quietly entered the race with its new launch at CES show, the Dell Streak 7, a 7-inch tablet PC. The tablet is branded by T-Mobile and to date is the first 4G tablet which comes to T-Mobile.

The company also unveiled another 10-inch tablet, but no specifications were given during the event. Also Dell launched Dell Venue smartphone which will run on Google Android 2.2 OS, and which features 4.1-inch AMOLED screen, 16GB onboard storage, 8 mega-pixel camera, Qualcomm Snapdargon 1GHz processor and 512MB of RAM.

However, Dell’s new 7-inch tablet would have to show its worth among other 7-inch tablets that are already gaining a foothold in the tablet PC world. Dell Streak 7 has to face off with Samsung Galaxy Tab, BlackBerry Playbook, Archos 70, ViewSonic ViewPad 7 and OpenPeak’s Open Tablet 7.

Previously Apple’s Steve Job had commented about 7-inch tablets, stating that “Commenting on avalanche of tablets heading to market. Just a handful of credible entrants. Almost all use 7 screen, compared to iPad at nearly 10 screen. 7 screen is only 45% as large as iPad's screen. Hold an iPad in portrait view and draw a horizontal line halfway down. What's left is a 7 screen...too small. There are clear limits to how close elements can be on the screen before users can't touch accurately. We believe 10-inch screen is minimum necessary.” But that may not be true as Samsung Galaxy Tab had a good reception among the consumers. Also rumors are a buzz about Apple’s own 7-inch tablet on its way.

Dell Streak 7 features 7-inch WVGA (TFT) touch screen display with Gorilla Glass (Gorilla Glass material provides up to 4 times breakage resistance), Android 2.2 (Froyo) with Android Market, 512 MB RAM, dual- core 1Ghz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, internal memory of 16 GB and SD Card slot with support for expandable memory up to 32 GB, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Adobe Flash Player and a built-in front-facing 1.3-megapixel webcam along with 5 mega-pixel auto focus with flash. And the tablet weighs at 450 g and although Dell did not reveal the price of the new tablet, but the company has said the tablet would carry a “very consumer friendly price.” The tablet is can be expected in Q1. Apart from this, the tablet comes with a massive 2,780mAh battery.

Dell is eyeing a larger audience for its new Dell Streak 7 as John Thode, man who manages Dell’s handset device group, said: We want to be able to fly from New York to Los Angeles and be able to watch a whole movie without a battery recharge.” The tablet will also consist of T-Mobile TV and Qik Video Chat (video calling service). Also the tablet will be pre-loaded with entertainment and communication software.

Dell Streak’s direct competitor would be Samsung Galaxy Tab 4G version which features Android 2.2 OS, 7-inch WSVGA (1024X600) 169ppi TFT display, weighs at 380 g, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, 1.2 GHz Humming Bird processor, 4,000 mAh with 7 hours movie play, 512MB RAM and internal storage of 16GB and 32GB plus support of microSD up to 32GB . Samsung has upgraded its processor from 1 GHz to 1.2 GHz and also camera to 5 mega-pixel, the rear camera and a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera. And Verizon will be the official carrier for this new tablet unlike T-Mobile which had the previous version. No word was uttered about pricing and tablet is coming to Verizon real soon. The previous version tablet’s price was dropped to $349 and $499 with different carriers respectively.

RIM’s tablet Playbook comes in different storage versions like 8GB, 16GB,32GB and 64GB. And the 4G tablet has 7-inch display (1024 x 600 pixels), the BlackBerry Tablet OS (QNX), 1GHz Cortex-A9 dual core processor, 1GB RAM, a 3 mega-pixel camera and a 5 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n) support and weighs in at 400 g. The Playbook is expected to have a battery life of more than 6 hours and will be priced under $500. And the tablet will be released in Q1 around February. The rumored price range is 8 GB for $399, 16 GB for $499 and 32 GB for $599.

Archos 70 internet tablet from Archos is no small player at all. It has got killer features with very competitive price. The tablet features 7'' TFT LCD WVGA 800 x 480 pixels display, Android 2.2 (Froyo), ARM Cortex A8 at 1 GHz processor with DSP, front facing VGA camera , 8 GB flash memory + Micro SD Slot (SDHC compatible) also comes 250 GB hard drive version, video playback up to 720p, WiFi (802.11 b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1 EDR and has Lithium polymer battery with a video playback up to 7 hours. The 8GB version will cost $275 and weighs 300 g whereas and 250 GB will cost you $349.99 and weighs 400 g. Both the versions are already available in retail stores, the 250 GB version was released on December 29 2010.

Another 7-inch 3.5G tablet that has good features is Viewsonic’s ViewPad 7. The ViewPad 7 has Android 2.2, 7-inch capacitive multi-touch screen with 800×480 pixels resolution, 480p video playback, 512MB internal memory along 512MB NAND Flash and micro SD expandability up to 32GB, Qualcomm MSM7227 ARM11 processor with 600MHz speed, weighs 380 g , Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.1+ EDR, front camer of 0.3 megapixel along with rear camera of 3 megapixel auto focus, Li-Polymer 3240mAH battery gives 6 hours of heavy continuous use with 60 hrs standby time. The tablet is available for purchase and is priced at $599.

And another 3G tablet that sure has Intel’s next generation 1.9GHz Moorestown processor is OpenPeak's Open Tablet 7. The tablet also features 7-inch capacitive LCD, 1080p front-facing camera and a 5 megapixel shooter around back, Android 2.2 OS, 2GB of memory between 8GB and 64GB of flash-based storage, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR. The battery of the tablet is expected to last nearly 8 to 10 hours and it weighs close to 520 g. And the tablet is expected to be launched during Q1 2011 through AT&T.

Here is the comparison table of the above mentioned tablet PCs: