It’s been a long courtship, but Dell has finally found a match made in Heaven for its Streak mini-tablet and combination smartphone, with Optus set to launch the device in Australia with a three month exclusive starting from October 1.

One of a number of tablet devices based on Google’s Android operating system slated to hit Australia over the next six months, the Streak attracted a substantial level of interest from consumers when Dell started demonstrating it to local journalists several months ago.

Since that time, it has been overshadowed by Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, which the company yesterday announced would launch in November this year through all of Australia’s mobile carriers.

However in a statement released this morning, Dell revealed it would upstage the Tab by flagging the October release of what it billed as “the first Android tablet device to be launched in Australia”. The tablet will be available for zero dollars upfront through Optus on a $59 monthly contract. 2GB of download quota, unlimited national SMS & MMS messages and up to $550 worth of calls will be included in the plan.

The Streak – which, with its 5” screen is smaller than the Tab at 7” – will also sell for significantly less than the Samsung device on a standalone basis. The Tab will be priced at an outright price of $999, whereas the Streak will be available for $649.

The Streak will also be available on $49, $79 and $99 monthly plans, including 1GB, 2GB and 3GB of mobile data respectively and increasing amounts of mobile phone calls. Optus also throws in unlimited mobile access to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, eBay, Four Square and MySpace on its mobile network.

“We’re very excited about the Dell Streak coming to Optus and providing such a unique device to our customer base. The Optus Open Network is the perfect medium for people to experience the full functionality of a tablet, such as the Dell Streak,” said Austin R. Bryan, director of Optus’ Digital Media division.

Ron Garriques, president of Dell’s Communication Solutions division, said his company had “found a way to fit Australians’ whole world in a five inch screen”.

“Dell believes its entry into the mobility market in Australia will be best leveraged by the Dell Streak. It is not only the first Android-based tablet to be launched in Australia, but it is also a unique size and capable of delivering both a rich multimedia and voice experience on an Android platform,” added Matt Telfer, Dell Australia’s general manager for Indirect and Telecommunications Channels.

The Streak’s display is a 5” WVGA capacitive touchscreen featuring multi-touch capability and a 800×480 resolution. The device also features a 5 megapixel camera on its back, an additional camera on the front for video calling, a removable battery and built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and mobile calling and broadband functionality. It has 2GB of internal storage and comes with an additional 16GB storage card.

Under the hood, the tablet runs Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon processor, and it supports mobile broadband speeds of up to 7.2Mbps.

In Dell’s statement, Foad Fadaghi, research director at analyst firm Telsyte said the company was seeing strong interest from consumers in tablet computing devices — with 28 percent of those polled in recent research indicating a desire to acquire one of the new class of devices. And it doesn’t stop there.

“Thirty per cent of ICT business decision-makers indicated they intend to adopt tablet computing within the next three years, while this figure grows to 40 per cent in larger enterprises,” said Fadaghi.

The education sector is particularly interested in tablets — schools and universities right around Australia have jumped headfirst into trials of Apple’s hyped iPad tablet since it launched in Australia in May, as they rush to discover exactly what the device’s use will be in the educational field.

Image credit: Dell

Related posts:

1. Video: Dell Streak flashmob takes over Circular Quay
2. Dell won’t talk Australian mobiles, tablets
3. Optus hints at Android-based tablets
4. Telstra unveils Android tablet
5. Optus launches Android tablet duo for Xmas

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1. decryption
   Posted 24/09/2010 at 9:20 am | Permalink | Reply

   Two things wrong with the Dell Streak:

   1. Can’t buy it outright from the Dell AU website.
   2. Running Android 1.6, goddamn ancient!

   Otherwise it’s an interesting device. When/if/how I can get Android 2.1 on there, I’d love to pick one up for shits and giggles.

   • Renai LeMay
     Posted 24/09/2010 at 10:48 am | Permalink | Reply

     I agree on both counts. I’d buy this, but I don’t want to part ways with Telstra’s Next G network to do so. Secondly, the device clearly needs to be upgraded to Froyo. It’s open source software, FFS — it should be easy to do so. Surely there are a few hacks out there to allow it?

     The Snapdragon CPU is particularly attractive for me — my iPhone 3G’s CPU is dying ;)

     • Darryl Adams
       Posted 24/09/2010 at 2:07 pm | Permalink | Reply

       The Pioneer $199 tablet comes a lot more appealing, with no lock in and the same OS (I agree, 1.6 is a non starter)

       • RoboticButtocks
         Posted 24/09/2010 at 4:28 pm | Permalink | Reply

         Funny, I forgot about them . Just went to their site and giggled at their Dell-like interface. Woooah, they got a Tegra2 pad real cheap. Wonder if it’s in stock.

2. PointZeroOne
   Posted 24/09/2010 at 11:53 am | Permalink | Reply

   Dell have said all along that they’d release it with 1.6 and then quickly up date it to 2.2 There has even been vids of it running 2.2 from Dell

3. Me
   Posted 24/09/2010 at 1:51 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Nice headline Renai. You’ll be subbing for the NT News in no time :)

   • RoboticButtocks
     Posted 24/09/2010 at 4:29 pm | Permalink | Reply

     Being Optus you could also insert the obligatory NT / Optus crocodile image

   • Renai LeMay
     Posted 24/09/2010 at 5:43 pm | Permalink | Reply

     Why thank you :)

4. Tobias
   Posted 27/09/2010 at 11:39 pm | Permalink | Reply

   It’s not a tablet, it’s a giant phone. And I feel fully justified in saying that, because it actually is a phone. As in, you hold all five inches of it up to your head to take calls. And then people laugh at you. Derisively.

   • Flash
     Posted 13/11/2010 at 1:32 am | Permalink | Reply

     I don’t even hold my Nokia E71 up to my head to make calls, I either use the built in loudspeaker or the Bluetooth.

5. Jan
   Posted 08/10/2010 at 8:29 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Hello, Mugen Power just released the 4800mAH Extended Battery for for Dell Streak,

   it should be last triple time with 1 charge than the stock battery!

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U7zM91VSgY

   http://mugen.hk/mugen-power-4800mah-extended-battery-for-dell-streak-m01m.html

6. Neil
   Posted 12/10/2010 at 9:00 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Why put it to yr head? Haven’t you heard of those ear thingies???