Unlocked Dell Streaks coming with Froyo, new Colors

I think on of the major issues with the Dell Streak and why it has not taken off is because of running a very old OS Android 1.6. The device itself, while it is large and a little unsightly holding to your ear on a phone call has excellent build quality and design. If you are part of the group waiting for the Dell Streak to finally get some Froyo goodness, then you are in luck. Dell.com is now shipping unlocked Dell Streaks equipped with Froyo! Android 2.2 can be yours for $579 to Customers in the United States.

Also announced is the two colors we heard about during the launch at the D8 Conference. The Dell Streak will now be available in Cherry Red and Pure White:

The Cherry Red version will be available at Dell.com and the Pure White will exclusively be available at Best Buy only. Since none of the Carriers like AT&T which were strongly rumored to support this device ever jumped on board, it is good to see Best Buy get the goods on the ever popular white version. But wait, here is the kicker to the Dell Streak version in Cherry Red and Pure White, yep, you guessed it. They will both come with Android 1.6. (I’ll pause here while everyone wonders WTF is up with that?)  So what about the updates?

Yeah, so about those updates that current, and getting angrier Dell Streak owners  have been waiting for? Dell has clarified that the Streak updates for Froyo will be rolling out in two phases. Phase one, and yes you guessed this right tool, is currently being rolled out in Europe and phase two will be rolling our here in the United States for SIM Locked to a Carrier device owners in December. From Lionel at Dell:

About the Froyo OTA update

Everything I’ve said up to this point applies to customers who want to buy an unlocked version of a new Streak in the United States. I know there’s a lot of existing customers out there who want to run Froyo too. In case you missed it, in her post, Amy mentioned that we’re handling the OTA upgrade in two phases. Right now, we’re still rolling it out in Phase I, which are customers who purchased unlocked Streaks outside the United States.

Phase II is when we will roll out to units that are SIM-locked to a carrier. All Streaks sold in the United States up to this point fall into that category. Bottom line, like Amy mentioned, we continue to work with carriers for technical approval and we expect to roll out the Froyo OTA upgrade to Phase II customers later in December.

The bottom line for me on the Dell Streak is that this is a really nice device. I think it is a daily driver device with some concessions on size, most of which overcome with a Bluetooth headset of course, but for staying connected, the large screen really make the email and social media connection a really nice experience.

Stay tuned, we’ll keep you posted on more developments on the Dell Streak along with a review of the device in the next few days.

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