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iPad Competitors: Kindle to Remain Focused on Reading While Dell Announces Streak Mini-Tablet

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154737-kindle_bookshelf.jpg


Amazon Kindle
A pair of announcements from Apple's competitors are making the rounds today, headlined by comments from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos revealing that the Kindle will remain focused on the e-reading market for now rather than branching out into multi-purpose devices like the iPad.
"The Kindle will compete with these LCD devices like the iPad by being a very focused product," Bezos said at the meeting, which was webcast. "Serious readers are going to want a purpose-built device, because it's an important activity for them."
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When pressed on when consumers might be able to expect a color Kindle, Bezos noted that competitive color displays using the E Ink technology found in the Kindle are "still some ways out", indicating the company does not plan to move to LCD display technology.

Speculation regarding Amazon's future Kindle plans has been stoked by the company's release of a software development kit to allow developers to create applications for the platform and by its recent acquisition of Touchco, a company specializing in multi-touch technology.


154737-dell_streak.jpg


Dell Streak
Meanwhile, Dell today officially announced the Streak, a 5-inch mini-tablet running Google's Android operating system. A prototype of the Dell Streak was shown off at CES back in January, with the company now revealing that the device will initially launch in the United Kingdom early next month.

Dell has partnered with wireless carrier O2 to provide service for the device there, although device and data plan pricing have yet to be announced. The Streak is scheduled to come to the United States "later this summer".
The Dell Streak is a hybrid device that lives in the space between a smartphone and other larger tablets or netbooks that you might be using right now. We designed it to provide a wide range of users flexibility to do what they need with a mobile device.
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With a 5-inch display carrying an 800 x 480 resolution, Dell positions the device has having a significantly better video and browsing experience than most smartphones. While the Streak may carry a physically larger display than a smartphone, those devices are increasingly coming with higher pixel densities that match or exceed the Streak, as the Motorola Droid shipped last fall with an 854 x 480 display and the next-generation iPhone's display has been rumored to offer as high as a 960 x 680 display.

The Dell Streak will also offer a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with autofocus and flash, front-facing camera for future video chat functionality, microSD slot, 3G/Wi-Fi/Bluetooth connectivity, and a user-replaceable battery.

Article Link: iPad Competitors: Kindle to Remain Focused on Reading While Dell Announces Streak Mini-Tablet
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2010/05/25/ipad-competitors-kindle-to-remain-focused-on-reading-while-dell-announces-streak-mini-tablet/
Seriously a mini-tablet.. That is just an oversized phone. (In this case it is actually true). They called it a tablet to soak up some iPad hype.

Good Luck with that Dell...
 
Hi,

The streak looks too small to be an iPad competitor. It just looks like a larger touch, zune, or smart phone.

s.
 
Wow, Dell breaking away from Microsoft on a consumer product! I know they've had an on-again, off-again relationship with Red Hat - but that's been more in the server space (FWIW I used to run Red Hat 7, 8, and 9 on an Inspiron laptop before I switched to Mac).

This 5" screen size is right about where I'd like such a device to be, actually. I'll have to check this out - although I'd prefer a similar-sized iPad.
 
Not surprised Amazon is focusing on just reading with the Kindle. I don't think they would EVER be able to come close to the usefulness/coolness of an iPad. So they might as well make the "just reading" experience as best as it can be. They might think about lowering their prices, though...Kindles seem very high now compared to an iPad, when you consider reading is ALL they do...

The Streak??? Seriously???
That just looks really sad.....
 
5 inches is a weird size. It's too big to be super portable, yet too small for a true tablet experience. I'll be really surprised if it lasts.

Remember when Dell tried to beat the iPod with the Dell DJ? I had one of those back in the day before I ever owned an iPod.
 
Dell Streak = thick lump of black plastic
Kindle = one trick pony

Apple must be sleeping soundly.
 
Rojo said:
Not surprised Amazon is focusing on just reading with the Kindle. I don't think they would EVER be able to come close to the usefulness/coolness of an iPad. So they might as well make the "just reading" experience as best as it can be. They might think about lowering their prices, though...Kindles seem very high now compared to an iPad, when you consider reading is ALL they do...
Click to expand...

Good points. Kindle, I think, is better than the iPad at pure reading, and there could very well be a market for readers only, with light, light text-emphasis browsing. But only if the price was substantially lower than an iPad. Otherwise, most consumers would trade off for a more versatile device with only just a little bit more.
 
The streak seems to compete more with the ipod touch as a device you carry around in your house or at school/college. For walking around the city nobody uses an ipod touich I guess because then its better to have an iphone.

The streak seems to be for the people who think the ipad is too large.

IMHO this may be a very small market that gets eaten up by the iphone and the ipad from both sides.

nevertheless i hope it comes with WebOS from palm and a good feature set. Competition and more choices help us all.
 
we have dell everything at work (apart from important stuff like servers)
and its ****! all of it utter crap

never been a fan of dell or its wanky driver download page
 
ThunderSkunk said:
Wow, so Dell's got... an ipod touch.

Brilliant!
Click to expand...

In all respect, other than size there isn't much difference between the wifi iPad and the iPod touch.

Already though, Dell has screwed up. I just don't like the idea of there being 3 different sized models, personally. This one we're seeing is too small, imo. They really should have just released an iPad-sized one, and kept it at that.
 
Dell blows chunks, but that device is EXACTLY the correct size. Big enough to make it very very useful, and small enough to pocket.

I actually wish my iPhone was BIGGER.
 
Finally something that becomes available in the UK before the US :D
Is DELL British or something? Didn't know about that!
Anyway, I don't think their tablet is very interesting, especially because it runs Android!
 
Apple has just no competition at all. I mean, Microsoft's Courier and HP's Slate just gone by themselves (without even trying), and now Dell doing a lame attempt.
Is it me or those guys at Microsoft, HP and Dell have no taste and no ideas at all? Mediocrity.
Just look at their respective Websites. Those are messy, complicated, looking bad, etc. Same as so many of their products.
10 years from now, everyone will have an iPad and Microsoft will sell twenty ZunePad per year and Dell will have stopped selling the Streak for years already.

I'm not an Apple fan because I want to, it's just that they are the only ones.
:apple:
 
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