Be prepared to see many stories like this one infiltrating the market. Since Apple reported its quarterly earnings and the fact that their supply has still not caught up with demand there is going to be an even heavier push by other vendors to get tablets out. And here is what Dell is up to.
Here Come The Dell 10-Inch Tablets
Image Courtesy Of AndroidCentral
Dell is apparently readying some new tablets. And this time they are counting on Android and Windows 7 to pull them out of the “Streak Slump”. I call it the Streak Slump because their current tablet isn’t doing so well in the market place. Perhaps recent comments from Michael Dell on his being surprised to see the tablet market take off so fast go hand in hand with a leaked document that shows how Dell is going to pursue two Windows 7 tablets and a new 10-inch Android model.
These new Dell 10-inch tablets are due to arrive “later this year” which is what we hear a lot of these days. The Android version may be called the “Streak Pro” (not wise of Dell to associate a failed brand with a new tablet) and the Windows 7 tablets will carry the Lattitude name. Again, not a smart strategy in my opinion since Lattitude is widely recognized as a laptop line.
As you would expect, the focus with these new Dell 10-inch tablets is all on the specs. The Streak Pro could have a 1280 x 800 resolution display, an Nvidia 1.2Ghz dual-core processor, two microphones and cameras, and it will run Honeycomb.
The Windows 7 tablets from Dell will actually be “convertible tablets” like all of the failed Pre-iPad versions of tablets and it will have 2GB or RAM, a stylus, and up to a 128GB SSD drive. It will also have, of course, cameras and all of the current offerings you would expect.
I think this is great news for tablet competition in general but why Dell insists on putting out a Windows tablet and/or hanging onto the Streak moniker is beyond me. Why can’t they do something original? Or at least stop trying to appease the masses by dishing out this stuff that you know darn will won’t match up to the current line of tablets that are actually selling well.
That may sound opinionated and to an extent it is. But judging from Microsofts past failed attempts at tablets and Dell’s lackluster Streak sales it would just seem to me that they would want to start fresh and focus not on specs but on user experience. Specs are not what gives a good user experience despite what people claim. It’s not the specs…it’s the software and the entire ecosystem around that software.
Perhaps Dell will change course or at least bring to market a 10-inch tablet that does deliver an amazing user experience….that would be great because it provides healthy competition.
What do you think about the Dell 10-inch tablets? Potential for success or not?
I saw this the other day on another site, and the only thought that came to my mind was “about damn time!”. I don’t even mean that in a positive way either. Dell has consistently missed the boat on things over the last few years, and I agree with Shane on the Streak. I think part of the issue in the past is Dell and other Android tablet makers is they’re sticking to carrier specific models, and pricing themselves out of being competitive. Because the manufacturers are sticking in cellular tech into their tablets, they are automatically going to be most expensive than an iPad without 3G, so then they lose the potential market for a WiFi only device, and honestly, price is the only thing that Android and Windows tablets can bank on at this point. The timeframe is abysmal too! October for such a lackluster Windows Slate?! Even now, the Asus EEE Slate EP-121 beats the pants off Dell’s version without even trying to! Then their convertible tablet PC will probably be priced out of any decent price range, since they’re probably going to follow HP’s Elitebook model, which is only for business, so it’ll be $1800 to start with (I’d like to see Dell prove me wrong)!
Hi there Dower,
I did not want to slam Dell for their efforts but when they stick with a failing brand and then add in a tablet which has proven to fail over and over then I have to seriously wonder what their motives are. I know Apple is there to sell a product but at least it was well thought out. Dell and the others appear to be rushing to market just to satisfy what they see as huge demand and that to me is where it will all fall apart…users will not tolerate sub-standard platforms for very long nor will they pay for it.
Great to see you. I agree with you completely! I forgot to add in the pricing but you did a perfect job of adding that in and thank you very much