DELL STREAK 7-INCHER UNVEILED

The 7-inch version of Dell's Streak tablet has been rumored and teased for months, but today it's officially official! And what it lacks in size it makes up for in sweet, speedy 4G goodness.

The Streak 7 weighs less than a pound, and comes complete with 5 megapixel rear and 1.3 megapixel front-facing cameras, Nvidia's graphically delicious Tegra 2 processor behind a 7-inch Gorilla Glass WVGA touch display.

Its size makes the new Streak not as pocket-friendly as the five-inch version, and places it in the same portability gray area as the Galaxy Tab. That it's still borderline phone-sized may mitigate the disappointment that the Streak 7 will launch with Froyo instead of Google's tablet-friendly (and pretty special-looking) Honeycomb OS. It will, though, support full Flash 10.1, and it weighs less than a pound. And we've gotten word that it will get the Android 3.0 upgrade soon after its launch.

And let's not forget that 4G! It's the first tablet to hop on a 4G network, specifically T-Mobile's supah-fast HSPA+. [Gizmodo]

RUMOR: CLIQ 2 AND DELL STREAK 7 TO LAUNCH JANUARY 9TH ON T-MOBILE

According to an unconfirmed report, T-Mobile will launch two new Android-powered devices in mid-January. Enthusiast blog TmoNews claims that a source has pegged January 19th as the tentative release date for both the Motorola CLIQ 2 and the Dell Streak 7. The CLIQ 2 was last rumored to feature Motorola’s MOTOBLUR UI atop Android 2.2, as well as a unique QWERTY keypad that has no gaps between the keys. The Dell Streak 7 will reportedly be a 7-inch tablet with dual-cameras and version 2.2 of the Android OS. Neither device has been confirmed to be launching next month by T-Mobile or its respective manufacturer, though both are expected to be announced next week at the Consumer Electronics Show. [BGR]

DELL SHUTTING DOWN MOBILE DIVISION

Dell is shutting down its mobile division and Ron Garriques, Chief Executive of Dell Mobile, is quitting. Not a single one of Dell’s mobile ventures have been particularly successful. The Streak, Dell’s “not quite a tablet, not quite a phone, but uncomfortable enough to be both” device was a poorly implemented concept. Too big to be a phone for most, and too small to be a table for most, plus a lack of a wi-fi option due to Google’s Market procedures. Throw in the software issues during upgrade times, and even those that did buy the device were not likely to want a second. [Geek]