The Dell Streak tablet-smartphone crossover goes on pre-sale today, tackling Apple’s iPad, iPod Touch, and iPhone devices in one go. The Streak, however, sends mixed messages regarding its size, price, and viability as a replacement to any of your Apple device. So, can it make the cut?

The Streak arrives in the U.S. after several delays (it was available two months ago in Europe), and will cost $300 with a two-year AT&T contract, or $550 without. It has a 5-inch touchscreen, works as a phone as well, and comes with Google’s Android 1.6 mobile operating system. In a nutshell: too little, too late. Here’s why.

Most high-end smartphones now come at $200 with a two-year contract. That includes the Apple iPhone 4, the Motorola Droid X and upcoming Droid 2, or the Blackberry Torch. The Streak, which serves as a smartphone as well, comes in at $300, its 5-inch screen is only 0.7-inch larger that of the Droid X, and the resolution is lower than iPhone 4′s 3.5-inch Retina display.

On the tablet front, the Streak doesn’t fare any better either. It’s $50 more expensive than the cheapest iPad, when bought unlocked as a tablet. Price difference aside, the streak’s screen is only half as large as the iPad’s. What the Streak has over the iPad is the 5-megapixel camera on the back, and a front-facing VGA camera.

When compared to the iPod Touch, the Dell Streak is $100 more expensive, if you want to use it as a multimedia device. Of course, the iPod touch lacks dual cameras and 3G capabilities. Darin Fireball’s John Gruber threw a bone speculating that Apple will release a dual-camera, Retina display-laden iPod Touch next month, making the Streak irrelevant if this proves to be true.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com

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