Dell Streak launches on AT&T this Friday, a day early for those who pre-ordered

The big phone/small tablet Dell Streak finally has a launch date for AT&T. It’s been on pre-order since late July and if you’ve signed up for that you’d be able to snatch it a day early…The pricing of the Dell Streak has been known for a while – 550 US dollars contract-free or $300 if you put pen to paper on an AT&T contract. If you redeem your pre-sale coupon you can snatch a Plantronics Bluetooth headset for just 99 cents (while supplies last).And you’ll need one too, if you’re going to make use of the phone functionality of the Dell Streak as its screen measures a hefty 5 inches. The OS is Android 1.6 for now but Dell are hard at work to update it to 2.1 Eclair which should also bring 720p video recording to the 5MP camera.The Dell Streak will be available from AT&T starting August 13 (that’s this Friday) or tomorrow if you signed up for the pre-order.                                  

HITTING A SWEET SPOT : The Dell Streak, a carbon black Android-based tablet with a 5-inch display, is designed to provide an excellent “on-the-go” entertainment, social connection, and navigation experience. The spacious 5-inch screen is ideal for experiencing thousands of Android Market widgets, games and applications, all without squinting or compromising portability. Built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth capability and available 3G connectivity brings easy access for downloading and listening to music, updating social networking status in real-time, and staying connected to friends and family through e-mail, text, IM, and voice calls.On-the-go students, mobile professionals, and active families will find Streak’s web-browsing capabilities as natural as a laptop. The 5-inch screen is large enough to present Web pages in their natural form, create a comfortable viewing experience, and make turn-by-turn navigation simple. The Dell Streak is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon solution with integrated 1GHz processor to combine basic functionality and benefits of a laptop in a pocket friendly size.The Dell Streak was designed with the future in mind to support future software, application and platform upgrades.

Samsung Epic 4G for Sprint coming August 31, brings QWERTY and WiMAX along

The Samsung Epic 4G will be available at the end of the month – it’s the first Galaxy S phone with a hardware QWERTY keyboard and WiMAX connectivity. Plus it packs all the goodies characteristic for Galaxy S, 4” SuperAMOLED and all…The Samsung Epic 4G for Sprint packs the screen of the Galaxy S, the 1GHz Hummingbird CPU, the 5MP camera with 720p video and Android 2.1 Eclair with the upgrade to 2.2 Froyo coming soon.But it adds a slide-out QWERTY to the mix and also WiMAX connectivity (hence the 4G moniker). The Samsung Epic 4G will hit stores including RadioShack, Best Buy and Wal-Mart and also Sprint Stores on August 31. You could reserve a phone using this link – and you’ll have to buy it no later than 6 p.m. on September 1. The price is 249.99 US dollars after a mail-in rebate with a 2 year contract.

Windows XP is still king of the desktop computers, Windows 7 passes Vista

Linux may be going strong in the mobile phone world but the desktop is another matter. It’s a Windows world out there and Linux is struggling to break 1%…The Linux kernel is at the basis of quite a few mobile OSes – Android, Maemo (turning into MeeGo) and WebOS being the most popular ones, but there are a few lesser known ones as well.But on the desktop? Windows XP is losing ground but it’s currently at 56%, miles ahead of even its successors. Windows Vista (18.1%) is slowly fading away – Windows 7 (19.1%) has already passed it by a full percent. Mac OS X isn’t doing too hot either, it’s currently sitting at 4.6% after the peak of 5.9% in April.Well, it seems that Microsoft has nothing to worry about with their OSes occupying a total of 93.5% of the market and Windows 7 selling like hotcakes

Motorola DROID 2 unleashed

After DROID comes DROID 2. Logical, huh? Motorola’s newest Android-powered smartphone, the DROID 2, has already made several public appearances without its parents’ permission so it was high time that the company finally announced it officially.As a matter of fact, Motorola’s press release (see the source link) reveals much less than the numerous leaks starring DROID 2.Yeap, it’s much more powerful than the original DROID (known as Motorola MILESTONE on these shores). And a bit sexier, too. On top of that, the DROID 2 comes with a MOTOBLUR-ed Froyo. Along with the other goodies the Android 2.2 comes with, it also brings along a Flash-capable web browser! And that the real 10.1 Flash player deal, not Flash Lite. 

The Motorola DROID 2 features a 1GHz processor (nearly twice as fast as the first DROID), double the RAM amount (512MB instead of 256MB) and 8GB of built-in storage (an 8GB microSD card is also included).In addition the QWERTY keyboard has undergone a total make over. The D-pad is gone (it’s place has been taken by four separate arrow buttons) so now there is much more space for the rest of the keys. The result is a way comfier hardware keyboard. By the way, if you want, you can turn the DROID 2 into a Wi-Fi hotspot and make it share your Internet access with up to 5 more Wi-Fi-capable devices. That doesn’t come for free, though. It will set you back another 20 US dollars a month. Ouch! Oh, and one more thing. A DROID 2 R2-D2 special edition will be released in September. A limited number of DROID 2 phones will be redesigned to look like the R2-D2 and will pack exclusive Star Wars content. DROID 2 pre-sale starts tomorrow and the day after that, August 12, should see the device hitting all Verizon Wireless stores. The Motorola DROID 2 is said to cost 200 US dollars (after a 100-US-dollar mail-in rebate with a new 2-year contract). There is no word from Motorola if and when an European DROID 2 version will be launched.

INDIA AND CHINA

 

A Himalayan rivalry :   Asia’s two giants are still unsure what to make of each other.  But as they  grow, they are coming closer for good and bad.

MEMORIES of a war between India and China are still vivid in the Tawang valley, a lovely, cloud-blown place high on the south-eastern flank of the Himalayas. They are nurtured first by the Indian army, humiliated in 1962 when the People’s Liberation Army swept into Tawang from next-door Tibet. India now has three army corps—about 100,000 troops—in its far north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, which includes Tawang.With another corps in reserve, and a few Sukhoi fighter planes deployed last year to neighbouring Assam, they are a meaty border force, unlike their hapless predecessors. In 1962 many Indian troops were sent shivering to the front in light cotton uniforms issued for Punjab’s fiery plains. In a weeklong assault the Chinese seized much of Arunachal, as well as a slab of Kashmir in the western Himalayas, and killed 3,000 Indian officers and men. Outside Tawang’s district headquarters a roadside memorial, built in the local Buddhist style, commemorates these dead. At a famous battle site, below the 14,000-foot pass that leads into Tawang, army convoys go slow, and salute their ghosts.Yet China and India are in many ways rivals, not Asian brothers, and their relationship is by any standard vexed—as recent quarrelling has made abundantly plain. If you then consider that they are, despite their mutual good wishes, old enemies, bad neighbours and nuclear powers, and have two of the world’s biggest armies—with almost 4m troops between them—this may seem troubling.

  

DOWNLOAD :  E-BOOK [ INDIA VS CHINA ]

Pocket-lint has died and gone to heaven, the iPADock is the best iPad/iPhone docking solution we have ever seen. Ever.Get this: It can dock and charge two iPads at the same time, or it can dock and charge an iPad and two iPhones, or four iPhones. It is, indeed, the undoubted king of docking and charging... when it comes to combinations of iPads and iPhones, at least.And that's not all, it also has rear-mounted slots to store Apple's Camera Connection Kit. Plus, if you hook it up to a PC or Mac, it has seven USB ports (four of them for power shenanigans only, though), and memory card slots for all manner of formats - Compact Flash, SD, SDHC, SDXC, Sony's MemoryStick and more - helping to tidy the clutter from your desktop.It's even compatible with other Apple devices, such as the iPod touch and Nano, although you will need to get an official Universal Dock Adaptor as it's not included.Unfortunately, here's the rub, it's initially only going to be available in Japan, via retailer PhotoFast , from September. But, at only 5980 yen (roughly £45) it's a veritable bargain if you're planning a visit to the Far East. And the company is currently seeking distributors outside of its home country, so fingers crossed...

PHOTOS: Polaroid 300 instant camera

Pocket-lint got its hands on the first analogue return from Polaroid in the shape of the Polaroid 300 Instant Camera. There's certainly very little compact about it, but the bulk isn't matched by any kind of weight, so you won't have too much hassle in carrying this fun snapper around.The Polaroid 300 Instant Camera uses the company's proprietary self-developing film, has an automatic flash and features four scene settings to add variety and a touch of clarity to your shots. You can shake the picture after you've taken it if you must, but the ink doesn't come out wet.The camera is available in red, black or blue, and costs £79.99 at Firebox and John Lewis. If you're lining it up as a Christmas present you might want to consider a few 10 packs of Polaroid 300 film which come in at £12.99 each.