T-Mobile retires Dell Streak 7 after 6-Month tenure

The Dell Streak 7, the only 7 inch, 4G Android Tablet on the market in the US, has been retired from T-Mobile's line of available products. Did anyone not see this coming?

Jerry Myers, Published 08/03/2011

T-Mobile has ended sales of the Dell Streak 7 after 6 months of sales. The Dell Streak 7 4G was one of the least expensive Android Tablets on the market when it debuted at the end of January earlier this year. Unfortunately, it was overshadowed by the numerous Honeycomb tablet announcements made at this year's CES. While inexpensive, the Streak 7 only ran Android 2.2 Froyo, and was further limited by an 800 X 480 resolution screen and a 3.5 hour battery life.

That being said, there were definitely some pluses to the Streak 7. It was the only 7" tablet on the market with 4G capability, and though its screen's resolution was not all that great, it was protected by Corning's Gorilla Glass. The Streak 7 also featured a full-sized SD card slot, stereo speakers, and front and rear-facing cameras. Despite its shortcomings, for $199.99 on-contract, this was not a bad package; especially considering that the only tablets available at retail at the time were the original iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Regardless, there is little question that the Dell Streak 7 did not sell well, with most consumers appearing to have held out for larger, 10 inch tablets that run Android Honeycomb. As a result, T-Mobile has elected to discontinue the Streak 7 and leaves the LG G-Slate as the only device in T-Mobile's current tablet lineup (the Samsung Galaxy Tab was dropped earlier this year).

However, for those interested, there are reports that the 4G flavor of the device can still be purchased through Amazon on-contract and we've also personally checked the Dell website and the tablet can be purchased through that channel as well. Of course, if all else fails then the Wi-Fi version is still available, and there are still a few days left on the $100 off coupon special that Staples is running.

Dell recently pulled down availability of the original Dell Streak, while it works on upgrades to the hardware, with an intention to re-start sales in August. It is unclear whether the 5-inch device will return powered by a dual-core processor and Honeycomb, or if the upgrade is to address a discovered hardware deficiency. In any case, it appears that the Streak 7 is on its way out and will not make such a return as its smaller sibling may.