Dell's 'Streak' Mobile Device Coming To AT&T

At Citrix's Synergy event in San Francisco Thursday, Dell gave attendees a brief demo of the Streak, also known as the Mini 5. He showed how it can be used in conjunction with Receiver, Citrix's client software for accessing virtual desktops and applications from mobile devices.

"This is called the Dell Streak. I've got my Citrix Receiver on here, and I can log in and capture my desktop," Dell said as he showed off the device during a keynote speech.

The Streak, Dell said, shows that the type of device users employ to access their virtualized desktops is irrelevant, as mobile devices can now offer the same computing experience as desktops and notebooks.

The Dell Streak will be available next month in Europe through Telefonica subsidiary O2, and AT&T will begin selling it later this summer, Dell said.

In March, Engadget published internal Dell documents that indicate the Streak will feature a 5-inch diagonal capacitive touch screen with WVGA (800 by 480) resolution; a 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus and flash; front-side video camera and a 30-pin docking connector.

In a Q&A after the keynote, Dell said he expects to see a "pretty significant array of devices" and form factors in the mobility space, each tailored to meet specific user requirements. He said the iPad represents a new type of mobile use case, and as such, shouldn't necessarily be seen as a replacement for existing mobile devices.

"I think you'll see many different forms of devices, and it's not clear that one device replaces another," Dell said. "Some devices are better for carrying with you, and some are better for consuming content and creating content."

Meanwhile, Dell could barely contain his excitement over the buzz that Windows 7 is generating within his customer base. Windows 7 help desk calls are "way down," lower than any previous version of Windows by a "significant amount," according to Dell.

"There's a lot of excitement about Windows 7 right now," Dell said. "This is by far the best Windows we've ever had."

As it turns out, this trend dovetails nicely with Dell's growing support of client virtualization, which continued this week as Dell announced support for Citrix’s new XenClient hypervisor in several of its new Windows 7 PCs.

"Client virtualization is going to be a big wave that customers can take advantage of," Dell said in his keynote. "We think this client refresh cycle is very alive and well."