Dell on Thursday discontinued the Streak 5 tablet in the U.S. by placing a farewell message on its landing page for the Streak 5, which now reads "Goodbye Streak 5. It's been a great ride."
In reality, the Streak 5's ride was bumpy from the start. According to Gurpreet Kaur, a tablet analyst for Gap Intelligence, a San Diego-based research firm, the Streak 5 launched with an outdated version of the Android operating system and an inflated price." I'm not surprised that it was discontinued," Kaur said.
The Streak 5 also suffered from an identity problem because of its 5-inch form factor. Apart from its size, the Streak 5 boasted similar specifications as many Android phones. It ran on a 1-Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and was enabled for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G. It also sported a 5-megapixel camera with dual LED flash and a microSD expandable up to 32 GB.
But it was slightly too large for use as a phone, said Allen Nogee, an analyst with In-Stat in Scottsdale, Ariz. "A display size of 4 inches to 4.25 inches is typically about as big as consumers want to go for a phone," Nogee said.
At 5 inches, the Streak 5 was too large to fit into a pocket, but did not deliver the display space Nogee thinks most tablet consumers want. "People like tablets because they are much bigger than a phone. If you're going to go out to get a different device you don't want one that is about the same size as the phone you have," he added.
In July, the Streak 5 went missing from retail shelves and Dell's ecommerce website. At the time, a customer service representative from Dell told Engadget that the Streak 5 would receive an update and return to shelves in early August. A spokesperson for Dell declined to comment on Engadget's report at the time, citing the company's policy of not commenting on rumor or speculation.
On Monday a spokesperson for Dell told ZDNet UK that the Streak 5 is available in the U.K. "for the foreseeable future." The larger version of the Dell Streak -- a 7-inch tablet -- remains available for purchase on Dell's website.
