Bad news for users who wanted to take the Dell Streak to T-Mobile after buying it off-contract from AT&T. You can’t, as it’s still SIM-locked to AT&T, even after you pay the hefty contract-free price for the Streak.
While AT&T and Dell have every right to do this, keeping the Streak locked to one carrier is absurd. It would be less absurd if the T-Mobile version actually materialized, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen anytime soon, if ever. To be clear, buying the device for full price and being stuck on Magenta’s EDGE network isn’t exactly an ideal situation, but you should at least have the option to do so, if you so choose. Since the Streak is already rooted, maybe we’ll see an unlock for the mutant phone at some point in the future.
The SIM-lock was confirmed by Dell’s own Lionel Menchaca, saying,
“Lots of folks are asking about the $549 version of #dellstreak. To be clear, it will not be unlocked. It is SIM-locked to AT&T.
So if you had plans to go T-Mobile with your freakishly large Android smartphone, you’re stuck in a bad place. But, all is not lost. We wouldn’t be terribly surprised if T-Mobile came out with a tablet of their own before year’s end. The Streak is one sexy device, but it just won’t be enough for some, as the screen is just to small to be a decent tablet, yet verges on being too big for a phone. Hence “mutant phone”.
That’s not to say it won’t sell well, because for what it can do, it’s a pretty rock solid device. With the addition of Android 2.1 Eclair, the user experience will be much better. It may not be Android 2.2 Froyo, but it will beat the socks off of Android 1.6 Donut, which it ships with.
If you’ve yet to find the tablet you’re looking for, might we suggest taking a gander at our Top 5 Most Anticipated Tablets for 2010-2011.
[Via: TGDaily]