Will the Streak 5 and Streak 7 get updated?
Will the Dell Streak 5 and Streak 7 ever see another substantial update? I really don't know.
Gingerbread (2.3.x), just in case you don't already know, is the latest version of Android for phones that is arriving pre-installed on some of the newer Android devices and is already being pushed out via OTA update to older phones.
Dell released an alpha engineering preview release of the Streak Gingerbread source code a few months ago, which could be a sign that Android 2.3 is on its way, but since we haven't heard anything about since, maybe it was just a cruel trick to get our hopes up.
I recently inquired to both @stephenjatdell and @LionelatDell on Twitter about this and both of them gave slightly different answers with Stephen Jio saying directly that they were no plans at this moment of time and that he'd look into this for me. Lionel Manchaca, Chief Blogger for Dell, said that to his knowledge there were no plans to update the Streak devices to Android 2.3. I was slightly upset when I heard this because if there's anyone who would know if Gingerbread would be coming to the Streak 5 and 7, it would properly be Lionel.
As usual, then, we don’t know for sure if Gingerbread is coming to the Streak 5.
Perhaps since Gingerbread isn't significantly different from Froyo, Dell might just skip pass it up for the Streak 5 completely and go straight to Ice Cream Sandwich, which combines the greatest features of Gingerbread and Honeycomb to create one unified Android OS.
The Streak 7, meanwhile, might be getting Honeycomb one of these days, considering that's what Dell announced at CES earlier this year. Honeycomb (3.x), as you know, is the latest version of Android for tablets. The Streak 7 along with other pre-Honeycomb tablets such as the original Galaxy Tab and the HTC Flyer/EVO View 4G are all slated to receive Honeycomb eventually.
I asked Stephen and Lionel about the Streak 7 getting Honeycomb and again received completely different answers. Stephen saying that Android 3.0 is going to coming to the Streak 7 but there isn't a solid date yet, while Lionel gave a slighty more worring answer and said that he was unaware of plans of Honeycomb for the device. I'm not sure who's correct here but as I've mentioned before, Lionel does seem more likely to know about this stuff out of the two.
If you don’t wish to wait until Dell releases an update for your Streak device(s), whether it be Gingerbread, Honeycomb, or Ice Cream Sandwich, you can always flash StreakDroid 2 aka GingerStreak, DJ_Steve's custom ROM based on Android 2.3.3, or StreakDroid7 HD, his Honeycomb ROM for the Streak 7.
Do you think the Streak and Dell Streak 7 will receive Gingerbread or Honeycomb, respectively? Discuss below in the comments and if you're on Twitter, send me a tweet @brodie_duncan.
