Streak now available SIM-free directly from Dell

Dell is now selling its Streak tablet SIM-free directly to customers.

Just three weeks after the Streak launched in the UK through exclusive carrier O2, Dell has cut out the middleman and is now selling its debut tablet online for a one-off 449.

Dell's own price is just 50 more than the network-locked deal through O2, and the computing giant has thrown in the added bonus of not charging any interest until June 2011.

Despite being priced very much in iPad territory, the Android 1.6-powered Streak is a very different proposition, despite both technically falling under the "tablet" category.

The Streak's smaller 5in screen means it's far more compact than Apple's tablet and far closer to a smartphone's form factor. Its specification also bears a closer resemblance to a mobile phone than a small PC, and Dell fully intends for the Streak to be used like a phone for taking calls (though not all of O2's contract offerings give you the option).

Aside from the 800 x 400-pixel 5in touchscreen, the Streak features the 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor found in so many high-end smartphones these days, along with a five megapixel auto-focus camera with flash, a second front-facing camera for video calls, 2GB of flash internal memory plus a 16GB microSD card in the box.

O2 is offering the Streak on three different contract types pay-as-you-go for 399 up front; data-only from 25 per month over 24 months and data plus calls for an extra 10 per month, also over 24 months.

The Streak is available immediately from Dell's website, which also contains links through to O2's contract deals.