Dell skipping Eclair on the Streak, going straight to Froyo

So, you have a Dell Streak with a Donut on it? Yes, releasing a device in 2010 with an Android version that came out in September 2009 is unsatisfactory in my book, but it looks like Dell cares. Do they? Well, they care enough to skip Android 2.1 (Eclair) and they plan to take us to Android 2.2 (Froyo) by the end of the year.

According to a post on Dell.com, they will skip 2.1 and go strait to 2.2…

Due to resources and commitments to get our global customers the 2.2/Froyo update by the end of the year, we will not be publishing another version of 2.1 nor will we be pushing out 2.1 to additional customers.

I know many of you have requested that we publish specific dates for Android OS updates; however, because there are so many variables (some outside of our control), we cannot make a specific commitment other than we will be publishing 2.2 by the end of this year to all of our Dell Streak customers. I can tell you that our target date is NOT December 31st. In fact, the over-the-air update to 2.2 is target date is much sooner than that.

Of course, you could always do it the unofficial way, which I don’t personally recommend. I know some of you don’t mind experimenting with cooked ROMS, but I don’t and I don’t advocate it at all. I am not going to deny the resources are out there though. Dell should have come big to begin with. No need to half step with the software when the hardware is so delicious.

Another tidbit for those that are wondering, an infographic put out by electronista, Android isn’t as fragmented as many think.

They say that over 73% of Android phones running 2.x or later.