Owners of Dell’s 5” tablet in the UK were lucky to get their hands on a leaked pre-release version of Android 2.1 earlier this week. The hack, however, was only compatible with the O2 version of the device in the UK, so owners of the US counterpart released only 2 days ago on AT&T have been stuck with their new giant babies wearing an ancient 1.6 Donut diaper. To make matters worse, it looks like Dell decided to skip the 2.1 update altogether and go straight for 2.2, delaying the upgrade even longer.

Not to worry - the Android community has now come up with a way to flash 2.1 on the US version of the Streak. StreakSmart have a nicely detailed tutorial for users, which can be outlined in these three steps:

  • Root your Streak
  • Flash the Android 1.6 O2/UK ROM (build 4399)
  • Upgrade it with the 2.1 leak (build 6941)

View our original post detailing the new features available in Android 2.1 on the Dell Streak here, then check out the video demonstration and full instructions, courtesy of StreakSmart.com.

As always, flashing your device comes with a risk of bricking. Read all instructions carefully and be aware of potential data loss.

[Source: StreakSmart; thanks Jenn!]