Daring Fireball‘s John Gruber hints that Apple’s next-generation iPod touch is set to be released in “a few weeks” and will carry a Retina display and two cameras. His note comes in response to Dell’s announcement of its Streak mini-tablet with 5-inch screen set to launch on Friday priced at $300 with a two-year AT&T contract or $550 contract-free.

That’s almost twice as much as a good iPod Touch, and if you wait a few weeks to buy the Touch, you’ll get one with a Retina Display and dual cameras. If Dell can’t make an iPod Touch competitor, who can?

Most observers have assumed that the next-generation iPod touch will gain the same high-resolution Retina display found in the iPhone 4, but its camera features have been the subject of some debate. Several leaks of claimed next-generation iPod touch parts seem to show a hole for front-facing camera to allow users to engage in FaceTime video calling, suggesting that the device will offer that functionality.

A rear-facing camera has been a bigger question mark for the next-generation iPod touch, with the depth of the rear-facing cameras found in the iPhone 4 (5-megapixel) and even the iPhone 3GS (3.2-megapixel) appearing too thick for the thinner and more tapered form factor of the existing iPod touch. The issue is not insurmountable, of course, as advances in camera sensor technology might allow Apple to squeeze in a thinner camera still offering the same resolution as the iPhone 3GS’s camera, for example. Alternatively, design changes to the iPod touch, such as an elimination of the tapered edges as was done in the redesign for the iPhone 4 or even a general increase in thickness, would offer enough space for one of the thicker iPhone camera modules.

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