Dell didn't waste any time before joining the ranks of manufacturers behind the resurgence of tablet computing. It's no overstatement to say that the Streak has been hotly anticipated by many. Dell has its sights firmly trained on the smartphone market, and its Thunder handset will arrive in a few months' time. First, though, it's going after the iPad with this Android tablet offering 3G and WiFi Internet access.
Despite being billed as a tablet, the Streak is being sold as a smartphone, and costs £399 on its own, or up to £149 if you get a contract with O2.
The ingredients include a 5'' WVGA, 800 x 480 pixel screen, a 1 GHz Qualcommm Snapdragon processor that needs no introduction and 3G, Bluetooth 2.1 and 802.11b/g WiFi connectivity. There's a 5 Megapixel camera at the back and a VGA webcam at the front. Alongside the 2 GB of internal memory, the Streak comes with a 16 GB MicroSD card and a multipurpose PDMI cable used for connecting it to other devices and recharging. Google's Android OS is running version 1.6, Donut.
Design & Handling
At just 10 mm thick, the slimline Streak is easy to carry around, even in the pockets of your jeans. We like the combination of a black face with touch-sensitive buttons and the reverse in a contrasting colour, even if the red version that we tested was in questionable taste. We have a few doubts about the build quality, and the paint job in particular looks rushed—some flecks of red are visible underneath. The materials used, though, are of good quality.
The Streak is easy to handle, and you can either use it with one hand in portrait orientation—including for making calls, if you're not worried about looking ridiculous—or in landscape where both hands fit the form factor perfectly. So perfectly, in fact, that your right thumb rests naturally on the touch-sensitive buttons, while the left thumb covers the ambient light sensor and front-facing camera. That said, the fact that you can accidentally close the camera, or any other app for that matter, just because you're holding it in the most comfortable way can get pretty frustrating. Instead, you either have to hold it underneath as if you were feeling the weight, or at either side if you're taking a photo or video.
The Screen
Disappointingly, the Streak's capacitative multipoint touchscreen has a lower resolution than some recent smartphones and the iPad, as well as the Fusion Garage JooJoo for that matter. The screen can't really shine in Android 1.6 either, which only has limited support for multi-touch gestures. For watching videos, 5'' is more than comfortable enough. Things went into free-fall when we started measuring its performance though, with a deltaE above 9.0 and blacks tending towards blue.
The screen only turns in one direction, and isn't available in all apps or the web browsers. Viewing angles get tricky when you're more than 45° to the left or the right of the centre line.
Interface and Navigation
First of all, we should point out that starting up the Streak can take between 30 and 40 seconds, or twice as long as the iPad. Thanks to Android, though, the interface is clear, and two extra home screens are available, one each to the left and right, allowing you to add shortcuts to your favourite apps. Dell has made the effort to include its own software layer, but the manufacturer hasn't exactly taken any risks. It mostly comes down to a more attractive set of icons with a few new transparent elements and a bar at the top of the screen with a scrolling list of apps. That's still better than Android's default option. Using the Streak is a pretty fluid experience. We still recommend that you get your hands on Advanced Task Killer, a free app that allows you to tidy up the list of currently running apps; the tablet begins to groan if there are too many at once. We're looking forward to seeing the Streak upgraded to Android 2.2, which should allow, alongside a whole host of extra features, faster running.
Battery Life
With a reported performance of eight hours, we found the 1530 mAh 3.7 V battery lasted between six and seven hours depending on how we used it. Like with an iPad or a smartphone, it's definitely games that bring the battery life down, but it's up to you how you use your Streak of course. If you use it to replace your regular smartphone, it won't manage a whole day. If, on the other hand, you're looking for an alternative to the iPad, then Dell's tablet could easily last you two days.
At the end of the day, though, the Streak proved to be no more of a tablet than it is a smartphone—instead, we'd argue that Dell has managed to produce the perfect hybrid. It's an unusual product that will be joined in a few months by the HTC Desire HD and its 4.7'' screen, although the latter will run Android 2.2 FroYo.
Multimedia and Applications[note(3,,right]
For the time being, the Streak can't rival the iPad because it's bogged down in the restrictions imposed by Android 1.6. The latest news is that Dell is hoping to upgrade it by the end of 2010, but probably only to Android 2.1 A quick move to FroYo would make for a much more attractive proposition, as all of the other elements are there—it handles great, has very acceptable battery life and access to Android Market.
After the Archos 5 IT's disappointing performance, we were wondering what the next trendy personal media player would look like. The Dell Streak's 5'' screen and long list of supported formats give it a very solid base. Dell's decision to replace Android's default audio player, which isn't worth a penny, is also welcome. The hardware lets it down though, with the headphone jack less than excellent. You can teach yourself to ignore the constant buzz after a little while, but the random noises that invade the signal when you're moving the device or pressing a button make listening to music a very frustrating experience. The Streak is no MP3 player.
Despite being billed as a tablet, the Streak is being sold as a smartphone, and costs £399 on its own, or up to £149 if you get a contract with O2.
The ingredients include a 5'' WVGA, 800 x 480 pixel screen, a 1 GHz Qualcommm Snapdragon processor that needs no introduction and 3G, Bluetooth 2.1 and 802.11b/g WiFi connectivity. There's a 5 Megapixel camera at the back and a VGA webcam at the front. Alongside the 2 GB of internal memory, the Streak comes with a 16 GB MicroSD card and a multipurpose PDMI cable used for connecting it to other devices and recharging. Google's Android OS is running version 1.6, Donut.
Design & Handling
At just 10 mm thick, the slimline Streak is easy to carry around, even in the pockets of your jeans. We like the combination of a black face with touch-sensitive buttons and the reverse in a contrasting colour, even if the red version that we tested was in questionable taste. We have a few doubts about the build quality, and the paint job in particular looks rushed—some flecks of red are visible underneath. The materials used, though, are of good quality.
The Streak is easy to handle, and you can either use it with one hand in portrait orientation—including for making calls, if you're not worried about looking ridiculous—or in landscape where both hands fit the form factor perfectly. So perfectly, in fact, that your right thumb rests naturally on the touch-sensitive buttons, while the left thumb covers the ambient light sensor and front-facing camera. That said, the fact that you can accidentally close the camera, or any other app for that matter, just because you're holding it in the most comfortable way can get pretty frustrating. Instead, you either have to hold it underneath as if you were feeling the weight, or at either side if you're taking a photo or video.
The Screen
Disappointingly, the Streak's capacitative multipoint touchscreen has a lower resolution than some recent smartphones and the iPad, as well as the Fusion Garage JooJoo for that matter. The screen can't really shine in Android 1.6 either, which only has limited support for multi-touch gestures. For watching videos, 5'' is more than comfortable enough. Things went into free-fall when we started measuring its performance though, with a deltaE above 9.0 and blacks tending towards blue.
The screen only turns in one direction, and isn't available in all apps or the web browsers. Viewing angles get tricky when you're more than 45° to the left or the right of the centre line.
Interface and Navigation
First of all, we should point out that starting up the Streak can take between 30 and 40 seconds, or twice as long as the iPad. Thanks to Android, though, the interface is clear, and two extra home screens are available, one each to the left and right, allowing you to add shortcuts to your favourite apps. Dell has made the effort to include its own software layer, but the manufacturer hasn't exactly taken any risks. It mostly comes down to a more attractive set of icons with a few new transparent elements and a bar at the top of the screen with a scrolling list of apps. That's still better than Android's default option. Using the Streak is a pretty fluid experience. We still recommend that you get your hands on Advanced Task Killer, a free app that allows you to tidy up the list of currently running apps; the tablet begins to groan if there are too many at once. We're looking forward to seeing the Streak upgraded to Android 2.2, which should allow, alongside a whole host of extra features, faster running.
Battery Life
With a reported performance of eight hours, we found the 1530 mAh 3.7 V battery lasted between six and seven hours depending on how we used it. Like with an iPad or a smartphone, it's definitely games that bring the battery life down, but it's up to you how you use your Streak of course. If you use it to replace your regular smartphone, it won't manage a whole day. If, on the other hand, you're looking for an alternative to the iPad, then Dell's tablet could easily last you two days.
At the end of the day, though, the Streak proved to be no more of a tablet than it is a smartphone—instead, we'd argue that Dell has managed to produce the perfect hybrid. It's an unusual product that will be joined in a few months by the HTC Desire HD and its 4.7'' screen, although the latter will run Android 2.2 FroYo.
Multimedia and Applications[note(3,,right]
For the time being, the Streak can't rival the iPad because it's bogged down in the restrictions imposed by Android 1.6. The latest news is that Dell is hoping to upgrade it by the end of 2010, but probably only to Android 2.1 A quick move to FroYo would make for a much more attractive proposition, as all of the other elements are there—it handles great, has very acceptable battery life and access to Android Market.
After the Archos 5 IT's disappointing performance, we were wondering what the next trendy personal media player would look like. The Dell Streak's 5'' screen and long list of supported formats give it a very solid base. Dell's decision to replace Android's default audio player, which isn't worth a penny, is also welcome. The hardware lets it down though, with the headphone jack less than excellent. You can teach yourself to ignore the constant buzz after a little while, but the random noises that invade the signal when you're moving the device or pressing a button make listening to music a very frustrating experience. The Streak is no MP3 player.
Pros
- Attractive design
- Small and easy to carry
- Good batery life for a tablet
- Compatible with lots of audio and video formats
Cons
- Only Android version 1.6
- Touch-sensitive controls not in a very sensible place
- Bad battery life for a smartphone
- Dreadful quality headphone jack
Conclusion
It's not quite clear whether the Steak is a large smartphone or a small tablet. Dell might be stuck in the middle, but it's still got a promising concept—as long as it gets a more up-to-date version of Android soon!
OUR SCORE
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