Dell Streak Rated 3.5 out of 5 by Wireless and Mobile News' Review of Reviews'
Reviewers are confused by the Dell Streak, when compared to smartphones, it's a big brother that lacks the latest knowledge of its faster more adroit younger siblings. The Dell Streak does, however, have a "ginormous" 5 inch screen, causing it to bulk up cargo pants and making it shine when viewing webpages, e-books and turn-by-turn navigation. Some reviewers call it too big for a phone or clunky, and suggest people will look ridiculous holding it up to their faces. Then some reviewers call it too small compared to tablets like the iPad which does not work as telephone.
The specs of the Dell Streak are as strong as any of the Android top smartphones, a 1 GHZ Qualcomm processor, Wi-Fi, 5 megapixel camera. front-facing VGA camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and an adapter that can be adapted to HDMI output. It comes with 2 gigabytes of internal storage and can handle up to 32 gigabytes with a microSD card.
Where reviewers became very critical, is the Dell Streak comes with last year's version of Android, Android 1.6 with an added Dell interface. Reviewers are used to the new features of Android such as voice-to-text, unified touch and tap-zooming which should come when the Dell Streak gets an upgrade at some point in the future.
The PC syncing program and with media sync was considered an attribute. Some reviewers thought Android apps didn't work well, while others had no problem. Business users will find the Dell Streak difficult because it lacks Microsoft Exchange support. The touchscreen keyboard was considered cramped and hard-to-use because it has an added number row. Phone quality was rated mediocre to good.
Who would like the Dell Streak? If web surfing and e-Book reading are your thing, the Dell Streak maybe be your phone tablet teletablet. But then again, it you just want to read books and surf the web, you can get and e-Reader with Wi-Fi and web surfing at a much lower price. but it won't work as a phone.
The Dell Streak is available for $299.99 with new two-year AT&T contract, and $549.99 without. If you decide the Dell Streak touches your early adopter streak, and you want to buy it from AT&T, don't forget to use the AT&T Coupon-Link $50 Off AT&T Wireless with Plan for new customers with a contract.
Donald Bell at CNET rated the Dell Streak 3.5 out 5 for power, screen size, design, 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless capabilities along with photo, camcorder and phone. He did not like the battery life (even though highly rated by Laptopmag) blurry-making camera position. Size is both a positive and negative. He described the size as 6 inches wide, 3.2 inches tall, and 0.35 inch thick, the Streak is about the size as a pocket Moleskine notebook, which we think of as thin paperback book, or a 1/3 of the size of the iPad. The AV adapter will connect to a HDMI cable. It ships with Android 1.6 with a future update to Android 2.1. He liked the fast performance and reaction times, fast webpage loading that could get halted by Flash pages. Call quality was a high point. He found the touchscreen keyboard painful to type on. Audio listening in through the headphone jack had a background hiss.
Sascha Segan at PCMag has not rated the Dell Streak yet, his preview review was a mixed bag. We're guessing he'll rate it under 4. He found the size awkward, too big for one-handed use and too small for relaxing with like a 7 or 10 inch table. He found the 5 inch 800 x 480 screen bright and rich. He found call quality to be mediocre. It's unpleasant to hold up to your face, therefore a Bluetooth headset is recommended but voice dialing was buggy. He found the altered Android 1.6 software to be frustrating. He didn't like that it lacked Microsoft Exchange support. PC sync software worked well. The camera took terrific pictures. Windows Media syncing had problems with HD video. He notes that the Dell Streak is not ready for the average user.
Ed Hardy at Brighthand notes that the Dell Streak is either a very large smartphone or a very small tablet computer. It will fit in cargo pant pockets. The large screen makes web browsing better, emails easier to read, and for blessed video and e-books. He found the onscreen keyboard good enough for emails and texting. The rear-facing camera took fairly decent photos, and there's a front facing camera for video conferencing without software to make it work. Battery life was was decent. He found the best features to be the large screen and excellent performance. He didn't like the size, barely fitted in a pocket, poor voice quality and that ships with an out-of-date OS.
Mark Spoonauer at Laptopmag rated the Dell Streak 3 out of 5. He liked the 5 inch display, UI, syncing software, HDMI dock, and front-facing camera. He didn't like that the runs an old Android 1.6, sluggishness, lower res video recording, and video playing problems. He found the ginormous screen great for web surfing, video watching and turn-by-turn navigation. The design is manageable, sturdy and handsome. Android 1.6 lacks unified inbox, speech-to-text, multi-touch mapping, and tap to zoom. He found the keyboard with the dedicated number row, cramped. He found the processor fast but sluggish at times and benchmark test were lower than other smartphone. He could read text on websites without zooming. Syncing and backup worked well. Photos were colorful and sharp but paled in comparison to the Evo 4G and Droid X. He was able to get Fring working with the front facing video camera. eBook reading with Kindle read well. In conclusion he calls the Deal Streak a niche device that does some thing well and need some improvements.