Dell Streak Review - The Only review you will need

November 15, 2010

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If you are looking to fill the gap between your Smartphone and your notebook computer, Today, there are few options available.

The best options?, you ask.

Apple iPad ( no service support in India and no phone facility)
Samsung Galaxy Tab (doesn’t quite do the job with the size and specs)
Dell Streak (well read the review!)

The Dell Streak

The device is the first of a kind from the computer / pc / notebook powerhouse that is Dell Computers. A 5″ super sleek device with some nice specifications and features. But, does it fill the void?

Build Quality and Hardware

The Dell Streak surprised us with its build quality, the super strong gorilla glass multitouch display, is not only tough , But, Highly responsive.

The body of the device is super sleek and a very nice fit in the hand, with tapered edges on the top and bottom , it easily slips in and out of pockets.

The 5mp Autofocus camera takes excellent quality shots along with very impressive videos at 720p.

The 1 GHz snapdragon processor does not let you feel the slow Android 1.6 OS, and multitasking is not affected in any way.

The LoudSpeaker is impressive with tight lows, and clear vocals, music sounds good straight out of the speakers.

The LCD display – 480 x 800 pixels, 5.0 inches is extremely vivid with a very nice resolution for the size. The Mutitouch response was the best among all Android phones and devices we have played with including the Galaxy Tab.

Overall a nice list of hardware specs and impressive build quality. The most notable features of The Streak

480 x 800 pixels, 5.0 inch Multitouch Display
5 MP, 2592?1944 pixels, autofocus, dual-LED flash
Geo-tagging
VGA Video – Hardware capable of 720p – will be opened in update
Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 1 GHz processor
1530 mAh – upto 9 hour talk time
Bluetooth 2.0 A2dp, GPS, with A-GPS support , Wifi b/g
HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps
152.9 x 79.1 x 10 mm
220 gms

Operating System, Custom Software and Apps

The Dell Streak runs Android 1.6 , which is heavily skinned by Dell to make the UI unique, intuitive and fun to use.

The unique tabs in the status bar, make the device very easy to use , as the status bar is present in most applications and you can access the full application menu , while an an app, This makes the Dell Streak a multitasking monster , and the only device to have this feature, till date!

Apart from the full application menu the Dell Streak also has a tab for connectivity – where one can turn on/off settings such as sync, bluetooth, wifi etc or access the settings pane.

We have mentioned time and again, that, we are unsure if this OS is the perfect OS for a Tablet, But, then again, we are still unsure if the Dell Streak can be considered a Tablet in the first place, perhaps an oversized phone.. Perhaps.

Dell has already indicated that they will be rolling out the new 2.2 firmware build for the streak, this comes as no shock, since a lot of other companies are talking about devices with 2.3 (Gingerbread on them), It was only fair that dell release the 2.2 update to stay in the game.

The new update seems promising, and we will try and get an updated device for a change log.

Performance and Call Quality

You will see in our video review, that the dell streak is a performance monster! There was no instance were we felt that the device was underpowered or lagging in any way. One thing to take into account is the fact that it is still on 1.6 , which does not put pressure on the 1GHZ Snapdragon, 2.2 will be a new story all-together.

The call quality was superb, with crystal clear sound from the inbuilt earphone as well as the loudspeaker. In the 2 hour of call testing we did not have a single dropped call.

So we forcefully have to mention that the streak is an excellent device to have as a Smartphone.

We tested the battery in several instances and were able to get the results of the battery performance.

Upto 6 Hours of Talk Time
Upto 15 Hours of Music Playback
Upto 8 hours of video
5 Hours Wifi web browsing

To Sum it all up

The Good Stuff

Excellent Display and touchscreen
Excellent size very pocket friendly and sleek looking.
Great hardware
Amazing build quality and use of materials including the gorilla glass front
Great mix of UI customizations including the fact that the volume rocker changes orientation according to the display on the screen.