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David G (Chuzpah)

Update on Sunday, April 24, 2011 at 6:54PM by David G (Chuzpah)

Here is my Review of the Dell Streak, first published in September, 2010.

Overview:

I have used the device a lot in the past 10 days and I like the idea of having a mini-tablet device and phone rolled into one package. The screen is really nice! I rarely hold my phone to my ear so the size was not a big problem for me. I was up and running with the device in a few minutes. The device responds much more quickly than the iPhone 3G with OS 4.1! I installed 20 apps from the Android marketplace in only a few minutes over a 3G connection!

Usage:

The biggest trouble I had was aligning the back cover evenly, the cover popped out continuously during setup, after playing around with it for several minutes I finally got the hang of it! I have used the device to read eBooks with the Kindle and Nook Android apps and both work great. The nook has a nice page turning feature similar to the iBooks application on my iPhone. I have also taken several pictures and some video and that also works well. I found that taking pictures with good light is key; the photos come out well with natural light but seem lacking in an indoor setting. Since the Streak comes with a forward facing camera I plan to use it for video chats, etc. However, as of this writing I’m unable to find a good video chat application. I have also used the device’s GPS and navigation capabilities and found the associated Google navigation applications to be extremely helpful. Now I’m tempted to buy a car kit!

So far I have not had a single dropped call with the device. Since the SIM card that came with the Streak is not associated with my primary phone number I plan to use the SIM card in my iPhone in the device for a while to better measure it dropped call ratio compared with the iPhone 3G. I will report back on that later!


Media:

I have used the phone with both 3G and wifi and I have had great results, I particularly like the built-in navigation GPS. The biggest problem I have had is porting my iTunes library to the device, I have been making MP3 DVDs then copying the music manually to the device. The Streak will not play .MOV files, so far that is the biggest drawback. More pros of the device are the user changeable battery and memory! It is nice not having to pay someone $100 to change out a battery! Overall the battery life is good but not great. I find that I can usually make it through a typical day before the battery dies, however, if I have a lot of phone calls and surf the web frequently the battery will need to be recharged before the evening. Also flash is not completely working for all websites! The only real con is the proprietary cable! If I lose the cable I need to send away for a replacement, I cannot just walk into a store in an airport and purchase another one! Other than that I'm hard pressed to find any additional problems or concerns with the device. On the software side it would be very nice to have Netflix and Hulu+, can't wait for Android 2.2 for even better flash support!

Final Thoughts:

After using the device for almost two weeks I must say I’m impressed with the overall quality of the Streak in general. My only complaints are the back cover design, propriety charging cable and lack of good streaming applications like Netflix and Hulu Plus. Full Flash support is also not present! 90% of the applications that I use on a daily basis on my iPhone are available on Android as well. Dell keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing future tablet offerings as well.