The Dell Streak Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on August 15, 2010 6:59 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Dell
- Streak
- Gadgets
- Mobile
The Streak’s Tablet Customizations, Not Enough
If you buy a Streak in the US today it will ship with Android 1.6 on it. Dell is promising an update to 2.2 (Froyo) before the end of the year, but until then you get to use 1.6 - originally released in 2009. The older Android OS revision sets the tone for much of my experience with the Streak. The hardware is well executed, but what we're missing is on the software side.
Dell’s customized home screen is nice. As is the case with all Android devices the home screen doesn’t rotate. While on most phones that means you get a portrait home screen, on the Streak you get a landscape one. It works.
You get four screens by default and along the top of the UI you have a number of useful tabs. The first is your app dropdown list. By default you get six icons for your frequently used apps, a list you can customize. Hit the more arrow and you’ll see a grid arrangement of all of your apps.
Moving on, we have a switcher tab. It’s labeled with your carrier’s name, in this case AT&T, but tap on it and you can add home screens, close them or switch between recent applications.
Next we have the standard notifications tab. Unlike other Android phones you don’t drag this one down to expose it, just tap.
And finally there’s a status tab. Tapping on this one will show you any alarms set, battery status, and let you enable/disable all wireless connections individually. The status tab is very well implemented and very convenient. My only complaint is that it doesn’t appear instantaneously when you select it.
This is an Android phone so you can populate each home screen with widgets, shortcuts or Folders. The icon style isn’t bad, just not as modern as possible in my opinion.
Some apps have been redesigned to take advantage of the Streak’s larger screen and the likelihood that you’ll want to use it in landscape mode. The dialer works in landscape mode, something that isn’t true of standard Android phones. In landscape mode you get a dialpad to your right and call log to your left.
The Phone app in portrait
The Phone app in landscape
The address book also works in landscape. Here you get individual buttons for all of the methods you have of contacting a specific entry (e.g. dedicated buttons for mobile phone, work phone, SMS and email). It can save a screen tap.
Contacts in portrait
Contacts in landscape
This is Android 1.6 so multitouch gestures aren’t supported in the Google Maps app. You can only double tap to zoom or use the zoom in/zoom out buttons on the screen. The pinch and stretch gestures don’t work.
Unfortunately the customizations that Dell has introduced on the Streak aren’t enough to make this device a pocketable iPad. A couple of years ago I wrote a story about HP trying to become more Apple-like. In it I said the following:
“The problem that plagues the Dells of the world however is that they don't control the software stack the way Apple does, they are still at Microsoft's mercy.
...
HP noticed this same Microsoft dependency issue, just like the rest of the PC OEMs and over the coming years you're going to see companies like HP and Dell become more like Apple, offering systems as complete packages of hardware and software solutions. We'll see broader adoption of Linux and open source software and finally some out of the box thinking.”
And now it’s very clear why HP, not HTC, was the company to buy Palm. HP needed Palm and webOS to not necessarily replace Microsoft or Google, but at least give it the option to.
Dell doesn’t have that. And to make matters worse, on a device like the Streak we do need more custom rolled software to take advantage of the larger screen size. On the iPad we got slight modifications to the mobile Safari and Mail apps that made them more pleasant to use on the larger screen. The same goes for the iBook app. As much of a gimmick as it may be at first glance, the page turning animation in Apple’s iBook app is sorely missed on the Streak.
Instead what you get is a large Android phone. And unfortunately, that’s not what makes a good tablet. I want more customization, down to the app level and I want it to be good. There’s no reason for me to have to tap twice to open a new browser window when you’ve got a 5” screen.
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randomlinh - Sunday, August 15, 2010 - link
Hey, thumbs up for actually acknowledging HPalm still exists, unlike HP themselves.. heh.The Streak looks like it could have been the ultimate media device. Something to replace the iPod touch. Some of use still like having dedicated devices that don't eat away at the battery life of their smartphones. Oh I miss the days of 3-4 days battery life of dumbphones.
swang1942 - Sunday, August 15, 2010 - link
I don't think HP is ignoring Plam's existence, they are just laying low to cooking up something in their sleeve. As far as I know, HP is actively hiring mobile phone software and hardware engineers in Shanghai, China who are dedicated to Plam development. We shall wait and see what they can come up with.Rick83 - Sunday, August 15, 2010 - link
The streak seems to be pretty much a clone of what Archos released back in October or so of last year. Form factor is pretty much identical. While the A5 is still stuck at Android 1.6 and doesn't have a built in 3g module (but can tether via bluetooth, for internet access), it does have an incredible media player and hardware acceleration so it will even play 720p HD via HDMI. It also features a dock system so cost of entry is low, customizability high, plus there's an official open firmware available so you can freely install alternative operating systems (but will lose access to some drm functions).So it's definitely the most direct competitor for the streak at this point, until its successor arrives this fall. Would be great to get a back to back review, especially now as most of the teething issues the device had due to its early launch are resolved.
vol7ron - Monday, August 16, 2010 - link
This is the perfect form factor. I've been waiting for this much screen realestate. I'm not a kid anymore, so I don't care if a phone takes up my whole pant pocket - I don't mind a bulkier phone to put in my jacket pocket.If only it had the resolution of the iPhone, I am much more likely to watch a movie on a larger screen, than on a smaller one.
Sometimes I do my Insanity/P90X workouts off my phone too, this large screen size is going to be much better. -- still waiting for these smartphones to have pico projectors and louder speakers, though.
Souka - Monday, August 16, 2010 - link
Streak?I hope it doesn't come in a color like brown! ;)
donzi7000 - Sunday, August 15, 2010 - link
My Streak comes tomorrow. I consider myself an average user of a smartphone. I don't get too involved in which OS it has. I just want to be able to use the internet with ease and not take long to look up a webpage. I find all smartphones hard to use to browse the internet. I am hoping the Streaks larger size will allow me to leave my laptop at home. Having a locked phone doesn't matter to me at all. Aren't Iphones locked? When I get my hands on the Streak tomorrow I will find out if it works for my lifestyle or not. I don't care if Dell, Apple or Hasbro make a smartphone for me as long as it fits my needs.SirKronan - Thursday, August 19, 2010 - link
Enjoy your new streak! It looks like a really nice-big screen.I'm still waiting anxiously for Anand to review one of the Galaxy S variants!! Thanks for the good review on the Dell, though.
cameralogic - Sunday, August 15, 2010 - link
So Anand, just exactly how stupid would someone look if they held this big phone up to their head? I mean, is it big enough that one can expect snickers or gasps from the people at the next table when making a call? How 'bout a pic to illustrate the actual size of that thing in use?Perhaps a Streaker would be better off using bluetooth and keeping that whopper in their pocket...
donzi7000 - Sunday, August 15, 2010 - link
How about growing some balls and stop worrying about what people think of you?user_x - Sunday, August 15, 2010 - link
In cameralogic's defense, some us us have and because of that enjoy getting laid from time to time. I for one would like to know if holding this "phone" to my head in public will render my balls useless for anything other than taking up space between my legs. I don't care how funny or charming you are, some things looks so absurd that just about everyone will mock you. I fear Dell is testing the outer limits here.