DELL STREAK—$299 with 2 year AT&T Phone and data contract
Posted on 08/30/2010 3:09:03 PM PDT by Swordmaker
Well, Dell made it out of the gate with one of the first Android-powered tablets and the result is a resounding thud.
The Dell "Streak" offers a 5-inch screen, weighs about 8 ounces and has a 5-megapixel camera. It measures 6 inches by 3 inches, and therein lies its main issue.
What is it?
It's not an iPad, which is clearly like a magazine page. When you hold an iPad, it's not a phone. It's a tablet. It is big. It is not something you'd make a phone call on. It's something you take notes on, or read a book on or look at a photo on.
The Streak is way too big for a phone, but it's a phone. It's too small for a tablet, but it's a tablet. And at $300 (with a two-year cell contract) it is too expensive for everything.
Let's start with the nice parts of the Streak. It is hefty and feels good in your hands. It feels like a tool, not a toy. The keyboard is easy to use and takes advantage of the Android operating system and the large size of the Streak so it is simple and easy to type on.
Then there is Android itself, which is open and full of avid developers making all kinds of new applications for the OS every week. Android is just fun.
And there is the bad news.
Android. Well, Dell has decided to ship the Streak with version 1.6 of Android when the current version is 2.2, which is inexcusable, lazy and stupid. Not version 2.0, not 2.1 or even the new 2.2. The day you open the Streak you will be running an obsolete operating system. Of course, Dell is promising an upgrade to 2.2 this year, but when?
The price: At $300 with a new contract, this is a hundred bucks more than the DroidX, which is a better device. The real bad news is the contract is on AT&T, and frequent readers of this column will know how I feel about that. (The network is overburdened and isn't very good.) If you want to buy one without a contract, it will cost you $500 to $600 for an unlocked version you can use on WiFi only, and for that kind of money you're in iPad land.
So then you have to wonder as you hold this thing in your hand: What is it good for? It's too big and too heavy for a phone and too small and too expensive to be a tablet. This strikes me as a nice try and a good first volley, but other than the novelty factor, it is just not the right form factor to be a big impact on the overall market.
If this thing was $99 and WiFi only, it would be pretty interesting. But at this price and heft, I think Dell has taken an uncharacteristic swing and miss with the Streak.
James Derk is owner of CyberDads, a computer repair firm. His e-mail address is jim@cyberdads.com.
...if it were that price, I could have some fun with home networks, flush mounted in doors and media room coffee table.
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More of a skidmark than a streak.
Give it a couple of years...
My question is why Android 1.6? 2.2 is free as well... and much more robust. Why cripple it out the gate? That just doesn't make sense...
Good point, 2.2 is awesome and getting Flash which would be more useful for a tablet.
Motorola has been making a lot of Andorid devices, maybe they’ll make a good tablet.
Oops... Typo... make that a 5” diagonal screen... sorry about that. I was just reading about the new Korean tablet available only in Korea... it’s the one that has the 7 inch screen.
DISASTER !!
Getting flash will be useful.... for draining your battery.
I”m trying to figure out - 5 inch vs. 9.7inches... How is that a direct competitor in any meaningful way?
Further - they then cripple the device by using an older version of Android.
I’m puzzled...
Battery life is so good now, and so many people use media docks, I don’t think it will be that big of a deal. I know it isn’t Flash, but I run my Mot Droid (original) on Pandora all day and usually the battery lasts most of the day when I don’t have it in the dock.
Sam’s has the Sony Dash for $149.xx, but the demo unit is just a running ad, doesn’t get to cost anytime in the first 90 seconds, which is when I left.
Dell may only have struck out with this but they definitely struck out with the changes they’ve made to their outsourced Technical Support. I recently called for warranty support (six monthe to go on a 2 year warranty) with an issue I couldn’t resolve and reached what I thought was TS. The guy(in Hyderabad or Mumbai)who answered took my information and then spent the rest of the call on a hard sell to extend my warranty. When I demanded to be transferred to TS, the call was disconnected. I had to call back and received yet another hard sell to extend my warranty. I demanded TS and was successfully transferred this time. The agent in TS fixed the problem and then astounded me with another aggressive sales pitch to extend my warranty.
I’ve used Dell’s for many years but this has so put me off that I will never again buy anything from Dell and will will certainly never recommend Dell to anyone I don’t hate.
Dell is also releasing a "smartphone" that seems to have been crippled out the gate also... with Android 1.5! Are they being deliberately obtuse?
Seriously folks, what kind of people would actually watch a full-length movie on a 5” screen? And enjoy it too?
“Seriously folks, what kind of people would actually watch a full-length movie on a 5” screen? And enjoy it too?
“
Just strap it to your face with a bungee cord or duct tape. How big are your eyeballs?
Streak? Were they trying to compete with the iPad for the least thought-out mobile device name award?
Flash has apparently been not-too-impressive on handhelds. You can’t just play most Flash content, it needs to be re-worked for mobiles for it to work right on a handheld. That kind of blows away the argument of “You need Flash to access much of the existing content on the Internet.”
I’ve been impressed by how long my Vibrant battery lasts when just using Slacker. Using data and the screen is a killer, but it appears either/or isn’t too bad.
Most manufacturers are still beta testing Android 2.2. It may just need a little more polish before the upgrade is released.
I hear it’s great as a chopping board for dicing onions!
Android 2.2 was in full release three months ago, and most manufacturers, being part of the Open Handset Alliance, had access to it well before that. Dell is promising 2.2 later this year, which is when Android 3.0 is expected out. All of these Android tablets so far have been WAY behind the curve.
My wife's phone, Samsung’s flagship and arguably the fastest phone in the market now, will not get 2.2 until next month. My phone is scheduled to get 2.2 in October.
When Google releases an update, it is not for general release, it is for the individual manufacturers to start making ROMs for their various products.
Some manufacturers apparently have looked at Google’s plans and have decided to skip some of the versions. 2.2 is going to be the end of the road for a lot of hardware out there, not much point in spending time on 2.1 when you can polish 2.2 and be done.
“Seriously folks, what kind of people would actually watch a full-length movie on a 5” screen? And enjoy it too?”
You are absolutely right, anything less than 60” is a waste of time.
What do you think of this?
http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/31/hannspree-pairs-android-2-2-with-tegra-2-for-a-10-1-inch-multito/
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