We interrupt this program - Dell Streak Review

Written by CF Professional Services Tuesday, August 03, 2010 08:19 AM

OK, so this is a slight departure for the site but I felt compelled to get my thoughts down about this new gizmo.  For the last two weeks, I've been performing a personal and "unofficial" review of the Dell Streak.  It's a new 5" Android mini tablet/smartphone.  As I approach the end of my contract with my iPhone, I thought I might look into some of the other devices.  While I love the iPhone user experience, I'm looking for something a little bigger to read messages, email and websites.  In the interest of full disclosure, I am in no way affiliated with Dell and the device I'm using was borrowed from a friend.

If you are wondering just what this thing is, Dell calls it a tablet, but it can also make phone calls. A tab-phone? A phablet?  Reviews of the device have been moderate to good.  The folks in the UK have had it for a few months and seem to be enjoying it. It hasn't been released in the US yet so I feel lucky to have worked with one. 

The Good:

1. Screen size.  At 5", it seems a bit awkward at first and some of your friends may point and laugh while you hold it to your head to make phone calls.  Very easy to read email, browse websites, watch movies and you get plenty of icons on the home screens.  Screen resolution also looks great.  (most) Apps adjusted between portrait and landscape and were easy to use. The Navigation app with voice turn-by-turn was amazing!  This is the perfect satellite navigation device and is very easy to see in the car.
2. Android.  It did come with 1.6 which is not great but the flexibility of the OS is obvious. Multi-tasking was a nice change of pace and I liked having a Back button.  There were plenty of options in the Android Market which will only improve.  I did miss my Pocket Informant app but found some temporary workarounds.  The installation of apps is very similar to the iPhone App Store and I liked how it told me the application would be accessing certain parts of the device (phone, network, etc)  I manage multiple email accounts so it was nice to find an app (K9) to fill that need.  I also love how it integrated all of my Google account information (Calendar, Tasks, Reader, Voice, Contacts).  The widgets are also fantastic for several of the apps. 
3. Build quality.  The device feels solid in your hands and fits easily in your front pocket.  Whether I wore jeans, Dockers or shorts, it did not feel weighted down.  The device does not feel like a "cheap" toy.  Even though it feels solid, there was a downside (see The Bad)
4. Removable battery.  Didn't get to really test this but like having the option.
5. External storage card.  It comes with 16GB and can be expanded to 32GB.  I loaded several songs and a few movies with room to spare.  The ability to bring additional storage cards if I needed them is a plus.
6. Dell menu.  The quick menu at the top is nice for viewing notifications, switching between home screens and getting to your apps.  I also like having the time and date displayed.
7. Front and back cameras.  Didn't get to test but mainly a "gee whiz" feature.
8. Fast Processor.  Compared to the iPhone 3G, this thing is incredibly fast.  Browser, apps, and widgets all loaded quickly (when they responded - see The Ugly).

The Bad:

1. Camera.  It takes decent pictures but I'm not going to use this as a primary camera.  At 5MP, pictures come out decent but only with sufficient lighting.  Outdoor pictures were best.   The on-screen picture options are very nice and easy to read on the large screen. The problem is the location of the lens.  I kept covering it up while trying to take pictures. It's on the edge of the device right where you would hold it to take pictures or shoot videos.  Consequently, I got some smudges on the lens for a few pictures.
2. Video.  Again, I'd get something else to create quality video and not having HD recording is not a big deal to me.  Maybe it is for others.  The quality is sufficient for most folks but again, the issue is the lens placement.
3. Volume button functionality and placement. The volume keys work one way for music and another for call volume.  In most cases, I was turning the volume opposite of what I wanted.  My personal preference would be for them to be on the left of the device while holding in portrait (must be due to my iPhone experience).  These I'll chalk up to adjusting to a new device and might be corrected with an updated OS.
4. Slick design.  While it looks nice, the finish on the device is not anti-slip so I felt like I might easily drop it.  If you have bigger hands this won't matter too much but it would be nice to have something to grip the device better.
5. Speaker placement.  It's on the back of the device so if you lay it down, the sound is muffled.  Sometimes people couldn't hear me when I was using the Speakerphone.  The sound was plenty loud but it needs to be elevated it to hear it clearly.
6. Sound quality.  Music sounded OK but you need a headphone for the best experience. I heard callers without any problems although they sometimes could not hear me.  Some said that my voice was breaking up while talking.  This could be due to AT&T service in my area and not so much the device.  In better service areas, calls were fine. 
7. Battery life.  It rarely lasted all day (but then I'm used to that with my iPhone).  I read email, text, check news stories, listen to music and even monitor websites during the day.  I suspect the faster processor and larger screen drain the battery a bit more than smaller devices.
8. Available App Storage.  2GB is a bit small for the number of apps out there.  I used about 1GB of space with the apps I installed and didn't even get to games (I did install one game).  If you don't have many apps, this will be more than enough.
9. Home screens.  This may not be an issue since I'm new to Android.  If all I get is six, this is a serious problem.  It would also be nice to be able to rearrange the screens but again, I'm guessing this can be done if you know more about the OS.  I'd also like stationary icons to flip to various screens rather than going through the menu.

The Ugly:

1. Power button placement.  This makes no sense whatsoever.  The power button is near the middle on the top (while holding in landscape) of the device.  It's also slightly recessed so it's not easy to locate while not looking at the device.  I kept trying to turn on the device with the camera shutter button.
2. Onscreen keyboard. I was hoping this would make text entry easier due to the larger screen, but the default keyboard is terrible.  The Numpad idea doesn't work so a third party keyboard is needed.  Even with my bigger hands, it was difficult to use the keys.  Plus, the keys are too close together and the suggested words are right about 10% of the time.  I had to turn off suggested words.  I also turned on the vibrate option when entering text which helped, but reaching over the Numpad made typing very slow.
3. Responsiveness.  Frequently after placing or receiving a call, the device became unresponsive and did not recognize when I pressed a key (like when trying to end a call). I left some empty voicemails to friends and sometimes could not even answer a call.  Also, when I turned on the device (not a boot), several times I could not press any buttons on the screen.  Nothing worked for about 30-45 seconds and on more than one occasion, I had to reboot the device.  When it was working, it was great.  But about 50% of the time I turned it on, nothing worked for nearly a minute. 
4. Landscape only home screens.  This drove me nuts.  I've read somewhere (can't find it now) that Dell user tests claim most people will hold this device in landscape mode.  I beg to differ. Instinctively, I hold the device with one hand (portrait) not two (landscape).  When I hold it like a phone (portrait), all of the icons and widgets were sideways. Maybe this can be corrected with an OS update or rooting but until the screens change orientation when flipped, this makes it difficult for me to use as an everyday device.

Of the "Ugly", only the power button placement seems like something that can not be easily fixed assuming the responsiveness is an OS issue and not hardware related.  This may be true for the volume buttons too.  I'd probably adjust to the button placement anyway but until this is released with a newer version of Android, I'll stick to my iPhone.  I'm still looking for an Android replacement and would prefer a larger screen (4+ inches). 

Now back to your regularly scheduled program.