Streak. It needs no introduction, as this slate’s been gaining a lot of attention amongst gadget lovers around the world. Thanks to the UK launch last Friday, we were one of the first on this planet to procure Dell’s finalized Android 1.6 phone from O2. Yep, you heard right — Engadget’s now in possession of two Streaks, with the older one still in its original and somewhat unstable prototype state. Our new toy sports a matte “carbon” finish instead of chrome (no word on future availability; the red version’s coming in two weeks’ time), and now 399MB of RAM instead of 405MB (according to Android System Info app; it’s actually a 512MB chip). Anyhow, now that we have the real deal, there’s plenty to go through, so join us after the break to see if the Streak’s really going to start a new trend.
My(Melissa J. Perenson) experience with the Streak sums up the devices schizoid nature-is it a ginormous smartphone on steroids (not quite) or a tablet computer for your palm (closer to the mark). In the end, in spite of its unique design and appealing viability as a handheld media device, in use the Streak feels too much like last year’s Android device.
(This review will be updated as soon as Dell announces the particulars of the Streak’s availability and pricing).
Specs–
Hardware-wise, the Dell Streak features the following:
- A sharp 5-inch capacitive multi-touch WVGA (800×480) display for a great full-screen experience watching video or browsing the web
- Fast 1GHz Snapdragon ARM-based mobile processor from Qualcomm
- 5 MP autofocus camera with dual LED flash that offers easy point & shoot capability and quick uploads to YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and more
- VGA front-facing camera enables video chat functionality down the road
- A user-removable (and replaceable) battery
- A 3.5mm headphone jack means many of you can use the Dell Streak as the music source (and more) in your car
- Integrated 3G + Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) + Bluetooth 2.1 (think headsets, external keyboards, stereo headsets, etc.)
- UMTS / GPRS / EDGE class 12 GSM radio with link speeds of HSDPA 7.2 Mbps / HSUPA
- A user-accessible Micro SD slot expandable up to 32GB. That means you can store lots of movies, music, photos or other kinds of files.
On the software side, here’s what you can expect:
- A customized multi-touch version of the Google Android operating system that features Dell user interface enhancements
- Access to over 38,000 apps (and growing) via the Android Marketplace
- Microsoft Exchange connectivity and integration through TouchDown
- Google Voice support
- Integrated Google Maps with voice-activated search, turn-by-turn navigation, street and satellite views
- Quick access to activity streams via integrated social network app widgets like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube