Review: Dell Streak 7 gets reviewed

Dell released Dell Streak last year as 5 inch touch screen device. It was too big to be called as Smartphone and too small to be called as tablet. It was not really clear in terms of what Dell was trying to target with this device. To follow up on that device, Dell has announced a 7 inch version of the series with revised configurations.

Most manufacturers are opting for 10 inch tablets to compete directly with iPad. While the 10 inch screen gives more room for the content, it does feel bulky for portability. The 7 inch tablets of Nook Color, Galaxy Tab and now Dell Streak definitely feels more comfortable and portable. It is a good size for eReader and is not too much of a compromise when it comes to tablet applications.

The device packs 1 GHz dual-core Tegra T20 processor, 1.3 MP front facing camera, 5 MP lens on the rear, T-Mobile 4G (pseudo) HSPA+ connectivity and 16 GB of internal memory. The tablet runs Android 2.2 with the Dell skin on top called Dell Stage UI. The hardware specification of the device definitely makes it eligible for running Honeycomb, when it is released. The hardware definitely can support it, but Dell and T-Mobile need to collaborate to make it available on this device. The device will cost $200 on contract with T-Mobile and $450 without.

The design definitely takes most of the positives from the 5 inch version, but the omission of removal battery is definitely a bummer. The device also does not have HDMI output and needs a proprietary cable to have USB connectivity or charge on the device. When the use of USB connectivity is becoming the norm, going for a proprietary port for charging (like Apple) is definitely another bummer.

As per the review, the specification on the device mentioned that the process was under-clocked to 800 MHz, but was still able to give snappier performance than Galaxy Tab. In the case of Galaxy Tab, some of the application like Mail was optimized for Tablet layout and Dell has missed out on that also. This makes it more like a stretched smartphone.

On the whole, the details of the review and finer details can be got from the Engadget post about this. Once again another manufacturer has made a half-baked Android tablet and rushed to the market with it. In spite of having sufficient consumer feedbacks and expectations, these products from the vendors makes the overall platform of Android look unappealing.

I guess Google may have to go the Nexus route, to introduce a reference hardware for Tablet, just like how it did with Smartphone

Author: Vinod
Source: Engadget