All signs are pointing to a 3G-less Dell Streak. The device as recently certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance and then as if on cue, Amazon posts the pre-order product page. The retailer lists the new model for $379, which works out to be $70 less than the off-contract price of its older 3G counterpart and of course does not require any monthly cellular fees. But everything else is apparently the same. According to the Amazon page, the WiFi-only model still has 16GB of storage, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, front-facing 1.3MP camera, with Android 2.2 at the core. So really, the only question concerns the release date. When? → Read More
The Dell Streak was once rather long in the tooth when it seemed to have Android 1.6 forever. While the Streak is made up of some pretty good pieces, it tried to cover too much ground as both a phone and a tablet (5-inches is above the cutoff). Sadly, even with a decent price, the Streak never really made much sense, but that didn’t stop some from trying to take it to the next level. → Read More
The big product launch this week was Rupert Murdoch’s new iPad publication, The Daily. On this episode of Fly or Die, CrunchGear editor John Biggs and I weigh in on its prospects for survival. We also discuss Clicker’s iPhone app and the Dell Streak 7 tablet, and we are joined by a surprise guest from one of the companies whose products we evaluate.
While The Daily not exactly the direction I would have taken, it’s paywall is easily circumvented, and it does take forever to load, it is very well packaged and a truly immersive experience. When I read it, I spend a considerable amount of time in the app flipping through pages to see what else is in store. And I’m a former magazine guy who’s given up on magazines, so that’s saying a lot. Biggs also finds it intriguing. → Read More
Short Version: Here we go again: another impressive 7-inch Android tablet with a Gorilla Glass screen, 4G networking, and a suave interface. But is this thing more of the same or something new? The tried-and-true 7-inch tablet is, by now, old hat. In fact, little about the Dell Streak 7 is new except the clear emphasis on media playback and T-Mobile’s 4G wireless. On the aggregate, I’d say that this is a strong showing for Dell and does just enough to stand out from the current tablet crowd. → Read More
The Dell Streak is clever device, but with its 5-inch screen, a touch on the large size for a phone and a touch on the small size for tablet. Still, a good amount swear by it saying it’s the best of both — like this commercial. It cleverly shows all the usefulness that comes with the larger screen like games, navigation, Facebook, video capture — really everything — but in true marketing fashion, does so without showing the downside transporting the large device.
Not that you can blame them, though. It’s the job of marketing to point out all the pros while minimizing the cons. Still, a 5-inch slate might seem like a great product until you try to put it in your pant’s pocket. Or in the cup holder of your car. Or in a shirt pocket. Or on your hip in a holster. Yeah, the Streak is a clever device, but it’s also a big device. Your call whether it’s a pro or a con. The commercial after the break will try to sway you to the former though. → Read More
Chances are you already have a tablet on your wish list whether it be the iPad, Galaxy Tab, or even the Dell Streak. But if you don’t, the infograph after the jump will help you figure out what fanboy club you need to join. → Read More
UK Streaks are about to get a little more awesome. O2 is now sending the neccessary bits for the Donut to Eclair upgrade to all the Dell Streaks on its network. Along with the increase in speed and reliability, 2.1 brings 720p video recording, pinch-to-zoom multitouch, multiple Exchange accounts, and various UI enhancements. But you should have already known that. Users have been rocking 2.1 on their Streaks for sometime now; this is just the OTA method. Owners can search for the updates in the Settings menu under About Phone and then System Updates. Or you can download it and install from an SD card. → Read More
If you’ve ever wanted to know what was inside of a Dell Streak, have we got a web page for you. Our buddies at iFixIt ripped up the Dell Streak, revealing its sweet, sweet circuit boards and tiny camera. One interesting point: the LCD is bonded to the front glass which means you can’t replace just the LCD assembly. Weird. → Read More
It seems the main reason people are sitting on the fence about the Dell Streak — that is if they’re into the large form factor — is the stock Android 1.6 release. Well, the Streak’s 2.1 release suddenly appeared over at Modaco’s Forums this morning and users seem to have nothing but good things to say about the release. Chief among them is the noticeable performance bump and the reworked camera interface along with 720p video capture. The only small issue is that the update wipes the device clean during the update process. Now, there’s really no way of knowing when the official 2.1 release is coming later this month, but at least this is other there and seems to solve many of the early adopter’s gripes. [modaco forums via StreakSmart] → Read More
Someone at Dell deserves a raise. Actually, a bunch of people probably deserve a monetary reward for the Dell Streak as it takes many people to get a product to market. It’s the fact that the Dell Streak actually made off an engineer’s computer and to retail stores is something that should be celebrated. In an iPad and iPhone world, Dell threw out the mold and made something actually different. That’s awesome.
Dell finally released the Streak’s price and release date yesterday: available August 13th for $300 on contract, $550 off. A bit more than the norm, yes, but the Streak isn’t your average phone/tablet. It’s the convergence of two form factors and Dell must have known it wasn’t an iPad killer or any of that nonsense from the start. It really seems like the company just wanted to offer consumers something a bit different. → Read More
Short Version If Charlie the Unicorn has taught us anything it’s that the road to success is fraught with setbacks and, if you’re not careful, your best friends will cut out your kidneys. It is with these life-lessons in mind that we examine the Dell Streak, a 5-inch Android 1.6 tablet that shows much promise but is hobbled by Android OS fracturing. → Read More
The 5-inch Dell Streak is a curious little device. It’s clearly not for everyone, but even John Biggs is starting to enjoy the 5-inch device – and he’s a grumpy, burned-out gadget blogger. Anyway, Dell just went live with the pricing deets and they are kind of what we imagined. It will run $299 with a two-year AT&T contract and $549 without. If you sign up for a pre-order slot by tonight, you’ll get first dibs on the phone when it goes on sale. Our full review should hit shortly. Also, the Dell Aero smartphone should hit AT&T August 9th for $99.99 on contract and $299 off. That’s just in case you need another Android phone to muck up your buying decision. → Read More
Been itching for the 5-inch Dell Streak Android tablet/cell phone/slate thing? Me too, which makes me happy to pass along the word that the Streak’s pre-sale page is now up. No, you can’t order it yet, but you can put in your contact info to receive notification the second Dell’s ready to take your money. Signing up will also get your shipping upgraded to 2nd Business Day and the opportunity to buy a Plantronics Bluetooth headset for only $0.99 when purchased with the Streak. Can’t hate that. → Read More
The Dell Streak, the 5-inch tablet that won the hearts of the technorati last month, is coming to the US and we had a chance to play with it over the past few days. The Android-powered tablet is no iPad but a worthy entrant in the tablet olympics. → Read More
The iPad is the king of tablets and might hold that title for years to come. However, there are a ton of alternatives that we’ve featured over the last few months, mostly in these two posts (1 & 2) detailing the top 14. But since I ran those posts, a lot has changed and while some managed to make it to the market, others were delayed or scrapped entirely.
It’s sad, really. While the iPad caters to the masses with the Luddite-approved iOS, others crave much more usability and none of the tablets announced that claim to fulfills these needs have been released yet. Click through to see what I mean. → Read More
In a move that suggests a tad of insecurity on Apple’s behalf, the iPad maker is apparently buying Google AdWords ads targeting potential buyers of the Dell Streak, the Android-powered micro-tablet or netpad or whatever it is people cooler than me call the device.
The screenshot above was taken after I did a search for ‘Dell Streak’ on Google.co.uk (thanks for the tip, Tom from Rudefox). As you can see, Cupertino is trying to capture the attention of Dell Streak searchers by buying text ads on Google, in an attempt to get them to click through to the iPad product page instead of moving on with said search. → Read More
The Dell Streak is set to be released here in the states sometime soon — we hear the end of July. The 5-inch tablet/phone/EVO-eater will no doubt launch to a ton of criticism about it’s large stature and whatnot. Love it or hate it, this is what the retail packaging will likely look like. Think Jabra headset packaging, but with a very large touchscreen instead of a bluetooth headset suspended in a clear acrylic casing. → Read More
First off let me apologize for the photo quality. I only had a few short minutes to spend the Streak and it happened to be in a dark room that looked like Batman decorated it. So the photos aren’t the best, but this is just a taste. We’ll have a proper set soon.
Anyway, I happened to have an EVO 4G with me and I must say that the Dell Streak makes it look like normal-sized phone. There is a large difference in the overall size even though the screen size is only .7-inches larger. It’s as thin as the Evo, but it still feels a bit too large to be a phone. However, that thought might be premature as it might be something you need to use to appreciate. The whole package feels solid, refined and wonderful. It’s clearly not for everyone given its large size, but a lot of people will probably love it.
Click through for photos. → Read More
It looks like Dell has been quietly toiling away at a whole family of tablets and not just the 5-inch Streak shown off post-CES 2010. There are 7- and 10-inch version in the works, too. It’s not actually a surprise per se as we doubt anyone really believed that Dell’s only tablet offering would be a small 5-inch guy. → Read More
