PDA Reviews

The original Dell Streak came down with a bit of identity crisis; as the 5″ device did not belong either to the tablet family or its Smartphone cousins, and ended up in the hands of very few consumers. However, its big brother, the Streak 7 has escaped this issue; it is a tablet that is meant to be doing all things tablet such as reading ebooks, video playbacks as well as surfing the web.

Though the Dell Streak 7 might just look like a magnified Streak 5, but do not judge it by its outer cover as it differs in more than just the size, with a powerful 1GHz dual core Tegra T20 processor, 4G HSPA connectivity, a 5mp lens on the rear and 1.3mp front facing camera, and a 16GB of internal memory. As far as software is concerned, it is powered by Android 2.2 and the User Interface is Dell’s Stage, which the company promises to upgrade to Honeycomb as soon as it is ready. With the sounds of the features, it looks like one of the most complete 7” tablets in the current market. Unfortunately, there are a few factors that might keep its consumers from taking out the cash, find out what are they.

Design:

An enlarged original Streak:

Irrespective of the angle at which the Streak 7 Tablet PC is looked at, it still looks very much like an enlarged version of its 5″ predecessor. And this might not actually be a thing to complain about as the original’s tapered edges and quite rugged and durable plastic build is adorable. It is quite obvious that Dell is trying to have some identical design fashions throughout the Streak series, but it seems to be having some cues from the relatives of Venue Pro and Venue too. The style borrowing is evident in the rear that has similar textured diamond pattern. The feel of the device in hands is pretty good, and unlike that of the Streak 5, its rear does not have a removable battery, which is an absolute disappointment, the reason, you will find in the battery life section of the review.

Low-resolution woes:

While not in use, the display of the Streak 7 looked simply identical to that of the Galaxy Tab, as both of them seem to be pretty glossy with their 7″ Gorilla Glass display that feels pretty smooth to be touched. But that thought will change immediately as soon as it is turned on. When compared to the 1024 x 600 pixels resolution display of the Galaxy Tab, Streak 7’s 800 x 480 pixels panel looked simply cheap, and this will be very much obvious while browsing, reading , viewing images or just while watching a HD video clip. In side by side comparison, the Streak 7 looked lack lustre and if you are particular about the pixel numbers, just stop reading here and look at the alternative options available.

Disappointment with Display:

Getting back to the display, the most drastic difference is with how much brighter Galaxy’s version turned out to be. Flatly, Samsung’s panel is better than Dell’s in every way and will prove to be big difference as the complete tablet experience revolves around the display. The quality is also affected with the viewing angles; when held horizontally about 45 degrees, the colours just fade away to black. However, the vertical viewing angle is better when compared to that of the display of Galaxy Tab, which can be seen in pretty much any angle, but remember, you will not be able to get that supreme quality at any cost. Thought the quality of viewing on the display is not up to the mark, this capacitive display is very responsive and this is helped a great deal by the Tegra 2 processor. The accelerometer was also pretty snappy, but we just wished for an easy way to switch off the feature than to go through the settings menu of the display.

The handy 7″:

Though most of the Tablet manufacturers look towards the 10” form factor, the portability factor offered by the 7” models; some of our friends are wishing for a 7” iPad. Similar to that of the Archos 7 and the Galaxy Tab, the Streak 7 too is good with single hand using than the other 10” tablets we had tested. This 0.48” Streak 7 is comfy to be held while reading an ebook on bed or just wrapping both the hand around this 0.9 pounds tablet and just use the thumbs to type on it.

Buttons and slots:

The Dell Streak 7  Android Table is quite clean and all it has is three capacitive buttons for home, menu as well as back, the camera on the front of the device and mic. The SD card and SIM card slots have been hidden inside a plastic latch on its right edge, which can become quite hard to be opened if you do not have long nails. On the top, there is the volume rocker and power button. You will find a 3.5mm headphone jack on the left edge. Unfortunately, Dell has not offered any HDMI op on the tablet, but does provide a separate dock that is to be attached to a PDMI port beneath the unit. If you are wondering about the PDMI port, it is same as the one found in the original, and again as there is not even a USB port on the device, keep the cord in hands always if you wish to recharge or connect it to any other gadget. Charging is not done through USB and it has to be plugged into the wall with the help of its AC adaptor. Yes, it is absolutely annoying.

Features:

Software:

Most of the tablets that were announced this year in the Consumer Electronics Show are waiting for the release of Google’s Android 3.0 Honeycomb, which has been programmed especially for Tablets. But Dell alone had no patience whatsoever and released the Streak 7 with the Android 2.2, and it really feels rushed too and this fact is just stressed with Dell not taking any effort in addition to what the OS had to offer. You will find the software experience to be same as that of the original Streak and Venue, which had Stage UI with Dell’s full screen widgets along with the launcher. The widgets actually seem to be pretty useful and, on clicking over Home, you get the recently used apps and the local weather details as well. What is more, you get to see the all important Facebook and Twitter feed, gallery of locally stored pictures, and a Web search bar with thumbnails of your bookmarks. If you are not too keen about these widgets, they can always be deleted and just go on to customise it with regular Android Widgets and apps. Quick access to the mail app, app tray and browser is provided by the launcher at the base. Customisation of the launcher will just kill your time.

Music player:

The ordinary and boring looking stock Android music player, stresses more that Dell has rushed the Streak 7 into the market. This player is the one that you will find in any Android phone. Though it is quite functional, in heavy bass tones, the audio is rather lacking and glaringly still in the loudest setting. You also do not get any sort of visualisations or equaliser setting to enhance the experience.

The apps:

Taking about apps, none of them, not even the mail and some of the other native apps like messaging and calendar apps have not even got any sort of upgrades that can take advantage of the additional display real estate. It is shocking that Dell has not even bothered to optimise the Gmail experience. We cannot help appreciating Samsung in this regard, as they had done heaps of retooling. We think Dell thought that since the Streak 7 had the same resolution as that of the original, it did not have the need.
Being a tablet, the messaging experience can turn out to be a little challenging as there are specific ways in which it has to be held and also considering the size of on-screen keys. The additional apps available include BrainPOP which is an educational game for the kids, Kindle, a magazine app called as Zinio, Blockbuster, Let’s Golf and a Slacker Radio. You get Swype too, but this large device does not ask for regular thumb typing. T-Mobile has done its part by including the T-Mobile TV and Qik Video Chat apps. Overall, as far as the software package is concerned, it is simply an oversized smartphone. A couple of months back, that was acceptable, but with the Honeycomb around the corner, it is all about to change.

Camera:

A quick video chat with our friend was good with the Qik Video Chat app, using the front facing 1.3mp camera in Dell Streak 7. Though that app on its own does not provide you with good quality video, we have to mention that it is better on WiFi than what you can get expect from 4G, still do not expect it to be desktop grade for the sake of video calling. The stills taken with the lens on the front is pretty good and obviously, the 5mp camera on the rear turned out with better snaps that were crisper, but a little washed out. That said, taking pictures with a 7” viewfinder makes it all the more awkward. But the auto-focus is quicker and the flash is pretty handy in low-lit conditions. Dell has not provided any panorama or continuous shooting option like the one found on the Galaxy Tab, but to make up for it, the Streak 7 has the capability to take 720p video. Though you get smooth motion capture, the footage seemed to be pretty grainy and oversaturated.

Performance:

Dell’s Streak 7 is one of the first tablets that we had tested, sporting NVIDIS’s 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 T20 processor. It is odd that the processor has been down-clocked to 800MHz and Dell gives the reason to be “saving power”. But the down-clocking has not had any kind of effect on the performance of the Tablet and most of the time, it seems to be snappier than the Galaxy Tab. Operations such as scrolling through the web pages, opening the apps and flicking through the pictures is done in a breeze. The games were pretty good too. Apart from the fast performance, the processor also offers full HD playback and this Dell product does exactly that. One 1080p clip played without any stuttering or lag and this is just pointless when you consider that the screen is pretty much awful. If you wish to get any value out of the HD video, the HDMI op cable comes handy. The YouTube videos were impressive and the general flash performance seemed to be pretty decent. Video clips loaded in a few seconds and we were good to go.

Battery life:

Unfortunately, ‘good performance’ is not the case with Battery life, and it is seriously disappointing. The maximum you can get out of the Streak 7 is about six hours. With about 5 hours of use on 4G network, like checking emails, twitter feeds, surfing and google maps, Streak 7 just died. With the WiFi On, you can get about 6 hours. Its life is almost half of that of Galaxy Tab; though this can be expected with the larger 4000mAh cell on the Tab, this low life cannot be ignored for a highly mobile device such as this one. It is true that having the HSPA+ or 4G network is always going to eat away the battery life, but that is the feature offering quick browsing. As you can imagine, you will not be able to make calls with the Streak 7, but can always send messages.

Package:

The package contents of the Dell Streak 7 includes USB cable, Hands-free  headset, a wall charger, a quick start guide with terms and conditions.

Warranty:

Dell offers its Streak 7 one year warranty for parts and labour.

Verdict:

Though the Dell Streak 7 has better set of specifications than the original Streak, its experience has not taken any big leap. This is mainly because it runs the same software and in spite of having a bigger display, the low resolution does not enhance its usefulness. And, it does not even make any calls. The Streak 7 just needed some more love from Dell and it would have been a great device. We do not think this was the right time or form to bring the Tablet into the market. Its price tag is pretty competitive and HSPA+ gives it the power of speed, but the low resolution display, soon to be out-dated Operating System and poor battery life, makes it hard for us to recommend the product even though it is budget friendly.

Dell Streak 7 Android Tablet PC – Technical Specification Table

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