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Dell’s 5-inch Streak, released to the U.S. market in August 2010, suffered from something of an identity crisis. Was it a tablet competitor to Apple’s iPad, despite the smaller touch-screen? Or did its calling ability make it more of an Android smartphone, on par with the Samsung Galaxy S? Dell obviously hoped its new baby would appeal to an audience in the market for both types of device—the risk being that, in attempting to hit that sweet spot between the two, the Streak would end up an also-ran in the tablet and smartphone categories.
Dell’s Streak 7 suffers no such crisis. It seems clearly meant to compete within the tablet category, and specifically with the Samsung Galaxy Tab and Research In Motion’s upcoming PlayBook, both of which also include 7-inch screens. Like with battery like Dell 312-0068 Battery , Dell 312-0518 Battery , Dell 312-0625 Battery , Dell 312-3250 Battery , Dell 3149C Battery , Dell 315-0084 Battery , Dell 3R305 Battery , Dell 5081P Battery , Dell 53977 Battery , Dell 6171R Battery , Dell 6T473 Battery , Dell 6Y270 Battery its predecessor and the other Android-based tablets currently on the market, the Streak 7 runs Android 2.2 (“Froyo”), which was developed for smartphones (and smaller screens). Dell is promising “over-the-air” software updates in the future, presumably to the upcoming, tablet-optimized Android 3.0 (“Honeycomb”), and that could change the user experience considerably. In the meantime, all the quirks of Android 2.2 on a larger-screen device are pretty apparent.
Hardware-wise, the Dell Streak 7 is a handsome, middle-of-the-road tablet. It weighs just under a pound. The 7-inch screen, paired with the smoothly curved bezels, offers a comfortable one-handed grip—provided you have a hand on the larger side. The textured backing provides a little bit of friction on smooth surfaces, and the Gorilla Glass front will presumably resist at least some damage; it survived four 3-foot and 5-foot test drops onto a hardwood floor with no cracking or chipping. (As always, dropping your expensive mobile device is not recommended.)
Whereas the original Dell Streak featured three mechanical buttons along its topmost rim—camera, power and volume—the Streak 7 offers only power and volume. Like the original Streak, this larger edition relies on a PDMI (Portable Digital Media Interface) connector with a 30-pin receptacle, connected to a USB port and AC adaptor. Both Streaks’ design is such that the connector takes a bit of fumbling to slot into the tablet, but that’s a comparatively minor quibble—far more minor, say, than the Streak 7’s seeming inability to charge when plugged via USB into my ThinkPad.
The front of the Streak 7 offers three capacitive buttons: Back, Menu and Home. This is an Android device standard, and they all seemed responsive no matter what application or feature happened to be running at the time.
The Streak 7’s screen, with an 800 by 480 resolution, seems a bit dim, compared with the Samsung Galaxy Tab’s 1024 by 600 resolution. RIM has claimed its PlayBook’s resolution will match the Tab’s, which means the Streak 7 could find itself lagging in the category come the next few quarters. Nor was the Streak 7’s viewing angles particularly ample: unless you stare at the screen head-on, or at the slightest angle, it becomes unacceptably dark.
If the Streak 7’s hardware has an Achilles Heel, it’s the 5-megapixel rear-facing camera. The software is Android standard, with the ability to granularly adjust for picture quality, white balance, etc. No matter what the setting and lighting conditions, though, the resulting images often appeared muddy or washed-out. The camera module’s positioning on the upper-left portion of the Streak’s frame also made for some awkward centering.
As with the original Streak, the camera’s bright spot—so to speak—is the camcorder, and its ability to shoot 720p video. Uploading both still images and video to Picasa, Facebook, Gmail and Twitter is a snap.