Dell Streak review

To fully take advantage of the Streak's GPS capabilities, you need to use Dell's car docking kit, which costs a not inconsiderable £55 inc VAT. We took the Streak out onto the streets without the kit but, as ever, were impressed by Google Maps Navigation.

The visual directions are clear and its mapping solid, even if you do need to revert to common sense once you get close to your destination (it got very confused as to the exact whereabouts of Macclesfield Station).

In some ways it's not ideally set up for the 5in screen though. Yes, the road mapping is large, but if and when you do need to press a button you'll find they're uncomfortably small. And, because the touch-sensitive buttons on the side of the Streak are so sensitive, it's all too easy to accidentally go back to the Android home screen when you're trying to do something else entirely.

The other problem is the built-in speakers. To make sure you can hear what the synthesised voice just said over the background hum of the road, the volume needs to be set to three-quarters or above. And the speakers start to distort at that volume. It's fine most of the time, but if the road name isn't familiar then it's easy to mis-hear.

Battery life

You’d be wise to invest in this kit if you want to regularly use the Streak as a satnav, because battery life with the GPS on will fall rapidly otherwise. However, in normal use, and coupled with a generously sized battery (1,530mAh) it retained 60% of its charge after our 24-hour test (this includes polling for email every 30 minutes, playing back audio for an hour, making a 30-minute phone call, and hooking up to the internet for an hour with the screen on). That puts it on a par with the iPhone 4 – pretty darned good for a device with a screen this large – although heavy users will certainly need to recharge it every day.

You can recharge either via the supplied USB-adapter plug or by plugging it into your computer. If you do the latter, you can also synchronise your Outlook contacts and calendar via Dell PC Suite (which you load direct from the Streak). While some people have reported problems with this, it worked fine with our setup (Windows 7, Office 2010), but there are signs Dell could have done a better job of quality control.

The English used, for instance, is poor. During setup, you have to click on Contacts under Categories and tick the checkbox “Synchronise this category”. As handy explanatory text, it says “Select this category to include your contact times to this synchronisation”. And, “Select the PC application for this category that you wish to synchronise your mobile phone with”. Plain English it ain’t.

Conclusion

We can’t recommend the Dell Streak yet. For it to become the natural choice for browsing the internet, it needs to support Flash. And for this, it needs Android 2.2. Dell can promise an upgrade all it wants, but until we see it for ourselves we can’t say when it will arrive.

There are other problems with the Streak as well. Its size is just too large for most pockets, so you’ll miss the always-there convenience of a phone. On the other hand, its screen isn’t as big or as beautiful as the Apple iPad’s, which rules out iBook reading or the much-heralded rebirth of digital magazines.

And it’s expensive. Dell sells it for £449 inc VAT SIM-free, while O2 cuts the price to £399 inc VAT on a pay-as-you-go contract. Opt for its data-only £25 per month contract – which ties you down for 24 months on a 3GB limit and 500MB of Wi-Fi hotspot access – and the total cost is £600. If you want to use the Streak as a phone as well, prepare to pay £35 per month for a total cost of £840.

Nevertheless, there’s an awful lot to like. Considering its screen size, battery life is good. Dell also makes the most of Google Android, with a slick user interface married to the tens of thousands of apps – many of which are free. And the hardware is rather attractive too: we’d be happy to be seen with this on the train.

If Android 2.2 comes along, and Dell adapts it successfully to the Streak, we’ll be taking a fresh look – and we may well upgrade our star ratings. For now, it’s a proof of concept rather than something we suggest you rush out and buy.
 
Price when reviewed: Free, on a £25.00 per month, 24 months contract.