Post your first Impressions from the UK on the Dell Streak

[nb_mitch]

Wow, you would think you had to be on Sprint to say anything today. And I see it isn't all good with Activations not going so well.

There has to be someone in the UK that picked up a Streak today, it is about 11pm now.

Give us your first impressions, good, bad & ugly thoughts, accessories, etc.

 

[johnh123]

Yes, somebody must have one. I haven't even seen a real review yet.

 

[oatikodi]

I've had a couple of goes in the shops in the UK. It looks big at first (even though I have biggish hands). But after a while it looks, and feels ok in one hand (just about). I was suprised at how light it was compared to what I thought it would be. It just about fits into my pocket and I could easily use this for web browsing, ebook reading and more. The large screen is great.

I'd feel self conscious using this as a phone at first but would probably get used to it after a while (or use bluetooth or hands free).


I'd be very tempted to get this over an iPad (or wait for the 7” version due whenever, maybe Sept 2010?).

Pros:
1) Screen size (after playing with this for a while my HTC Desire seems tiny).
2) It would (just about) fit into my pocket.
3) It's surprisingly light (compared to what I thought it would be- about 220grams).
4) Speaker sounded fine.

Cons:
1) The home screen is in landscape- it doesn't autorotate and I couldn't find a setting to change that. That would irritate me after a while. (Whoever designed this seemed to think that people might only use it in 2 handed landscape mode- which I would do a lot of the time but not always. The auto rotate works fine in apps where you'd expect it to).
2) The 3.5mm headphone socket is on the long side- rather than on the narrower top or bottom. Not ideal for listening to when the phone/tablet is in my pocket.
3) The installed browser has an address bar which I couldn't hide. However, install Opera browser and you should get full screen.
4) There seem to be only 3 home screens (unlike the HTC desire's 7 screens. Though now I have the app which allows me to have 4 apps in one slot that wouldn't be an issue).

Other comments:

1) Battery is 1500mAh – but with the larger screen that might not be as long as say my HTC desire- probably about the same.
2) It's running Android 1.6 with some Dell additions. It should get 2.2 in a few months or so (over the air upgrade).
3) Has tough 'gorilla glass'- I didn't try scratching it though!
4) The screen does not look as bright as the HTC desire's OLED screen. HOwever, it did look great. I didn't get to try it outdoors.
5) In the UK it's not yet sim free- only on O2 on a range of tariffs (

 

[nb_mitch]

Thanks for the review, nothing shocking, your first 2 cons are odd though. Now if we can find someone that has actually bought one?

I can't believe the home screens don't rotate. Althought that can be fixed if rooted and updated with a newer version of the OS, right? I also think it is a poor decision on 02 or Dell's part to release a new device with an OS that is outdated. Even if it were identical, got to be a huge marketing blunder.

I would prefer the 3.5m headphone socket on the end too, easier to fit in the pocket.

 

[fantasytozi]

There's option for more than 3 home screen, probably 6 is the maximum or more.
I played with one in store today, and very impressed with the way Dell skin the phone. Different, unique, smooth, very handy and multitask is never easier like that.
I really want one right now to play it.
BTW, Paul @ Modaco already rooted it

 

[Rhysd2]

I got one friday and I'm loving it so far. Its fast and pockets easily. I diagree with the cons above as I dont feel they are cons. My one complaint is the numpad on they keyboard cant be got rid of

Otherwise its fast and the screens great

 

[oatikodi]

I got one friday and I'm loving it so far. Its fast and pockets easily. I diagree with the cons above as I dont feel they are cons. My one complaint is the numpad on they keyboard cant be got rid of

Otherwise its fast and the screens great

The cons I listed depend how you want to use the Dell streak (and the size of your pockets!). For me they would be cons. For people using it in different ways they might not be issues.

You can download other keyboards from the android market (eg shapewriter) and enable those. That way you don't have to use the Dell keyboard with the the numeric keypad.

1) The home screen is in landscape
Have you found a way to rotate the home screen so that it can appear vertically rather than horizontally? I need this to use the phone one handed- I've tried the Dell streak a couple of times now and still can't find a way to change the orientation of the home screen. (I spoke with a guy fom Dell who couldn't find a way either and thought it might be fixed in 2.2 but wasn't too sure). I wouldn't want to root the phone, because of the potential impact on the terms and conditions for replacement under the O2 contract.

2) The 3.5mm headphone socket is on the long side
The 3.5mm jack is a problem for me because it means the headsets I have would stick out to the side so the phone didn't fit so easily in my pocket & catches with other things in my pocket. (I tried it- the Dell guy agreed it wasn't great and suggested buying a new set of close fitting L shaped earphones. However, the ones I have are pretty good so I don't want to replace them. Given how much I listen to podcasts and music it's close to a deal breaker for me for using the Dell streak as a replacement for my HTC Desire. For now I'm going to see what HTC (and others) come up with in the UK. It looks like there are a stack of android tablets lining up over the next several months, including some with the the new Tegra 2 chip for larger tablets.

3) The installed browser has an address bar which I couldn't hide.
There are ways round the address bar always being shown on the default browser (using Opera).

4) There seem to be only 3 home screens
From the posts above it looks like there are ways of adding more home screens than the 3 default ones.

btw have you looked at the Dell streak screen next to an HTC Desire screen? Apart from dwarfing the HTC screen, you'll see the difference that the HTC OLED screen makes- indoors at any rate.

As an aside, it sounds like the Dell streak can save apps to the SD card. This is one thing that Android 2.2 fixes over 2.1 (and something I haven't found a way round with my HTC Desire).

 

[Exopolitics]

Hi, Just picked up a Dell Streak today on O2 on the data only tariff, I already have an iPhone and this thing would be way to big to use as a phone.

It is an excellent piece of kit so far! I do have a few gripes though, one of them being the battery life is very poor but that is to be expected on something like this.

The screen is simply amazing, on par with iPhone in terms of sensitivity and smoothness. The keyboard is a dream to type on in landscape. It is however a shame they didn't release it with V2.1 to support multi touch but 2.2 on the way in the near future so that's not so much of a problem.

The main thing I will be using the device for is Internet browsing and media. I've downloaded the skyfire beta and its speed is fantastic.

Another gripe would be lack of customisation in terms of first party themes. I've seen HTC and Samsung do amazing things with skinning android and making it look fantastic (I work in the mobile phone industry and was blown away by the Desire and Nexus One in terms of that) Again it is maybe something that Dell well pick up in the future and there is always the Android market place.

Another plus for me would be that I encode a lot of videos for my iPhone, I put a few on the streak and they play without a hiccup and look fantastic. Saved me alot of time re-encoding videos.

Another fantastic feature for me would be the music player Dell have installed on the phone. It's very swish and reminds me of very basic iTunes UI which isnt a bad thing at all.

I would not however, recommend this a phone as it is far too big and you would just look daft. To summarize I love this tablet so far and look forward to future updates

 

[Exopolitics]

Quick note on your 3 home screens point, You can add more by holding down the home key on the desktop. Dell have called this feature "Rooms" and it looks very nice actually! I will try and post a few pics

 

[FlavioX]

2) The 3.5mm headphone socket is on the long side
The 3.5mm jack is a problem for me because it means the headsets I have would stick out to the side so the phone didn't fit so easily in my pocket & catches with other things in my pocket. (I tried it- the Dell guy agreed it wasn't great and suggested buying a new set of close fitting L shaped earphones. However, the ones I have are pretty good so I don't want to replace them. Given how much I listen to podcasts and music it's close to a deal breaker for me for using the Dell streak as a replacement for my HTC Desire. For now I'm going to see what HTC (and others) come up with in the UK. It looks like there are a stack of android tablets lining up over the next several months, including some with the the new Tegra 2 chip for larger tablets.

You can always try and use a 3.5mm right angle adapter for your existing earphones. Something like this: GMP-272, Hosa Stereo 3.5mm M-F Right Angle Adapter

 

[Rhysd2]

If you tap the part of the notification bar with the screen dots you can add more screens and remove them. Battery life has been good for me so far. The real test will be at work tomorrow though.

I like the dell skin especially the multi part notification bar. I dislike the fact every icon has a dark background. I have a nexus one also So I did a screen comparison. The nexus oled had more vibrant colours butbthe dell screen is more crisp and sharp.

 

[oatikodi]

that adaptor looks good- I might give it a shot. The more I used the Dell streak over a few days the more I liked the screen size. My HTC desire seems so tiny now in comparison

 

[johnh123]

Another review - Dell Streak review - Engadget

Any apps that you can't use because of the 1.6? I think this thing may be mine when it gets froyo.

 

[turbosol16]

I am going to wait for the froyo update will probably use it as a smart phone and give my wife my N1

 

[Rhysd2]

Another review - Dell Streak review - Engadget

Any apps that you can't use because of the 1.6? I think this thing may be mine when it gets froyo.

No apps that I've come across yet. My beautiful widgets work, as does handcent, and the games I've purchased. Infact the only one I cant find on the market place that I'd like is pure calendar but that isnt showing for my nexus one so Im guessing its been removed.

Now that Im at a pc and can offer my thoughts properly I'd say I have to agree pretty much 100% with the engadget review. I helped my wife setup the nexus one for her yesterday and boy did it feel small now. Also it seemed side by side the Dell was quicker. Either way I love how Dell have changed the notification bar up top to incorporate a menu and screen buttons. I hate the numpad on the keyboard and will change that today. I also dislike the black background around each app but can live with it.

The headphones and the speaker seem great. The screen is ultra responsive. The Dell facebook widget is... pointless really. It just takes you to the FB web page. So I installed the standard android app instead. The other widgets included seem good quality though I havent played with the RSS widgets yet because I already use newsrob to get at my google reader feeds.

Overall Im just impressed with the build quality and swiftness of the phone. I've been able to get all my apps and they work fine so not having 2.x isnt proving to be as big a deal as I expected. The one downside was that on some games(abduction world attack for example) that the game used the whole screen just fine but the background didnt stretch to fill the screen. So the platforms to jump onto were spread across the screen fine but the background had a blank band down the right of the screen.

But thats to be expected at the moment. This is the first of its kind on the mainstream market so there will be the odd graphical change needed. Otherwise I couldnt be any happier with the phone. The news from engadget about the battery life is even better news as is the rumor about froyo next month. Roll on the update.

 

[oatikodi]

No apps that I've come across yet. My beautiful widgets work, as does handcent, and the games I've purchased. Infact the only one I cant find on the market place that I'd like is pure calendar but that isnt showing for my nexus one so Im guessing its been removed.

I can see the pure calendar widget on the market place right now using my HTC Desire and searching on 'pure' (a great app!).

It's only a matter of time before I get the Dell streak- my Desire is shrinking every day!

How are you finding page rendering speeds using wifi? I was a bit concerned watching the wifi loading speeds of the Dell streak vs the iPad (YouTube - Dell Streak VS Apple iPad browser speed).

Not that it would change my mind - and 2.2 should help.

 

[Rhysd2]

I found Pure Calendar in the end thanks it seems its renamed to pure calendar agenda but by then I'd installed Android Agenda Widget which seems just as good and is free. I did end up buying it today just to try it but it doesnt render properly on the Dells screen anyway. It said it was a 2 x 4 widget but instead it was doing 2 x 3 making it not big enough so I switched back to the Agenda widget and got a refund.

I've found the browser fairly swift to be honest. perhaps a shade slower than my nexus one but not that noticeable. Plus once 2.2 hits it will all be equal footing. I guess between now and then theres always dolphin or opera etc.

I installed a bunch of games today to give them a try. flying games or driving games(such as rage of thunder 2 and winds of steel) were why this phone was made! they look amazing on the larger screen and play beautifully. Even simple things like robo defense benefit and look good from the larger screen. Home run battle 3d also looks truely awesome on the screen.

The more im using it the more im loving it. And it should hopefully inspire some devs to make some bigger widgets or at least variable size ones.

I also changed the keyboard out today as I really was getting sick of the numpad. I tried betterkeyboard and smartkeyboard and ended up plumping for smartkeyboard as I liked the layout and skinning a little better. its made typing so much easier and faster!

 

[oatikodi]

I had a go installing a few apps on the Dell today. Most seemed to work really well (including 'more icons' and 'BeyondPod'). I hadn't noticed a problem with the Pure calendar widget but I only tried the 4x4 widgets. What I really liked was putting on a 4x4 monthly view next to a 4x4 daily view on the same screen. A definite advantage of the wider Dell screen!

Unfortunately, my favourite keyboard (ShapeWriter) installs using the same size as on the HTC Desire rather than using the full width of the screen (so the keyboard looks tiny).

I hope the home screen rotation does get sorted with Froyo. Using the phone I kept rotating it from landscape to portrait.

 

[irus]

I hope the home screen rotation does get sorted with Froyo. Using the phone I kept rotating it from landscape to portrait.

I was wondering about this also. Is there a setting somewhere or an app the starts the phone in portrait?

 

[Rhysd2]

if you install adw launcher it will allow you to rotate now

 

[-Slick-]

hi all I'm new to this forum

some good info in this thread here as I am considering getting the Dell Streak sim free once there have been a few updates to its OS and get it to work on Vodafone tariff as I still have over 1 year left.

I can't stop checking out on-line videos reviews of it along with having a look at one every time I goto the shops!

I would also use it as a phone but would use it more for the data/surfing aspect. The screen size and resolution does it for me.

I plan to use it with a bluetooth headset as I did try and hold it up to my ear in the shops and it is quite big but I also tried it in my pockets and it was and ok size for me, its really nice and thin.

How are the current owners dealing with the size and how do you use it as a phone?

Also if you are out and about is it easy to get it out and send a quick SMS etc?

 

[Rhysd2]

its fine for smsing. if anything I find it quicker due to the larger keyboard making it easier to type.

Phone wise when I do receive calls(which isnt that often) so far I've just used it by holding it to my ear. While it does look silly it doesnt really bother me.

And it sits fine in my pocket

 

[Dunhamzzz]

I am thoroughly pleased with Dells effort in the Streak.

The customised UI is great and really makes use of the screen real estate this device has. You can see why they were unable to ship it with 2.2.

I wrote a full review with some vids/pics on my site here: Dell Streak Full Review

Only niggle is that it's locked to O2.

 

[SquareBare]

You know, I didn't fully understand until now what you UK gents mean when you say Tariff.

I was thinking "Wtf are they doing, importing the phones across international borders? Why are they so worried about tariff rates? Lawl. I love the saying that the US and UK are nations divided by a common language.

Looking forward to this phone at the end of July when it hits us in the colonies.

 

[SquareBare]

I am thoroughly pleased with Dells effort in the Streak.

The customised UI is great and really makes use of the screen real estate this device has. You can see why they were unable to ship it with 2.2.

I wrote a full review with some vids/pics on my site here: Dell Streak Full Review

Only niggle is that it's locked to O2.

How easy is this thing to view while outside? Is the screen bright? Will we be able to see it in direct or partial sunlight?