With the Dell Streak 5, you had a device that was “sort of” a smart phone and “sort of” a tablet. The Dell Streak 7, its 7 inch cousin, is definitely a tablet and is good for watching videos, reading e-books, and surfing the internet. Unlike the Streak 5, the 7 is powered by a Tegra T20, 1 GHz dual-core processor, and it has 16 GB of internal memory. Like other tablets, it has two cameras: a rear-facing 5 MP camera and a 1.3 MP front facing one. It has T-mobile 4G connectivity and runs the Android 2.2 OS. Dell says that it will be upgradable to the Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS at some point in 2011. If you get it with a T-mobile contract, it’s only $200, but it’s $450 without a contract. (UPDATE 25/7 – you can pick it up contract free for $280!)
Of course, a lot of the new tablets are 10 inch sized, but the 7 inch tablet is great for portability. The smaller size is better for one-handed use, and it’s the right size for reading e-books, and honestly, for typing with your thumbs, the size is better for most people. The top of the Dell Streak 7 has the power button and volume control, while there is a 3.5 mm headphone jack on the left side. On the front of the device are the Back, Menu, and Home buttons, and on the right side are latches that open to reveal SD and SIM card slots. It doesn’t have an HDMI output, but Dell says they will offer a dock you can attach to the PDMI port (which is located on the bottom). The front is covered with a lovely sheet of Gorilla Glass.
One thing users have complained about with the Dell Streak 7 is its 800 x 480 display. By comparison, the Galaxy Tab has 1024 x 600 resolution. You will notice this when you are reading, watching HD videos, or looking at photographs. You’ll also notice fading with increasing viewing angle, which many users find annoying. The capacitive screen, however, is very responsive, so no complaints there.
Like the Dell Streak 5, the 7 features a Stage user interface with Dell’s own launcher and widgets: Home, Social, Web, and Gallery. If you don’t like these, however, you can delete them and customize with Android widgets. The launcher makes it easy to get to the mail application, the app tray, and the browser. The Streak 7 comes with lots of apps pre-loaded onto it, like a magazine app, Kindle, and T-Mobile TV. The Qik Video Chat app lets you chat using the 1.3 MP camera on the front. The back facing camera takes crisp shots, and it can record 720p video.
Though the Streak 7 uses the Nvidia 1 GHz dual-core Tegra 2 T20, Dell slows it down to 800 MHz to conserve power. But it’s still very quick, with no lag in opening applications, or flipping through the widgets. Flash performance is good, and you can stream 720 YouTube videos with no problem.
In addition to the relatively low screen resolution, many users have been disappointed in the battery life. Six hours of intermittent usage is about as good as you can do. Keeping the 4G network enabled further chews through battery life. T-Mobile includes tethering and WiFi sharing mode. If you need a longer battery life and better screen resolution in a 7 inch tablet, you could go with a Galaxy Tab, but there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to upgrade to Honeycomb later.
The Dell Streak 7 is basically a supersized version of the Streak 5, even with the faster processor. It’s really nice looking and sleek, though it doesn’t have a removable battery. You should also know that to watch videos you need to have an SD card in the slot (even if the videos are on the hard drive), and the device does not come with an SD card, so you’ll have to buy one.
Overall, if you want zippy performance, but aren’t bothered by a relatively low resolution display and limited battery life, the Dell Streak 7 is a nice 7 inch tablet for its price point.
UPDATE: The Dell Streak 7 is currently on sale at Amazon.com for $280 – which is a bargain!
May 7, 2011 at 2:11 pm
This is getting a bit more subjective, but I much prefer the Zune Marketplace. The interface is colorful, has more flair, and some cool features like ‘Mixview’ that let you quickly see related albums, songs, or other users related to what you’re listening to. Clicking on one of those will center on that item, and another set of “neighbors” will come into view, allowing you to navigate around exploring by similar artists, songs, or users. Speaking of users, the Zune “Social” is also great fun, letting you find others with shared tastes and becoming friends with them. You then can listen to a playlist created based on an amalgamation of what all your friends are listening to, which is also enjoyable. Those concerned with privacy will be relieved to know you can prevent the public from seeing your personal listening habits if you so choose.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0