Dell Streak (Android 2.2) review

Dell's five-inch Android offering now comes with Froyo

                                      Just over eight months have passed since we first looked at the Dell Streak. An impressive five-inch device with 2GB of built-in memory, powered by a Qualcomm SnapDragon 8250 1GHz processor, the Dell Streak ticks all the boxes as far as specs are concerned.

When it hit the scene, one of the glaring drawbacks we noticed was that it was only running Android 1.6. Even back in June, this was a puzzling decision by Dell.

The Nexus One had led the way with Android 2.1 (Eclair) almost four months beforehand, and the HTC Desire had exploded on the scene, also touting Eclair, shortly afterwards.

Priced at £399 direct from Dell (unlocked), and found at only £20 a month on contract, the Streak is now in the ring with the Nexus S and the HTC Desire HD, so Dell has given it a fighting chance by giving the Streak an upgrade to Android 2.2. Not only has the base layer of the Android OS been upgraded, but the UI provided by Dell has been overhauled with Dell's own Stage Launcher interface.

So how big is it really? As mentioned, the screen is five inches from corner to corner, but this fills the front of the device pretty well – not a great deal of space is used for a bezel. The device is 153mm in width, 79mm high, only 9.98mm thick and weighs in at 220g.

You might think that sounds hefty, but when in your hands, it feels lighter than you expect it to, and the design is far from clunky. It has curved edges either side, and backlit touch-sensitive Back, Menu and Home buttons. The Dell Streak certainly is an attractive device.

• Phone Type Smart phone
• Network type & bands GSM 850/900/1800/1900
• UMTS 850/1900/2100
• Design Form Factor
• Dimensions (LxWxD) 79.1 x 152.9 x 9.98
• millimetres
• Weight 7.76 oz
• Antenna Internal
• Side Keys
• Nav/Control keys
• Display Type LCD
• Technology TFT
• Resolution 480 x 800
• Physical Size 5″
• Colors
• Touch Screen Yes
• Multi-touch Yes
• Proximity Sensor
• Light Sensor
• Battery Type Li-ion
• Capacity 1530 mAh
• Talk Time
• Stand-by Time
• Android Version 2.1
• Performance Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon
• Processor Speed 1000 Mhz
• Memory
• Storage Expansion Yes
• Slot Type MicroSD
• Maximum Size 32 GB
• Built-in 2 GB
• Camera Camera Yes
• Type
• Resolution 5MP
• Flash Yes
• Features 4X Zoom
• Video Yes
• Video Capture Resolution
• Multimedia Music Player Yes
• File Formats AAC, MP3, WAV, WMA
• Video Playback Yes
• File Formats h.264 / AVC, MPEG-4, WMV
• Radio
• Type
• Streaming
• Internet Browsing Supports
• Location Based Servic Type Assisted GPS, QuickGPS,
• Geotagging
• Navigation Yes
• Phonebook Capacity
• Features
• Organizer Calendar
• Alarms
• Tasks/To-Do
• Document Viewer
• Other
• Messaging SMS Yes
• MMS Yes
• Templates
• Email Yes
• Pre-installed IM Yes
• Connectivity Bluetooth Yes
• Version 2.1
• EDR Yes
• Profiles A2DP, AVRCP
• WiFi Yes
• Type 802.11b, 802.11g
• USB Yes
• Type microUSB
• Version 2
• Headphone connector 3.5mm
• Charges via
• TV-Out HDMI
• Computer Sync
• OTA Sync Yes
• Notifications Polyphonic Ringtones
• Music Ringtones
• Other Features Voice Dialing
• Voice Commands
• Voice Recording
• Sensors