Mobile-Net

Dell Streak AT&T Tablet Smartphone, the problems and review

I had to sell mine, massive problems. I had a Dell Streak US AT&T version and I used it for a couple weeks before losing patience with it and selling it.

To list some massive problems.

1-It was almost unusable as a Speakerphone as it crackled at high volume and often was totally garbled, on the other end callers stated I sounded like I was speaking with a paper in front of my mouth.

2-Music also crackled every so slightly on high. As if the speaker was blown or complete garbage quality. This phone was new.. not 9years old.

3-Battery life didn't get past 4-5hours of use. Some online reviews state it gets better after 4-5 full charge cycles but I didn't see that.

4-Also when receiving a call the screen flashes, so you had to catch the Answer button in between flashes. This was very irritating.

5-The phone becomes unresponsive sometimes after you've just placed a call.. So it doesn't register your END CALL keypress.. so numerous times I ended up leaving whitespace voicemails on peoples machines since my Dell Streak wouldn't register end call.... it eventually allows you but what the hell ???

6-The ear slit was so small it's ridiculous, You have to perfectly place it over your ear or you'll not hear anything, it is a fraction the size of an iPhone ear speaker slit and I can't fathom why. The phone has a massive footprint. Also the ear slit edges are sharper than they should be, I could feel a cutting sensation on my ear whilst trying to find the perfect position over my ear.

7-Because you're pressing the phone to your head so unnaturally the Streak registers your cheek as key presses and does cool stuff like mute your call etc.

8-The native Dell keyboard is extremely poorly designed, using a third party keyboard such as Swype or Swiftkey was the only way to make text input manageable on the Streak. I've a very large hand as I'm 6'2. I can't imagine the reach difficulties those with smaller hands would face attempting to reach over the numeric keypad in landscape mode. Yes try reaching over all that way on the keyboard and not pressing the menu/function keys that run across the right of the phone while in landscape.

9-The proprietary docking cable drove me mad, especially since the device needed to charge so frequently. Why Dell couldn't opt for a micro-usb along side with their 30pin I can't understand. So anybody thinking of purchasing this better get extra charging cables for your car, office, bathroom, etc

10-It may be a limitation of Android 1.6 but not being able to copy text from a webpage is frustrating.

11-The phone is finished in a sort of material that isn't exactly anti-slip or easy to hold onto. This wouldn't matter if you could easily handle the phone, but again with larger than average hands I was constantly concerned it would slip out of my hand and fall to its end.

12-The volume keys aren't in the same direction for music and for call volume if I recall correctly, this was another quirk.

13-There's some issue with menu's and screen prompts being too narrow. With a massive 5inch screen I again don't understand why menu items are so slender resulting in frequent mis-presses or repeat presses. The menu across the top is prime example.

14-The speaker is on the back.. so go ahead, set down your 5inch Dell streak to watch a video.. oh wait.. the sound just became muffled and almost inaudible. Yes you better pick it up and hold it just right so not to cover the speaker. Same goes for the speakerphone, you better keep the phone elevated. Again, design flaw, there is tons of underutilized space across the top and bottom of the phone where speakers could have been placed.

There is likely some issues that I can't recall at the moment, but on the plus side.

1- the phone itself in handset mode had good quality voice calls. ONLY in handset, as speaker was beyond rubbish.

2-reception was good. I was on Rogers 3G 850mHz and had no issues at all.

3-Android made the world of difference, allowing you to download third party apps and do things like connect over wifi to a internal network to copy media/music files directly over to the Dell Streaks Memory Card.

4-5inches of real estate were great. Made browsing very pleasant.

I realize Dell isn't an experienced Mobile Phone manufacturer. Perhaps a wee bit more work into this product and they'd have brought to market a very decent device. Sadly the issues are likely far too great to simply overlook as quirks.

-Ravi Shanghavi, Ottawa
http://www.RaviShanghavi.com

About the Author

Based out of Ottawa, Ontario Canada.  Ravi Shanghavi is a aspiring property developer currently involved in a small condominium project in the Westboro area.  Ravi has spent the past decade working in Ottawa's thriving IT/High tech sector.

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