Dell Streak Feature Roundup, Hands-On, And Impressions

The Dell Streak may have been available in the UK for over two months now, but it’s taken until now to hit the States. Just in case you forgot, here is a roundup of my thoughts on all the features the phone has to offer if you’re thinking of getting yourself a Streak when it’s released tomorrow.

Hardware

When you first see the Dell Streak on the shelves, you may be confused as to what it’s trying to be. It’s a bloody big smartphone, with a 5” capactive touch screen display, but it’s not quite large enough, in my opinion, to be called a tablet. Sure, bigger is all the rage right now, with smartphones beginning to reach 4.3” in size, but when making a call with the Streak, it just seems a little too big. On a brighter note, you’re looking at a resolution of 800×480, which works well enough on the device, offering enough screen estate to find your way around the OS and yourapplications.

On the right hand side of the screen are three capacitive touch buttons, providing access to your home screen, a menu and allowing you to go back to your last window. When I was first using the Streak, I was slightly concerned about accidentally hitting the buttons whilst holding the device, but it’s never proved a problem so far. There’s a 5 megapixel camera on the back of the phone, and you’ll find a volume control, power button, and physical camera button on the top of the device as you hold it. There’s also a front facing camera, which is sure to come in handy for video calling apps that you can find on the Market.

My biggest gripe with the hardware is the size. Don’t get me wrong, the Streak feels great in your hand when you’re composing a message or browsing the web, but when it’s up against your ear during a call it feels slightly unnatural. I suppose it’s something that most users will get used to, but I’ve never used a phone with a screen above 3.7” in size, so I’m not at all used to it.

Software

Before I begin to comment on the software, I should probably just come out and say that the Dell Streak still runs Android 1.6. However, there is hope, as the Eclair (2.1) version of Android wasleaked for the UK version of the Streak today. Thus, although there has been no official announcement, it could be coming to the US version in the near future – though that may just be wishful thinking on my part. Like most Android phones on the market, the Streak uses a custom interface on top of stock Android. It works pretty well here, offering an unobtrusive skin that’s still familiar to people who’ve used an vanilla Android device before.

To access the applications on the Streak, you actually have to use the drop down arrow from thetaskbar at the top of your screen, and then tap the ‘more’ button to see the rest of your apps. This works great, because you often have a select few apps that you use the most, and can drag them to the top of the list for immediate access without having to look through your entire app drawer. The big screen definitely comes in handy for browsing the web (in landscape mode, anyway), and while using Google Maps. The only complaint I have comes when you’re using the keyboard in landscape mode, as Dell chose to throw a numeric keypad in to the mix for no apparent reason whatsoever. As far as I’m concerned, it makes the experience worse, and is rather pointless on a device like this.

Probably the most useful inclusion in the software department is the inclusion of QuickOffice, as it lets you view Microsoft Office documents, spreadsheets and presentations out of the box. Some of the files that I’ve tested with the application haven’t rendered perfectly, but it’s definitely nice to have in a hurry.

All things considered, Dell make good use of the screen estate on offer with the software, and their customizations to Android aren’t so intrusive that it simply doesn’t look like Android anymore!

Conclusion

The Dell Streak is certainly an interesting device to say the least. Its unique size and design makes it a contender in the market, as it stands out above the rest of the smartphones on the shelves. I’m certainly looking forward to the Android 2.1 (or 2.2?) update which will hopefully come sooner rather than later in the US, too. If you want to grab one for yourself, it’s available through AT&T from $299.99 with a two year contract.

Epic 4G coming August 31st for $249.99 on contract

Well the phone is coming officially on August 31st. Pre orders start tomorrow which is August 12. The price of the phone is $249.99 after an instant rebate and mail in rebate. I think i will pick me one up i like the Galaxy S phones. Please let me know what do you think ? Is this one going to be better then the EVO or not ?

Here is a video of the phone from sprint:

Droid 2 R2-D2 page now live

Recipe for win — 1 part newest Android phone, the Droid 2, and 1 part Star Wars’ most memorable character, R2-D2. Mix well, prepare for the onslaught of people like me who will do just about anything to throw our money at you so we can have one. And to tease us until we explode, Verizon has gone live with the R2-Droid2 teaser page.

Taking a cue from the X, it looks like this page has some locked content as well. The site says to follow R2 on Twitter to unlock details, @droidlanding. Why would anyone want to worry about unlocking content on a phone’s launch page? Two words — Jedi Training. We’re following, you guys follow too, and whoever gets portions unlocked first has to tell the rest of us — deal? [Verizon]

Droid X update to Android 2.2 coming ‘by early September’

A Motorola support forum response about issues involving Exchange 2003 email problems on the Droid X has actually yielded something far more juicy: an updated window for the Froyo upgrade’s release. Promised since the phone’s initial launch, Moto’s now saying that the new build is “scheduled for deployment by early September,” so barring a miracle, we can probably toss out those dreams of getting it by late August — and we can certainly forget the rumors that it had already started going out. Clearly we’d like it sooner rather than later, but hey, if they’re hard at work squashing bugs as we speak, more power to ’em — we’re all for stable releases.

Nimbuzz 2.0 available for Android

Nimbuzz just dropped version 2.0 of its popular Android VOIP application, bringing a slew of new features. Here’s what’s up:

NimbuzzOut will allow you to make cheap international and local calls to mobile phones and landlines over the internet without using your minutes! The new keypad located on the NimbuzzOut screen lets you access your entire phone book so you can make quick calls to anyone outside your Nimbuzz network.
A Dialer Tab: call mobile phones and landlines via NimbuzzOut, SkypeOut or any of our SIP partners (Google/Gizmo5, Sipgate, Xeloq, T-Pad, VoIPax, Gulfsip, IPS, Badatel and more)
Friend suggestions see which of your phonebook contacts are already using Nimbuzz so you an add them to your network. The more you add the more you save! ; )
Facebook connect: more stable connection, improved the security of your Facebook data, and allow you to see the status message of your Facebook friends.
New options in the settings, allowing you to choose different layouts, account credentials and profile information.

Verizon touting successful LTE data calls in 34 US markets

According to an article over at Boy Genius Report, Verizon is now showing off the fact that they have successfully made LTE data calls in 34 markets across the US. Considering their test markets currently encompass 38 markets, it looks like VZW is well on their way to being ahead of schedule for their LTE launch. Rumors still speculate that they expect their 4G market to be publicly available in 35 market by the end of 2010. Kansas City not one of them.

EVO 4G starts getting Android 2.2 update over the air

We’ve just gotten a deluge of tips that EVO 4Gs are starting to get blessed with the official update to Froyo — a few hours prior to the promised August 3 rollout — so if you’ve got one handy, you’re going to want to start checking it right this second. Seriously, now that it’s got a trick flashlight app included in ROM, what could you possibly be waiting for? On a related note, if you happened to apply that early update that HTC posted and pulled late last week, the company’s working on a fix so that you aren’t out of the over-the-air update loop and promises to “get back” in “the coming days.”

Garminfone Price Drops Again, but only for existing customers

Surprise, surprise. The Garmin-Asus Garminfone has dropped in price. Again. But this time, it appears to apply only to existing T-Mobile customers. Tmo has sent out emails to existing customers, informing them that they can now pick up a Garminfone for only $99 (with 2-year contract & $50 mail-in rebate), meaning they get an instant $30 discount. This may be a special promotion or a last ditch attempt to sell as many Garminfones as possible, but it doesn’t look like we’ll be seeing this GPS-laden Android phone much longer.

This is somewhat startling, considering that we covered another price drop just 3 weeks ago. The navigation-savvy device is declining in popularity faster than expected. T-Mobile may not like it, but the Garminfone is going downhill. Fast.

Fring receives a minor update — but Skype remains missing

Fring received a minor update today, which should address many user reported issues, but it appears the feud with Skype is still going strong.  Some of the updates include:

• “Significant” audio improvements
• The echoing is fixed (fixed, fixed)
• Supports new Android devices like the Samsung Galaxy S using the front camera
• Many more bugs fixes

Seeing support for new devices is great, and we always love to see bug fixes and better quality, but please Fring and Skype, bury the hatchet and work together, video calling is so much more viable when it can be used with a cross-platform desktop program.

Motorola i1 to hit Sprint on July 25th for $149

After launching on Boost Mobile last month, the Motorola i1 is hitting Sprint on July 25th. The touchscreen offering will be the first Android handset with Nextel Direct Connect and the first Direct Connect handset with a 5 megapixel camera and video recording. This rugged handset is sure to please the construction crowd with its: 3.1″ HVGA display, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, a 2.5mm headphone jack, military ruggedness for dust, shock, vibration and rain, and Android 1.5 — not to mention the suite of available business tracking and job workflow applications including Xora mobile workforce management tools, TeleNavTrack, and Sprint Mobile Locator. The i1 will launch through direct ship, business sales, telesales, and web sales next Sunday and will hit the remaining channels on August 8th for a reasonable $149.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and two-year commitment.