The Dell Streak 7 4G Review

Jun 6
06:09

2011

Frank Wiley

Frank Wiley

  • Share this article on Facebook
  • Share this article on Twitter
  • Share this article on Linkedin

It seems like everyone is making a tablet these days, and Dell has proven to be no exception. Dell has made its latest foray into the tablet market with its “petite” Streak 7 4G (there is also a Wi-Fi only version).

mediaimage

It seems like everyone is making a tablet these days,The Dell Streak 7 4G Review Articles and Dell has proven to be no exception. Dell has made its latest foray into the tablet market with its “petite” Streak 7 4G (there is also a Wi-Fi only version). Unlike other full-sized tablets, like the iPad 2 or Motoroala Xoom, the Dell Streak can actually fit inside a reasonably large pocket. The device is about 7 1/2 inches long, 4.7 inches wide and about 1/2 inch thick. The display is 7-inches from corner to corner.

Although small in size, the Dell Streak’s performance and feature set appears very competitive. It is powered by the 1 GHz NVIDIA Tegra T20 microprocessor and uses the Android 2.2 operating system. The device has a standard 16 GB of storage space, but does have a microSD card slot and support for memory cards with up to 32 GB capacity.

The Dell Streak has two cameras; the rear-facing camera is 5-megapixels with autofocus and an LED flash, the front-facing camera is 1.3-megapixels and fixed focus. The Streak also supports HD 720p video capture from the rear-facing camera. The rear-facing camera is one of the best you fill find on a mini-tablet.

Although the Streak technically uses the 3G network, it is able to attain essentially 4G speeds where the 4G network is available.  It also sports on-board GPS, Google Maps, Wi-Fi, and bluetooth 2.1.

Although the wireless connectivity of the Dell Streak is quite good, it is puzzling why they decided not to include certain common ports like HDMI and USB. Most tablets have both ports, which would allow you to connect the device to another display or projector, or hook up a full-sized keyboard. This certainly limits some of the device’s flexibility. Users who do not anticipate connecting the device to external devices, however, may not be affected by these omissions.

There have also been some early complaints about the battery lasting perhaps only 6-8 hours of light use, which is a little disappointing but not altogether unusual for a tablet this size.

The Dell Streak 7 certainly isn’t perfect, but it offers a small, lightweight alternative to more hefty tablets like the iPad 2. At $499 for the 4G version, and $299 for the Wi-Fi only version, we think Dell has priced this one right.