Users: What are your thoughts on the Dell Streak?

[Guest matt_tee]

Hi All,

Looking at getting a Dell Streak, what can I expect, after being an Iphone user for the last 3 years?

Any shocks or surprises? Any good points/Bad points?

Thank you for your help.

Matt

[Guest Flavio]

I've had 3 iPhones (2G, 3G, 3GS) before the Streak and here are my positives and negatives. The main reason for buying the Streak was the screen and and I wanted to try out Android. I use it more for mail and browsing than as a phone.

On the plus side:

Screen size.

Screen resolution.

Flash 10.

More customizable.

Widgets (although they slow down the homescreen a lot).

Browser double tap and pinch to zoom.

Price, it's quite a bit less expensive than an unlocked iPhone 4. I got mine from eBay for €100 less than retail (€500) whereas at the time the iPhone 4, if you get one at all, was more like €800.

On the negative side:

Less stable. I have frequent Force Closed programs especially the launchers (ADW and LauncherPro). It's a software issue so this will probably get solved by future ROM and software upgrades.

Flaky orientation sensor. Also probably software related.

Battery life. It doesn't last a working day on one charge.

Keyboard. I've tried Better Keyboard and Swiftkey but none comes close to the iPhone keyboard.

Expensive accessories. No cheap USB cables for example. Very few cases.

Due to size and shape not as comfortable to handle as a phone.

Some very annoying ommissions such as not being able to sync your whole calendar with Google Calendar (only the last month) without some trickery.

E-mail client (I use K9 Mail) much slower than iPhone Mail.

No stable backup mechanism. It's not much fun installing 200 programs after a ROM upgrade and changing preferences on all these programs, especially when there's a new ROM upgrade almost every week from DJSteve!

After I got my Streak I recently bought an iPad and I must say the iPad is much more stable and much quicker than the Streak and it makes me wonder what an iPhone 4 must be like.

Even with all the drawbacks the 5" screen is what makes me keep the Streak for now.

Edited November 15, 2010 by Flavio

[Guest matt_tee]

I've had 3 iPhones (2G, 3G, 3GS) before the Streak and here are my positives and negatives. The main reason for buying the Streak was the screen and and I wanted to try out Android. I use it more for mail and browsing than as a phone.

On the plus side:

Screen size

Screen resolution

Flash 10

More customizable

Widgets

Browser double tap and pinch to zoom

Price. It's quite a bit less expensive than an unlocked iPhone 4.

On the negative side:

Less stable. I have frequent Force Closed programs especially the launchers (ADW and LauncherPro). It's a software issue so this will probably get solved by future ROM and software upgrades.

Flaky orientation sensor. Also probably software related.

Battery life. It doesn't last a working day on one charge.

Keyboard. I've tried Better Keyboard and Swiftkey but none comes close to the iPhone keyboard.

Expensive accessories. No cheap USB cables for example. Very few cases.

Due to size and shape not as comfortable to handle as a phone.

Some very annoying ommissions such as not being able to sync your whole calendar with Google Calendar (only the last month) without some trickery.

E-mail client (I use K9 Mail) much slower than iPhone Mail.

After I got my Streak I recently bought an iPad and I must say the iPad is much more stable and much quicker than the Streak and it makes me wonder what an iPhone 4 must be like.

Even with all the drawbacks the 5" screen is what makes me keep the Streak for now.

So would you 'jump' again if you had the option?

I love gadgets and I love Android. I will probably use it for modding, adding roms, etc...

Is 2.2 froyo available officially for the streak?

I have a Orange San Fran/Zte Blade - and all the issues you mention on the Streak seem common with the San Fran.

Maybe just software/Rom issues that hopefully will get fixed if still supporting in future.....

So, Is it worth it?

Thanks again, Matt.

[Guest matty.cptk]

On the negative side:

Flaky orientation sensor. Also probably software related.

Battery life. It doesn't last a working day on one charge.

Keyboard. I've tried Better Keyboard and Swiftkey but none comes close to the iPhone keyboard.

Expensive accessories. No cheap USB cables for example. Very few cases.

Due to size and shape not as comfortable to handle as a phone.

Some very annoying ommissions such as not being able to sync your whole calendar with Google Calendar (only the last month) without some trickery.

E-mail client (I use K9 Mail) much slower than iPhone Mail.

those negatives will turn into possitives in the near future, the iOS has more years in development than the android OS. Orientation is fixed in 2.2 froyo and swype is included as part of the update too.

The prices will be certain to drop, its just because the streak is new that everything is dear, look on ebay theres cheap alternative accessories there, especially cases.

the E-mail is crappy i'll agree with you there, but yet again, these apps are constantly in development for improvement.

the Battery life can be Vastly improved by download the app SetCpu - you can set a profile to underclock the cpu whenever the phone light is off, can double or tripple a phones battery life, especially mine.

For me i prefer Android over iOS because android is more versatile, every update brings something new. Whereas iOS just seem to tweak and improve, nothing new for users, apart from facetime.

Edited November 14, 2010 by matty.cptk

[Guest Flavio]

those negatives will turn into possitives in the near future, the iOS has more years in development than the android OS. Orientation is fixed in 2.2 froyo and swype is included as part of the update too.

The prices will be certain to drop, its just because the streak is new that everything is dear, look on ebay theres cheap alternative accessories there, especially cases.

the E-mail is crappy i'll agree with you there, but yet again, these apps are constantly in development for improvement.

the Battery life can be Vastly improved by download the app SetCpu - you can set a profile to underclock the cpu whenever the phone light is off, can double or tripple a phones battery life, especially mine.

For me i prefer Android over iOS because android is more versatile, every update brings something new. Whereas iOS just seem to tweak and improve, nothing new for users, apart from facetime.

I use the latest Froyo from DJSteve and still have orientation issues. For example comparing the iPad and Streak when rotating the device is a world of difference, the iPad is supersmooth and never misses a beat when changing orientation.

I've tried SetCPU but it slowed down my device so I removed it.

I agree that updates for Android are more frequent (from Apps as well) but it's just not quite as stable as iOS IMHO. Let's hope 2.3 improves this as well.

I think we all agree that the Streak is a very slow seller (due to extremely poor marketing as well). I believe Apple sells some 200.000 iPhones a day and I guess the Streak hasn't sold that number worldwide in 4 months!

Like I said before the unique selling point is the screen size and that is what's making me keep it for now.

[Guest RedSlug]

Some of the things you are complaining about are in Steve's unofficial froyo only. It great, I use it. But its not ready for primetime.

[Guest matt_tee]

Some of the things you are complaining about are in Steve's unofficial froyo only. It great, I use it. But its not ready for primetime.

Hopefully then, when they release the official Froyo Rom, then things may start to look a bit more stable?

Matt

[Guest Tim6772]

Hi Matt, I too came from an iPhone (3Gs) and i can honestly say i'll not be going back to one any time soon.

The first hurdle i encountered was the size of the device, but after a few hours, it seemed 'normal' to me.

On the 'non phone' side, the Streak offers a far better user experience for browsing, media, social and office based apps (email etc)

Personally, i use the integrated email app that's configured to combine all my accounts in one place, viewing can be by single account or a combined view.

The stock keyboard kind of sucks, so i tend to use Vlingo's offering that gives you the voice to text feature built in.

Media viewing is really good, depending on the media player you choose, I chose arcmedia as it seems to play video files with ease, but there's a few to choose from.

For ROM based shenanigans, there's so much more versatility with Android than there'll ever be with iOS. iOS 'Dev' teams only seem to focus on Jailbreaking and Unlocking, Not full custom ROM's like DJ Steve's version (which is very very functional and constantly being worked on) (plus the support for it which is simply awesome, not what you'd get from the 'Elite-ist' iOS dev's)

There are many Browsers available for Android, Dolphin HD & Opera Mobile spring to mind as two very functional ones. Dolphin HD has some real neat add-on features available from the market.

To sit iOS & Android side by side to compare is, to me anyway, a waste of time. Both OS's are good in their own rights, but both do things so very different behind the scenes. As already stated, iOS just updates with tweaks (and anti JB enhancements lol) whereas Android updates with complete overhauls of features and functions.

Flash will never be available on iOS outside the JB arena, whereas it's coming with 2.2

All in all, i'm more than happy to stick with Android and my Streak, it provides more for my money and is a far more 'interesting' OS than Apple can ever hope to provide.

iOS is a system that's designed for an end user, people know what their going to get (or not get lol) yet advertising bombardment has turned a device thats clearly lacking years old features (bluetooth etc) into an overhyped sensation.

Just my 2 pence worth

Tim

[Guest matt_tee]

Hi Matt, I too came from an iPhone (3Gs) and i can honestly say i'll not be going back to one any time soon.

The first hurdle i encountered was the size of the device, but after a few hours, it seemed 'normal' to me.

On the 'non phone' side, the Streak offers a far better user experience for browsing, media, social and office based apps (email etc)

Personally, i use the integrated email app that's configured to combine all my accounts in one place, viewing can be by single account or a combined view.

The stock keyboard kind of sucks, so i tend to use Vlingo's offering that gives you the voice to text feature built in.

Media viewing is really good, depending on the media player you choose, I chose arcmedia as it seems to play video files with ease, but there's a few to choose from.

For ROM based shenanigans, there's so much more versatility with Android than there'll ever be with iOS. iOS 'Dev' teams only seem to focus on Jailbreaking and Unlocking, Not full custom ROM's like DJ Steve's version (which is very very functional and constantly being worked on) (plus the support for it which is simply awesome, not what you'd get from the 'Elite-ist' iOS dev's)

There are many Browsers available for Android, Dolphin HD & Opera Mobile spring to mind as two very functional ones. Dolphin HD has some real neat add-on features available from the market.

To sit iOS & Android side by side to compare is, to me anyway, a waste of time. Both OS's are good in their own rights, but both do things so very different behind the scenes. As already stated, iOS just updates with tweaks (and anti JB enhancements lol) whereas Android updates with complete overhauls of features and functions.

Flash will never be available on iOS outside the JB arena, whereas it's coming with 2.2

All in all, i'm more than happy to stick with Android and my Streak, it provides more for my money and is a far more 'interesting' OS than Apple can ever hope to provide.

iOS is a system that's designed for an end user, people know what their going to get (or not get lol) yet advertising bombardment has turned a device thats clearly lacking years old features (bluetooth etc) into an overhyped sensation.

Just my 2 pence worth

Tim

Thanks for such an in depth view, that's what I was after!

I have dabbled with Android, Have a San Francisco, and I love the droid experience.

Appreciate your comments.

Matt.

[Guest bumbola]

I dont know why people think there are no good keyboards for android. I am using the droid x keyboard (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=754948) on djsteve's 2.2. Its as good if not better than the one on the iphone. period.

[Guest adzman808]

re KB, swype all the way (performs better than on my winmo device version too!)