Have I overrated the Dell Streak?
Submitted by brian s hall on 10 August, 2010 - 14:41
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In my SMARTPHONE RANKINGS, the Dell Streak does well. Nothing great, but a solid score for a company built on PCs and desperately looking to get into the smartphone game.
It's my smartphone ranking algorithm so why do I have doubts about the Dell Streak?
It could be that no one thinks of smartphones when they think of Dell. Possibly, it's due to the fact that you should be able to go into your local AT&T retailer and buy one this Friday and yet, it seems as if no one has heard of it or knows they can get one.
Maybe, it's the price. $300 with 2-year AT&T contract! Shit, I didn't pay that for my iPhone! $550 with no contract. This is America, Dell. We don't buy if it's not subsidized.
Of course, I also think it's the design. As a piece of fetishizable smartphone hardware, it's really nothing special. More than that, in going big, sort of a compromise between a Droid and the newest Kindle, it may have found a sweet spot but more than likely, fell into a bottomless pit. Lastly, I think that it's just too soon to expect consumers to think about, desire and pay real money for a 'hybrid' device like the Dell Streak. Maybe in a couple years. But not now. Despite my smartphone ranking, I think this will be a device that flops and is quickly pulled from AT&T shelves.
From the Dell press release, if you're into that sort of thing:
HITTING A SWEET SPOT
The Dell Streak, a carbon black Android-based tablet with a 5-inch display, is designed to provide an excellent "on-the-go" entertainment, social connection, and navigation experience. The spacious 5-inch screen is ideal for experiencing thousands of Android Market widgets, games and applications, all without squinting or compromising portability. Built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth capability and available 3G connectivity brings easy access for downloading and listening to music, updating social networking status in real-time, and staying connected to friends and family through e-mail, text, IM, and voice calls.
On-the-go students, mobile professionals, and active families will find Streak's web-browsing capabilities as natural as a laptop. The 5-inch screen is large enough to present Web pages in their natural form, create a comfortable viewing experience, and make turn-by-turn navigation simple. The Dell Streak is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon solution with integrated 1GHz processor to combine basic functionality and benefits of a laptop in a pocket friendly size.
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