I have been waiting for a good 7 inch Android tablet for months. I own a Samsung Vibrant so I'm no stranger to dealing with Samsung's poor support. Galaxy s tablet was a no go for me. I used the Dell streak battery 7 twice in a t-mobile store and compare it to the Xoom at a Verizon that was just across the street. What I found was...Pros: Dell Streak 7 (DS7) has a Tegra2 processor in it which future proofs it a bit
Supports 4g if its available
Runs very snappy once the launcher is changed. I recommend ADW or Launcher Pro
Solid build and its "portable" where the Xoom and iPad really aren't.
Supports full sized ad cards
16gbs of internal storage. 1.8gbs for apps, 11.4gbs for general storage
Cons: the DS7 has a poor battery. It can be managed to get 7 or 8 hours with light use, but anything beyond light use and I literally watched the battery drain away over a few hours after a full charge.
Proprietary usb/charging cable is a poor choice. Its far too short and it doesn't allow for charging through usb from a computer. If I'm incorrect about charging from a computer then please tell me how. I never got it to work.
The battery can't be replaced
The screen could be better. Most Android phones are at a 800x480 resolution but at a 7inch form factor the image quality isn't always as good as it should be.The viewing angles aren't the best either but weren't as bad as some reviewers at other websites made it out to be. For instance, my dvd rips still looked pretty good overall but on the other hand, the NookColor has a better screen than the DS7 and its $200 less.
With all of this in mind I'm a bit torn over whether I should keep the DS7 or
return it. I customized it and it runs really well playing back dvd rips and it handled my music well after I installed a superior 3rd party app. Connection speeds were good over 4g when it was available and the price isn't too bad. I guess, I would feel more confident if Dell would confirm a date for a Android 3.0 upgrade or even if the DS7 will receive the upgrade. My unit has even been stable after bombarding it with apps, content and data, really running it down going through apps.
With all things considered the DS7 is good for anyone that is looking for a 7inch tablet that runs good but doesnt have to be the cutting edge. Its a tough sell though, now that the iPad is $399 making the bigger screen seem not so bad. If Dell could have just improved the battery I could more easily forgive the screen. I could tailor the DS7 to suit my needs but I may return it and wait for the G Slate instead.
Sent from the DS7
The battery life on the Streak 7 is pretty much my only complaint.But i bought a car charger for it however.Other than that this thing is perfect.The screen responds incredibly well.Games like Asphalt 5 look amazing on it!!! The 4g speeds are incredible.I love being able to go anywhere & use this thing.I even got rid of my Archos 70 internet tablet after buying this item.Plus my brand new Ipod touch(4th gen) pretty much collects dust now lol.Apple won't let you view flash based websites..The Streak 7 has no problem loading the full desktop version of Cnn & Espn websites.Plus this tablet will get Honeycomb 3.0 when it comes out thanks to the Tegra 2 dual core processor..There is no tablet that can compete with this one at the moment. :)
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Bought this Tablet a week ago and I absolutely love it. The 4G is wicked fast and I love the portability of it.Pros:
4G (technically, not 4G, but just as fast)
7-inch screen is actually all you really need. The larger 10-inch tablets aren't exactly portable. If I wanted that, I'd carry my laptop.
Processing speed is fantastic.
Battery Life is great. I use this all day at work, checking email, taking notes and it lasts until I get home. That's better than most phones if you overuse them.
FULL SIZE SD CARD!!!! Wonderful!!! Can view photos quickly directly from my SLR (jpg, not Raw yet that I know of)!!!
Cons:
Not a big fan of the Dell Interface. However, you can replace that in the market for free. Download the ADW launcher to customize it or any other home screen.
Not set up to tether (make as a hot spot for others) yet. This can probably be done using a market app, but you may have to be rooted to do so.
No HDMI out. Not that I'd use it, but it is on others
No USB connectors. Would be kind of nice to simply attach a keyboard if I have a ton of notes to take. Bluetooth works fine though and the keyboard is pretty nice that comes stock on the Streak.
Can't remove the battery (at least that I know of).
All in all, I'm extremely happy with my purchase. The Cons are just nit picked items to make it perfect. I have owned several Android phones so if you are new to Android, this may take you some time to get used to and find all the great apps. Android isn't as intuitive as the iPad, but it is more customizable.
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When it works, it is great, but...I am totally frustrated with Dell and this product at this point. The product would not accept a charge. After three weeks of bumbling and fumbling and hours on the phone with India, they finally agreed to take it in for repair. Problem is, the repair facility is in Mexico in a facility run by another company, Flextronics.. Bottom line is that the best estimate I have is a total of 5-6 weeks for the tablet being out of commission before possibly being returned from the repair facility. Thus far, they have been unresponsive on my request for a new unit. It has been a real horror story of customer service. They wanted me to arrange conference calls between myself, Fedex, and India because they did not prepare the proper paperwork for shipment overseas. They even wanted me to prepare the commercial invoice to send it to Mexico. They were also too cheap to pay the extra $15 to pick up the product on a Saturday.
The instructions said to wipe the unit clean of any "sensitive" data, but this is impossible because the unit will not take a charge. As instructed, I have removed the SD card and the SIM card before returning the product, but I am still concerned about the fact that there could be sensitive data on this unit, a unit destined for Mexico.
Meanwhile, the monthly data contract for T-Mobile continues, me paying their bills without me having a product for at least a month.
If you do buy this product, I would consider an extended warranty (3rd party as I don't recommend Dell at this point). If you are beyond the warranty and still have a monthly obligation with T-Mobile, you could still be paying their bills monthly without a working product. If you do have a problem with this product, it will be a nightmare.
If Dell thinks this is a better way to do business, I suggest they think again.
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Hunted this down for a month, then bought it on Feb 2nd, 2011 when it was released...This tablet is very snappy. On STOCK OS with no mods, it benchmarked at 1950++. My EVO, also @ 1 GHz benchmarked at 1250 and later 1550 once rooted and overclocked on a custom ROM. Quadrant Benchmark test is not made for Dual Core processors. Android 2.2 is not made for Dual Core processors or tablets. I doubt either of the previously mentioned are made for an ASYNCHRONOUS CPU!
Speed is excellent. Battery life is not the greatest, but once a custom ROM is put on it with 2.3 or higher, it will be much better. It takes a FULL SD card. I don't know why "micro sd" was noted above, but technically it can take those as well. (Who would want to use slower micro when you have full)
Video recording is awesome as well. Great sound and quality. Video chat on the 3G network was NOWHERE NEAR as choppy as my test June 2010 on Sprint with my friend's HTC EVO and mine.
Already looked up and compared the upcoming HTC Flyer and was not happy with the fact it didn't seem to have flash on the camera and Gorilla glass wasn't mentioned2 HUGE selling points for me. VERY STURDY as DELL products arecompared to the flimsy quality of SAMSUNG.
Dell stage is nice, but I'm not one for software already "customized," and every widget does take from battery life. WIFI Tethering is built in, so rooting it currently has few advantages. I'm not sure if ADW launcher or the rooting procedure did, but it would no longer save any data or even do a master clear.
10" tablets are ludicrous and you can't type on them. I can lie down and hold this with one hand without it falling on me.
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