Dell Streak7 - Tablet Computer

Dell Computer Corporation, based in Round Rock, Texas, was founded in 1984 by Michael Dell. It's initial computer offerings where IBM PC clones called the Turbo-PC which sold for about $800 at the time; well below what IBM's PC sold for.

Dell currently employs over ninety-six thousand (96,000) people and has facilities in:

• Austin, Texas
• Nashville, Tennessee
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Peoria, Illinois
• Winston-Salem, North Carolina
• Miami, Florida

Offshore facilities include:

• Penang, Malaysia
• Xiamen, China
• Bangalore, India
• Hyderabad, India
• Chandigarh, India
• Delhi, India
• Bracknell, UK
• Manila, Philippines
• Chennai, India
• Hortolandia, Brazil
• Łódź, Poland
  Limerick, Ireland

Since its founding Dell has expanded it's market into laptops, televisions, handheld computers, mp3 players and printers.

The Streak 7 weighs less than one (1lb) pound. The touch interface is capacitive multi-touch (with gestures) overlaid on a Gorilla Glass WVGA display.

This is another mobile device running the nVidia Tegra 2 processor. Video input is via two cameras. A 5Megapixel rear and 1.3Megapixel front-facing for video chat. The rear facing can record still images or high definition video.

As with the "blackpad" the size works for larger pockets or purses. As of now the Streak 7 is slated to run Android 2.2 (FroYo), but could be running Honeycomb by product release. The Streak 7 supports Flash 10.1.

The Streak is slated to run on T-Mobile's 4G HSPA network.

The Streak 7 uses a Gorilla Glas TFT (WVBA) muti-touch screen. It is currently slated to run Android 2.2 (FroYo), but could well make it to market with Android 3.0 (Honeycomb). The tablet comes installed with Qik video chat and Swype quick typing on the virtual keyboard. It supports both SMS and MMS texting and is Bluetooth 2.1 (stereo) capable.

It will run the dual core nVidia Tegra 2 processor at 1GHz with 16Gigabytes (Gb) of internal memory expandable to 32Gb with microSD cards.

Mail capabilities include POP3, SMTP, and Mirosoft® Exchange. Of course it will come with a contact address list and calendar.

Overall dimensions are seven point eight by four point seven by zero point four nine inches ((7.8" X 4.7" X 0.49").

• T-Mobile TV: live and on-demand TV including; live news, sports and full-length entertainment; T-Mobile also promises to offer on-demand video playback
• BrainPOP: educational content; in the past BrainPOP has been lauded by students and teachers alike
• Zinio: an online newstand; Zinio contant includes up to seventy five thousand (75,000) magazines from twenty-six countries.
• QiK Video Chat: WiFi only chat solution offered by T-Mobile. It will work through the Streak 7 front facing camera to any other Streak or any mobile device supporting QiK; the Streak 7 can also switch cameras during a chat session from the front facing to the rear facing and back.
• Additional Entertainment: T-Mobile will also offer Blockbuster video, Kindle books for Android, Slacker Radio, Zoodles, and Let's Golf.

I'm a little disappointed that at this late date the device is still running Android 2.2 (FroYo) while Gingerbread (2.3) is strongly supported in the larger market and Honeycomb (3.0) is making waves as the next big (and soon) release.

Still, the Streak 7 proves beyond a doubt that a 7" diagonal tablet computer has a market despite what Steve Jobs has said.

In the past Dell has manufactured some very solid and affordable computing devices.

UPDATE
January 31, 2011
The Streak 7 will not come with Android 3.0 Honeycomb. Though it is possible that the Streak 7 will eventually be upgradable to Honeycomb the screen, alas, is not upgradable.

Despite the super fast dual-core Tegra 2 processor, Dell has apparently managed to bollix up the Android user interface so badly that reviewers are now routinely complaining about responsiveness (slow), touch-pad insensitivity (one in three taps on the screen go unrecognized), and a screen that is both low-resolution (by today's standards) and hard to view unless you get just the right angle.

You get all of this for $450 with no provider or for $200 (after a $50 rebate) with a two year contract.

Verdict
Not worth your time or money.

The author was not compensated in any way, either monetarily, with discounts, or freebies by any of the companies mentioned.

Though the author does make a small profit for the word count of this article none of that comes directly from the manufacturers mentioned. The author also stands to make a small profit from advertising attached to this article.

The author has no control over either the advertising or the contents of those ads.