Dell Streak review

If bigger is better, then the Dell Streak is the greatest smart phone in the world. But size isn't everything, and, although the Streak's large screen and powerful Android operating system provide heaps of fun, it needs some more polish before it lives up to our Android tablet fantasies.

The Streak is only available from O2. It will set you back £399 on a pay-as-you-go deal. You can also pick it up for free on a £35-a-month, two-year voice and data contract, or for free on a £25-a-month, two-year data contract if you don't want to use it as a phone.

Mega phone
Is the Streak a phone or a tablet? We think it's a bit of both. Although its size means it looks hilarious when held up against your face, its 127mm (5-inch) screen has been slapped onto a slim, 10mm case, which means it's technically possible to pop it into a pocket. Unlike the iPad, the Streak doesn't feel like a pack of A4 paper that's come to life. It feels more like a very, very big phone, in the same way that the HTC HD2 did.

But the Streak's main strength is its tablet-like size. When holding it, the Streak reminded us of a handheld games console like the Sony PSP Go, because its buttons are arranged so that you tend to use it in landscape orientation. We rarely used the Streak in portrait mode, especially since the home screens are always shown in landscape mode, which isn't the case with most Android phones.

The Streak's rear sports a 5-megapixel camera with video-recording capability

The Streak's widescreen orientation emphasises its strengths as a media player and Web-surfing device, over its qualities as a phone. Dell has taken advantage of the widescreen real estate in several places -- for example, the phone dialler puts a list of recent calls beside the keypad. Dell's also put plenty more options along the top of the screen, where other Android phones only have notifications -- for instance, the menu button resides at the top of the screen, rather than at the bottom, like you'd normally see.

But Dell's efforts don't go far enough for our taste. We'd like the user interface to be as well thought out as the iPad's, taking greater advantage of the big screen. For example, we'd like the Gmail app to capitalise on the landscape screen, like it does on the iPad, rather than just being a stretched version of the phone app. Even where the Streak does make full use of the space available -- as with the address book, in which each person's contact options are shown as buttons beside their name -- the grey user interface lacks flair.

A universe of symbols
The wide screen will probably also prove a stretch for your fingers while you're typing. But at least you can go nuts with your thumbs -- tablets the size of the iPad are simply too big to enable you to type this way.

Dell has, however, decided to forgo huge, finger-friendly buttons in favour of every key you can possibly imagine. That means there's a full Qwerty keyboard, a number pad, separate shift and caps lock keys, and a double-width button that's dedicated solely to entering emoticons.  

The zillions of keys also have zillions of alternate options, so symbols you will never have to use -- like the registered-trademark sign -- are at your fingertips. That's handy for texting the occasional maths equation to your mates, but useless for most people. We'd prefer to have bigger, easier-to-press buttons.