The Dell Streak Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on August 15, 2010 6:59 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Dell
- Streak
- Gadgets
- Mobile
The Performance Problem
When I first played with the Streak seven months ago it felt quick. The Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 inside was the king of the hill. Today, it’s a different world. Apple’s A4 and TI’s OMAP 3630 are where it’s at.
Performance is a definite problem. Let’s say you’re on the rightmost home screen, number four by default, and tap the home key to return to the main home screen. It takes a full three seconds for the Streak to get to the main home screen and stop animating. Not to mention that the animations are choppy along the way.
There are wireless and battery indicators in the upper right corner of the screen. Tap on those indicators to bring up more detailed information about the battery and network options among other things. The only problem? The detailed info takes roughly 1.3 seconds to pop up. You expect it to be instantaneous but it’s far from it.
The camera app takes 3.2 seconds to launch. But even worse is that it takes 3.3 seconds from the moment you hit the shutter release until you get to review the picture you just took.
This may seem like picking nits but grab a Droid X or iPhone 4 and see if you can measure any popup or transition in any number of seconds. You can’t.
In a world of iPhone 4s and Droid Xs the Streak just doesn’t feel quick. Not only that, but it doesn’t even feel like it’s of this generation. A large part of the Streak’s performance is due its OS: Android 1.6. A look through any of our benchmarks will show you that despite using a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC, the Streak doesn’t perform anywhere close to the Nexus One, HTC Incredible or Droid X. Let’s forget about comparing it to the iPhone 4 or iPad.
Web page rendering isn’t as bad as interacting with the OS. Pages load slower than Android 2.1 devices but it’s not painfully slow. Most of the time you’re limited by the speed of the cellular network to begin with. Web browsing is painful however as scrolling is very choppy. While this is a problem with all Android devices I’ve used, it’s clearly worse on the Streak.
Rightware’s BrowserMark is representative of the sort of web page rendering performance I saw on the Streak.
In this test the Streak offers roughly 80% of the performance of Motorola’s Droid X. I’d say that’s representative of the web page rendering performance I saw on a regular basis.
SunSpider supports what we've seen thus far. Despite having a 1GHz Snapdragon, the Streak performs more like a faster Droid than a Droid X.
Linpack and Benchmark Pi show the limitations of Android 1.6 more clearly. In both cases the Streak is slower than the original Motorola Droid with its 500MHz Cortex A8 based TI OMAP 3430.
Qualcomm’s Neocore benchmark shows us that the Adreno 200’s GPU drivers are seemingly mature, at least for 3D rendering in Android 1.6. There’s barely any difference between the Streak and QSD8250 based Snapdragon devices in this test.
Thankfully Dell has promised to deliver Android 2.2, codenamed Froyo, on the Streak before the end of the year. The only problem with that promise is Dell is asking for your money today. If you purchase the Streak today yes, you’ll get a wonderful upgrade for free at some point in the future, but in the interim you’ll have horrible performance - at least for a $600 device.
Even if you’re considering the Streak, I’d recommend waiting until the 2.2 update. There’s no reason for you to provide Dell with an interest-free loan until then.
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randomlinh - Sunday, August 15, 2010 - link
Hey, thumbs up for actually acknowledging HPalm still exists, unlike HP themselves.. heh.The Streak looks like it could have been the ultimate media device. Something to replace the iPod touch. Some of use still like having dedicated devices that don't eat away at the battery life of their smartphones. Oh I miss the days of 3-4 days battery life of dumbphones.
swang1942 - Sunday, August 15, 2010 - link
I don't think HP is ignoring Plam's existence, they are just laying low to cooking up something in their sleeve. As far as I know, HP is actively hiring mobile phone software and hardware engineers in Shanghai, China who are dedicated to Plam development. We shall wait and see what they can come up with.Rick83 - Sunday, August 15, 2010 - link
The streak seems to be pretty much a clone of what Archos released back in October or so of last year. Form factor is pretty much identical. While the A5 is still stuck at Android 1.6 and doesn't have a built in 3g module (but can tether via bluetooth, for internet access), it does have an incredible media player and hardware acceleration so it will even play 720p HD via HDMI. It also features a dock system so cost of entry is low, customizability high, plus there's an official open firmware available so you can freely install alternative operating systems (but will lose access to some drm functions).So it's definitely the most direct competitor for the streak at this point, until its successor arrives this fall. Would be great to get a back to back review, especially now as most of the teething issues the device had due to its early launch are resolved.
vol7ron - Monday, August 16, 2010 - link
This is the perfect form factor. I've been waiting for this much screen realestate. I'm not a kid anymore, so I don't care if a phone takes up my whole pant pocket - I don't mind a bulkier phone to put in my jacket pocket.If only it had the resolution of the iPhone, I am much more likely to watch a movie on a larger screen, than on a smaller one.
Sometimes I do my Insanity/P90X workouts off my phone too, this large screen size is going to be much better. -- still waiting for these smartphones to have pico projectors and louder speakers, though.
Souka - Monday, August 16, 2010 - link
Streak?I hope it doesn't come in a color like brown! ;)
donzi7000 - Sunday, August 15, 2010 - link
My Streak comes tomorrow. I consider myself an average user of a smartphone. I don't get too involved in which OS it has. I just want to be able to use the internet with ease and not take long to look up a webpage. I find all smartphones hard to use to browse the internet. I am hoping the Streaks larger size will allow me to leave my laptop at home. Having a locked phone doesn't matter to me at all. Aren't Iphones locked? When I get my hands on the Streak tomorrow I will find out if it works for my lifestyle or not. I don't care if Dell, Apple or Hasbro make a smartphone for me as long as it fits my needs.SirKronan - Thursday, August 19, 2010 - link
Enjoy your new streak! It looks like a really nice-big screen.I'm still waiting anxiously for Anand to review one of the Galaxy S variants!! Thanks for the good review on the Dell, though.
cameralogic - Sunday, August 15, 2010 - link
So Anand, just exactly how stupid would someone look if they held this big phone up to their head? I mean, is it big enough that one can expect snickers or gasps from the people at the next table when making a call? How 'bout a pic to illustrate the actual size of that thing in use?Perhaps a Streaker would be better off using bluetooth and keeping that whopper in their pocket...
donzi7000 - Sunday, August 15, 2010 - link
How about growing some balls and stop worrying about what people think of you?user_x - Sunday, August 15, 2010 - link
In cameralogic's defense, some us us have and because of that enjoy getting laid from time to time. I for one would like to know if holding this "phone" to my head in public will render my balls useless for anything other than taking up space between my legs. I don't care how funny or charming you are, some things looks so absurd that just about everyone will mock you. I fear Dell is testing the outer limits here.