The Dell Streak Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on August 15, 2010 6:59 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Dell
- Streak
- Gadgets
- Mobile
Good Battery Life
Behind the back cover is a 5.661 Whr (1530mAh @ 3.7V) removable battery. That’s 2.9% larger than the EVO 4G’s battery and 7.7% larger than what you get in the iPhone 4.
Overall battery life on the Streak is very good. In 3G web browsing battery life it’s second to only the iPhone 4, and the best Android phone we’ve ever tested. On WiFi it will last 8 hours and 20 minutes, which puts it behind the Droid X and iPhone 4 but well ahead of the competition. 3G talk time is a respectable 7.3 hours as well.
I generally found that I could use the Streak all day without having to charge it until right before I went to bed around midnight.
| H.264 Video Playback Battery Life | ||||
| Dell Streak | HTC EVO 4G | |||
| Battery Life | 6.47 hours | 3.63 hours | ||
Video playback isn’t something we always test in our phone reviews but the Streak played a 2Mbps H.264 stream of The Dark Knight continuously for 6 hours and 28 minutes. That’s long enough to watch two back to back movies and a couple of hour long TV episodes on a flight.
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jmunjr - Monday, August 16, 2010 - link
If I am forced to use AT&T then I'm not buying it. Being a techie I get razzed all the time about my ancient V195 flip phone. I'm not succumbing to the subsidy scam that goes on in pretty much only the USA. I want a choice and if companies want to force you to use a specific carrier to get their phone and allow those carriers to cripple the OS/phone then they won't have me as a customer. I work from home so my PC will blow away any smart phone no matter what the challenge.cjb110 - Monday, August 16, 2010 - link
could try importing an European one? Try www.expansys.com/d.aspx?i=196312Adul - Monday, August 16, 2010 - link
Any followup going to be done on phones that have upgraded to Froyo like the evo, droid and soon incredible?nilesh_dd - Monday, August 16, 2010 - link
Sorry to barge in with my un-related request. But, is there any chance you will be reviewing the Samsung Vibrant/Captivate? I was interested in an AnandTech review of Samsung Galaxy S GT-I9000, but I assume any closest phone will do.Thanks
Nilesh
wildkarrde21 - Monday, August 16, 2010 - link
I second this request for a review of the Captivate/Vibrant. Thanks for the informative review of the Streak, but I'm not sure why you guys reviewed the Dell Streak first when the Captivate/Vibrant have been out for almost a month now... I would love to hear Anandtech's opinion of the Captivate/Vibrant or even Epic 4G :)Anand Lal Shimpi - Monday, August 16, 2010 - link
The Epic 4G should be here this week - expect a review later this month :)Take care,
Anand
JimmiG - Monday, August 16, 2010 - link
Where does the Streak get its excellent battery life from? At first I thought "big device - big battery", but it's not that much higher capacity than the Nexus One (5.661 vs 5.18 Whr). They both use the Snapdragon platform so internally, the Streak looks like just a Nexus One with a bigger screen. Is it all due to software optimizations, or are there other significant differences hardware-wise?Imaginer - Monday, August 16, 2010 - link
Why not have the phone be with multiple carriers instead of this exclusivity BS. I like the fact that the device has two cameras for things like mobile skype and the battery seems decent. The keyboard if it is as bad as the review says, hopefully can be updated.adonn78 - Monday, August 16, 2010 - link
I would buy a version without the phone as I use a prepaid phone for $50 a month unlimited everything. AT&T is the worst network out there. I would love to have a nice tablet PC without the phone and would pay $300. Just to surf the web and have a GPS and video watching device.brianmc - Monday, August 16, 2010 - link
Anand, thanks for another great review I didn't expect from the site. I've been seeing commerical after commerical on the new Samsung Galaxy S phones, would it be possible to review one of them some time?Also I think it would be a good idea to have a Bench for the cell phones too! Only dreaming :)