Dell
Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies.
Dell sells personal computers (PCs), Server (computin ...
Streak 5 (previously known as the Dell Mini 5) is a
smartphone
A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...
/
tablet hybrid ("
phablet")
from
Dell
Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies.
Dell sells personal computers (PCs), Server (computin ...
that uses the
Android operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also ...
. It comes with a
capacitive touchscreen
A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is often ...
and two cameras, a 5
MP one with dual-
LED
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light ...
flash on the back and a
VGA-
resolution
Resolution(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Resolution (debate), the statement which is debated in policy debate
* Resolution (law), a written motion adopted by a deliberative body
* New Year's resolution, a commitment that an individual m ...
one on the front for video calling; both are capable of video.
The development was first disclosed in June 2009 and in October 2009 it was known that the tablet was capable of making
3G phone calls.
The three buttons at the bottom (or right, when held in its normal
landscape mode) are capacitive. The Android buttons used are Home, Menu, and Back.
It features a
Dell
Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies.
Dell sells personal computers (PCs), Server (computin ...
skin on top and has a cradle adapter with
HDMI
High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a proprietary audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed video data and compressed or uncompressed digital audio data from an HDMI-compliant source device, such as a display controller, ...
out. The phone lacks the navigational
trackball
A trackball is a pointing device consisting of a ball held by a socket containing sensors to detect a rotation of the ball about two axes—like an upside-down ball mouse with an exposed protruding ball. Users roll the ball to position the on-s ...
found in many previous Android devices. While FM radio support is not an official feature, an FM radio chip was found upon inspection of the Streak's internal hardware, and can be accessed though a user's modification of the OS. The versions released previously have had
Android 1.6 installed, with
Dell
Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies.
Dell sells personal computers (PCs), Server (computin ...
offering
unlocked Streaks with
Android 2.2 (Froyo) in December 2010.
Customers on the British
O2 mobile phone network were given the opportunity to install
Android 2.1 in early September 2010 through an
Over the Air update. This update, however, caused an uproar amongst consumers, over bugs and removal of some features from the previous software.
A seven-inch version of the Streak was announced at the
Consumer Electronics Show
CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event t ...
in January 2011. The Wall Street Journal reviewed it unfavorably in February. A long-rumored ten-inch model went on sale in August in China.
Following protests from users that
Dell
Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies.
Dell sells personal computers (PCs), Server (computin ...
, by not including source code, had violated the terms of the
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was the first copyleft for general ...
, the source code for the
Dell
Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies.
Dell sells personal computers (PCs), Server (computin ...
Streak is now available for download.
There is a root method for the Dell Streak, and many roms are available, including iterations of the
CyanogenMod
CyanogenMod ( ; CM) is a discontinued open-source operating system for mobile devices, based on the Android mobile platform. It was developed as free and open-source software based on the official releases of Android by Google, with added ori ...
ROM. These are available from the xda-developers website along with other ROMS.
Dell discontinued the Streak 5 on as of August 15, 2011. Customers attempting to purchase the device were directed to a "Good Bye, Streak 5" landing page. The larger Streak 7 was discontinued on December 2, 2011; Dell continues to sell a 10-inch tablet in China.
Reception
The Streak 7 received a tepid reaction from one reviewer due to its poor display and software bugs/glitches at launch. The Streak was considered bulky, and the Android 2.2 "Froyo" that it ran was geared more for smartphones instead of tablets.
While almost all tablet computers released in 2011 had failed to gain much market share in the face of overwhelming demand for the
Apple iPad 2, the Streak 7 compared poorly to other Android tablets such as the
Samsung Galaxy Tabbr>
''InfoWorld'' has suggested that Dell treated the Streak as a "Frankenphone business", where OEMs see tablets as a short-term, low-investment opportunity running Android OS, but this approach neglected the user interface and this failed to gain long term market traction with consumers.
Samsung Galaxy Note (original), Samsung Galaxy Note with 5.3 in
AMOLED
AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode, ) is a type of OLED display device technology. OLED describes a specific type of thin-film-display technology in which organic compounds form the electroluminescent material, and active matri ...
display was first released in Germany in late October 2011 and received positive reviews, but with exception that users would look "like a fool" if they held it to their face to take a call.
See also
*
Dell Axim Dell Axim.
The Dell Axim family of personal digital assistants was Dell's line of Windows Mobile-powered Pocket PC Devices. The first model, the Axim X5, was introduced in 2002, while the final model, the Axim X51, was discontinued on April 9, 2 ...
*
Dell Venue
*
Samsung Galaxy Note series
The Samsung Galaxy Note series is a discontinued line of high-end Android phablets and smartphones developed and marketed by Samsung Electronics. The line is primarily oriented towards pen computing; all Galaxy Note models ship with a sty ...
References
External links
Engadget - Dell Mini 5: We Have ItTablet Leader - Dell Streak Full ReviewDell Streak Community/Support forumGPL SourceList of available ROMs at XDA formum(including official Korean update to Android 2.3.3 and link to custom ROM with 2.3.7+ releases)
{{Dell
Tablet computers
Smartphones
Android (operating system) devices
Dell products
Mobile phones introduced in 2010
Dell mobile phones
Phablets