Introduction

Dell Streak

Your Price: $199.99 with service

Dell was the second one out of the gate with the Streak. While the company is marketing it as a tablet, it functions more like a large smartphone. Similar to the iPad, the Streak runs on AT&T's cellular network. But unlike the iPad, it can also make phone calls.

The Streak comes with a much smaller 5.0-inch screen, compared to the iPad's 9.7-inch display, putting it in that awkward category of being too small to do things that make a tablet desirable, while too large to carry around comfortably.

The device, however, has some notable features that the iPad lacks, such as two cameras -- a 5.0-megapixel lens for photos and a VGA one for video chat -- and support for Adobe's Flash software. But being an "in-between" device makes the Streak worthwhile to only a small segment of consumers.

Design

The Streak is a tall and skinny tablet, measuring 6.0-inches long by 3.1-inches wide -- about a quarter of the size as the iPad and a third of the weight. That's considerably small, but not necessarily small enough, because the Streak won't fit into a pocket comfortably.

A 5.0-inch touch screen display takes up the front face, built from a panel of "Gorilla Glass," which is supposedly damage-resistant.

There are two cameras lenses located on either side of the tablet -- a 5.0-megapixel one with an integrated flash on the back for photos and a VGA one on the front for video chat. But the position of the rear lens makes it easy to block with a finger.

There are buttons along the edges for volume, power and camera mode, and ports for a 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack, 30-pin connection and USB cable.

The back also houses a speaker grille and an expansion slot, which the iPad doesn't have, for microSD cards. Its battery can be removed.

Overall, the Streak's design is slim and sleek, but often times awkward to use. A large part of the problem is the touch screen, which is too small to have the full tablet experience, yet too large to carry around like a smartphone. Fortunately, Dell plans to release smaller and larger versions of the Streak in the near future, which consumers may want to wait for.

Out of the box, the Dell Streak comes with a 30-pin dock to USB cable, power adapter, 16-gigabyte microSD card and customary documentation. Consumers can buy additional accessories such as a car dock and additional memory.

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