miffed
2nd July 2010, 06:38 PM
Since I bought one this morning ! ;)
Why ? , you may ask ...Did I go out and spend £429 on Dell , when a (Cheapest case scenario) I could have had an iPhone 4 for £50 or so more ?
Well , TBH half the reason I chose a Streak is quite simply because it's NOT an iPhone !!! - I have been on board for all three of the predecessors , and I was singing the praises of iPhone one while the rest of the world were telling me the LG Viewty is 10 times the phone that the iPhone is (most of the people that told me that ,all have iPhones now , wonder what happened to their Viewty's ? ) I know how great the iPhone is , and I also know that in terms of UI nothing comes close .
But TBH the whole iPhone thing has become far too "mainstream" for my liking , I think I know fewer people that AREN"T getting an iPhone , than are !! , and of those people , many are old ladies and children..
No , it was great fun while it lasted , but I can put my hand on my heart and say I don't really want to be in the happy club , ...Maybe its because the cool kids would never play with me at school ? , I don't know , but when I see trend , I like to move away from it ...
So , I went out and bough myself a Streak ! , IDEAL ! , It appeals to me because I like big phone , and all the cool kids say it sucks .... PERFECT !!
First thing to note is the Packaging !! Gone is the luxurious iPhone or HTC packages .... back to the small shoe box with cheap moulded cardboard inserts (well ,its bamboo actually !) from the 90's (or more recently if you buy Nokia) .
I like the Aesthetics of the Streak , some would say it looks cheap and plasticcy - and to be fair it does !!, but something about it (when powered down ) reminds me of Knight Rider !! ,so it becomes uber coolio !
First things that strike you ? , this thing is BIG , and thin .... but it does have a well made feel about it Too big ? yeah maybe for some , not me personally as I like big phones , but I can imagine some getting a bit flappy about it . I have an ear on each side of my head , and a mouth on the front of my face , a good few inches away , so it suits me fine.
So , Power it up , and you're off - Interestingly , this is the first Android device I have used that doesn't launch straight into the Account set up initial switch on . meaning you are left to your own devices to get set up etc. ( wonder why ? )
Anyway , one Username and Password later , I am in business , all my Contacts , mail and calenders where just where I had left them . Changing phones is SO easy these days ! Googlesync rules.
Dell would like you to use the Device in landscape mode, this is how the buttons (capacitive) are marked , and Dells UI overlay ony works in landscape - I knew I was not going to put up with that from the second I read about it , so I had another launcher in mind.
Dells UI looks "nice' , they have made the Notifications bar a bit more functional and expandable ,at first I was not impressed and contemplated looking into getting a "Vanilla" experience on the streak , but (unusually for such a customisation) I do actually find it helpful and useful - so that gets a reprieve !
The thing I DON'T like about the UI is Dells customisation of the icons and Widgets , they look OK on the face of it , but when you try to customize your home screen , you find lots of wasted space, and the pact that all your small icons have black borders makes it all look a bit "buttony" and covers too much of the wallpaper - Speaking of wallpaper , the Panoramic one with the o2 on it is great , made up of 3 images that scroll as you flick through the homescreens .. BUT , if you want to change this image , you either have to make your own panorama , carefully cropping the 3 images so the transition is smooth , or accept that you'll lose the "flowy" look ,and switching home screens becomes bliocky and clunky !
I used a 3rd Party launcher , which pretty much kills all the Dell stuff except the Notifications bar (which I liked anyway )
So far , performance is amazing ! This devices is FAR better than the HTC Desire IMO , much snappier , and I suspect when it gets 2.2 (or if , lol ) it will be a force to be reckoned with. Considering it runs 1.6 it absolutely flies from what I have seen so far , but then a phone with 1Ghz CPU and 512mb RAM ought to really !!
Heres a couple of Pics , one with the 3GS (taken with n900, please excuse the poor quality) and one of my new UI (not stock Dell ) taken with the 3GS
http://yfrog.com/5uphotofsxj
http://yfrog.com/0x20090101003j
Why ? , you may ask ...Did I go out and spend £429 on Dell , when a (Cheapest case scenario) I could have had an iPhone 4 for £50 or so more ?
Well , TBH half the reason I chose a Streak is quite simply because it's NOT an iPhone !!! - I have been on board for all three of the predecessors , and I was singing the praises of iPhone one while the rest of the world were telling me the LG Viewty is 10 times the phone that the iPhone is (most of the people that told me that ,all have iPhones now , wonder what happened to their Viewty's ? ) I know how great the iPhone is , and I also know that in terms of UI nothing comes close .
But TBH the whole iPhone thing has become far too "mainstream" for my liking , I think I know fewer people that AREN"T getting an iPhone , than are !! , and of those people , many are old ladies and children..
No , it was great fun while it lasted , but I can put my hand on my heart and say I don't really want to be in the happy club , ...Maybe its because the cool kids would never play with me at school ? , I don't know , but when I see trend , I like to move away from it ...
So , I went out and bough myself a Streak ! , IDEAL ! , It appeals to me because I like big phone , and all the cool kids say it sucks .... PERFECT !!
First thing to note is the Packaging !! Gone is the luxurious iPhone or HTC packages .... back to the small shoe box with cheap moulded cardboard inserts (well ,its bamboo actually !) from the 90's (or more recently if you buy Nokia) .
I like the Aesthetics of the Streak , some would say it looks cheap and plasticcy - and to be fair it does !!, but something about it (when powered down ) reminds me of Knight Rider !! ,so it becomes uber coolio !
First things that strike you ? , this thing is BIG , and thin .... but it does have a well made feel about it Too big ? yeah maybe for some , not me personally as I like big phones , but I can imagine some getting a bit flappy about it . I have an ear on each side of my head , and a mouth on the front of my face , a good few inches away , so it suits me fine.
So , Power it up , and you're off - Interestingly , this is the first Android device I have used that doesn't launch straight into the Account set up initial switch on . meaning you are left to your own devices to get set up etc. ( wonder why ? )
Anyway , one Username and Password later , I am in business , all my Contacts , mail and calenders where just where I had left them . Changing phones is SO easy these days ! Googlesync rules.
Dell would like you to use the Device in landscape mode, this is how the buttons (capacitive) are marked , and Dells UI overlay ony works in landscape - I knew I was not going to put up with that from the second I read about it , so I had another launcher in mind.
Dells UI looks "nice' , they have made the Notifications bar a bit more functional and expandable ,at first I was not impressed and contemplated looking into getting a "Vanilla" experience on the streak , but (unusually for such a customisation) I do actually find it helpful and useful - so that gets a reprieve !
The thing I DON'T like about the UI is Dells customisation of the icons and Widgets , they look OK on the face of it , but when you try to customize your home screen , you find lots of wasted space, and the pact that all your small icons have black borders makes it all look a bit "buttony" and covers too much of the wallpaper - Speaking of wallpaper , the Panoramic one with the o2 on it is great , made up of 3 images that scroll as you flick through the homescreens .. BUT , if you want to change this image , you either have to make your own panorama , carefully cropping the 3 images so the transition is smooth , or accept that you'll lose the "flowy" look ,and switching home screens becomes bliocky and clunky !
I used a 3rd Party launcher , which pretty much kills all the Dell stuff except the Notifications bar (which I liked anyway )
So far , performance is amazing ! This devices is FAR better than the HTC Desire IMO , much snappier , and I suspect when it gets 2.2 (or if , lol ) it will be a force to be reckoned with. Considering it runs 1.6 it absolutely flies from what I have seen so far , but then a phone with 1Ghz CPU and 512mb RAM ought to really !!
Heres a couple of Pics , one with the 3GS (taken with n900, please excuse the poor quality) and one of my new UI (not stock Dell ) taken with the 3GS
http://yfrog.com/5uphotofsxj
http://yfrog.com/0x20090101003j