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Oct

Dell: Streak Getting 2.2 Froyo Update "Much Sooner" Than December 31st

Posted by David Ruddock in Froyo 2.2, News, Streak

As you may be aware, Dell Streak owners have not exactly been sitting on the cutting edge of Android (the device runs 1.6 Donut) since the phone was released stateside. While a leaked and tweaked build of the UK version's 2.1 update has been floating around for a while now, the average user doesn't want to take the time or risk in using an unsupported software build.

But hear ye, hear ye - hope does yet live. Dell previously announced that the Streak would be going straight to Froyo in the US, rather than making the incremental jump to Éclair. Dell's making good on this promise, and has also informed Streakers that they (and their phones) will be frolicking on Froyo "much sooner" than the previously anticipated December 31st deadline.

Oct

Universal Androot Hits The Market, Now Supports One-Click Rooting Of 23 Android Phones

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Development, Droid (Sholes), G1 (Dream), Hero, Hero (Sprint, HeroC), Milestone, Milestone XT720, myTouch Slide (Espresso), News, Nexus One (Passion), Streak, Xperia X10 (es209ra), Xperia X10 Mini / Mini Pro (Robyn / Mimmi)

Last Updated: October 16th, 2010

Update: As Artation has pointed out in the comments below, Universal Androot has since been removed from the Market for unknown reasons. If you're still heartbent on using it though, you can download it it from here.

If you can think back to the time Universal Androot was released, you'll recall the then small xda-developers startup that allowed for one-click rooting of a very limited number of phones, all of which had to be running Android 2.1 Eclair or lower.

Now, the app has hit the Market and is ready for prime time with support for a multitude phones, including devices running Android 2.2 FroYo (though, only limited to Nexus One before 2.2.1 and an older FRG01B Droid build), 2.1 Eclair, 1.6 Donut, and even phones stuck on 1.5 Cupcake, like the HTC Magic.

Sep

Battery Lives Of 8 Flagship Android Phones Tested And Compared - LCD Wins, AMOLED Loses, Droid X Takes Home The Crown

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Captivate, Devices By Manufacturer, Droid 2, Droid X (Shadow), Epic 4G, EVO 4G (Supersonic), Incredible, News, Streak, Vibrant

Here’s something to get your teeth into. Over at LaptopMag, a whole host of Androids have been put through their paces in a grueling battery life endurance test. The goal was to keep the phones’ screens on while doing a moderate amount of processing, namely cyclically browsing a collection of web pages. Despite the supposed power savings afforded by AMOLED screens, the phones employing that screen technology fell quite a ways behind in comparison to the traditional LCD phones.

Why is that? AMOLED is supposed to only use up power on non-black pixels, right? Well, as LaptopMag points out, the majority of webpages are actually dark text on a light background, a scenario in which AMOLED actually uses more power than an equivalent backlit LCD.

Sep

Dell Streak Headed To Best Buy While Its 7-Inch Brethren Gets Teased (Could This Be The Looking Glass?)

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Dell, Looking Glass, News, Streak

Ever since the Dell Streak launched with Android 1.6, the company has been making desperate attempts to bring the 5-inch tablet/phone hybrid into the eyes of the public, but somehow, the public just hasn't noticed yet (even releasing the source code didn't help).

Dell's latest attempt at stardom? Making the Streak available from Best Buy. No word on that long overdue update to FroYo, lowering that sky-high price tag, or even that leaked update to Eclair, but hey - at least now you can get it from a location where all employees are dressed in blue, right?

Sep

Dell Streak Source Code Released, World Shrugs

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in News, Streak

Not a whole lot to see here, folks: Dell has honored its obligation and released the source code for the Streak (sans the proprietary bits). The benefits of this are the same as they were when Samsung released the source code for the Epic, so I'll just quote what I said then:

What does this mean to you? That devs can begin to tweak the software based off the stock build, and it can make developing a custom ROM a bit easier.

Exciting? Not really, so here's a picture of a cat:

_{Because it's relevant.}

[Source: Dell via Android Central]

Aug

Dell Aero Now Available For $100 On Contract, Runs On Cupcakes

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Aero, AT&T, Cupcake 1.5, Dell, News

Last Updated: September 22nd, 2010

At this point, we'd consider it a joke to release a device with Android 1.5, but apparently, Dell thinks differently.

The 3.67-ounce Dell Aero goes on sale today (on Dell.com, at least; AT&T still lists it as "coming soon") for $99.99 on a new two-year contract with AT&T, and packs:

2GB of onboard storage
triband 3.6Mbps HSDPA and quadband EDGE
5 megapixel camera
3.5-inch 640x360 display

Oh, and the best part? It runs the latest and greatest in the world of Android operating systems: Android 1.5 Cupcake. Yes, seriously. Full press release after the break.

Source: Dell via Engadget

Dell Creates Freedom, Style and Performance to Explore Life's Biggest Moments on New 3.5-Inch Android Smartphone

Date: 8/24/2010

Round Rock, Texas

NEWS:

Dell's first U.S.

Aug

Dell Streak Torn Apart By iFixit - Reveals It Has Chips, Circuits

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in News, Streak

iFixit is at it again - this time, they’ve torn down a Dell Streak. As usual, they’ve provided a ton of pictures and a step-by-step to go with it. Just a quick rehash of the specs:

5” 800x480 display
5 MP camera around back, VGA camera on front
Android 1.6 (Donut)
1 GHz Snapdragon CPU
Gorilla Glass-protected screen

The 15-step teardown (complete with pictures for every step) reveals a whole slew of additional details, and could prove very useful if you ever need to repair the device yourself. iFixit gives the Streak an 8 out of 10 for repairability, citing the following reasons:

Good: Replacing the battery is super easy and takes less than one minute.

Aug

Eclair Hops The Pond - Unofficial Android 2.1 Update Now Works On The AT&T Dell Streak In The US

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Dell, Donut 1.6, Eclair 2.1, News, Streak

Owners of Dell’s 5” tablet in the UK were lucky to get their hands on a leaked pre-release version of Android 2.1 earlier this week. The hack, however, was only compatible with the O2 version of the device in the UK, so owners of the US counterpart released only 2 days ago on AT&T have been stuck with their new giant babies wearing an ancient 1.6 Donut diaper. To make matters worse, it looks like Dell decided to skip the 2.1 update altogether and go straight for 2.2, delaying the upgrade even longer.

Not to worry - the Android community has now come up with a way to flash 2.1 on the US version of the Streak.

Aug

Streaking Past Eclair - Dell Streak Likely To Go Straight To FroYo

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in AT&T, Dell, Froyo 2.2, News, O2, Streak

Last Updated: December 22nd, 2010

As our very own John Thompson said in his hands-on with Dell's Streak, the phone/tablet hybrid has some really nice hardware, like a front-facing camera, a 1 GHz processor, and 512 MB of RAM, but the fact that it runs Android 1.6 is rather disappointing.

Well, the update to Android 2.1 may never see the light of day, as Lionel Menchaca, Dell's official chief blogger, has tweeted the following message, which was just spotted by one of Engadget's tippers:

So there you have it - looks like Dell is scrapping plans to roll out Android 2.1 officially, instead gunning straight for 2.2.

Aug

Dell Streak Feature Roundup, Hands-On, And Impressions

Posted by John Thompson in Dell, Phone Reviews, Reviews, Streak

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

The Dell Streak may have been available in the UK for over two months now, but it’s taken until now to hit the States. Just in case you forgot, here is a roundup of my thoughts on all the features the phone has to offer if you’re thinking of getting yourself a Streak when it’s released tomorrow.

Hardware

When you first see the Dell Streak on the shelves, you may be confused as to what it’s trying to be. It’s a bloody big smartphone, with a 5” capactive touch screen display, but it’s not quite large enough, in my opinion, to be called a tablet.