Dear Dell,
Can I ask you a question? Seriously, I promise it’ll just be between you and me. Here’s what I want to know and, please be honest with me…
What were you thinking?
Seriously Dell, what were you thinking releasing your reentry into the smartphone/tablet market with Android 1.6? How can you take high-end hardware, put old firmware on it and expect people to actually like this device? I mean, you put Android FRIGGIN’ 1.6 on the thing when phones are being released with Android 2.2.
1.6???? That’s just crazy!
I love my iPhone, but I really want to like Android … and I might eventually like it once it is done right and on the right device. After all, your Streak’s hardware is easy on the eyes, although my non-tech-loving wife took one look at the Streak’s hardware and said, “Nice but it’s not Apple.” The relatively small difference between the sizes of my iPhone and the Streak, shown in the picture above, makes a huge difference when it comes to the screen.
BUT YOU PUT 1.6 ON IT!!!!
And that’s not all.
Look I’m not big into unboxing experience, but for a high-end phone unboxing the Streak was a low-end experience. It really was underwhelming to open up the box and see the device inside. It was like opening something from…something from… something from… well actually it was like opening something from you. And that alone should have indicated to me that I was going to be disappointed.
Then again, the experience of taking the device out of the box happens only once, while actually using the device happens numerous times every day. Which brings me back to this…
You put freaking Android 1.6 on the Streak. Android 1.6! 1.6 which even makes a 1 GHz Snapdragon processor feel laggy at times. Heck, the Camangi WebStation Judie and I got LAST SPRING had Android 1.5 and since then there been updates including 1.6, 2.0… I mean… it’s now the middle of August 2010 and you shipped with Android 1.6.
WHAT WERE YOU THINKING????
I know, I know, you promise to release an update with Android 2.1 or even 2.2 this fall, but it is not this fall yet. It’s August, and I stopped making decisions about technology purchases based on promised firmware updates a long, long time ago. Sure, maybe I would like this phone errrr… tablet…. errrr phablet with a new build of Android (certainly that’s what I’m being told by everyone on the site who likes Android), but here’s the thing… by the time the update is released, it will be too late to return the device. If I like it with 2.1 or 2.2 that will be great, but if I don’t then I have to deal with eBay. So despite the fact that you did a nice job on the hardware, I think this is going back tomorrow. Yes, another attempt for this self-professed Apple fanboy to like Android has rapidly ended.
Just look at this… a comparison of where Android was and where Android is. It is NIGHT and DAY, and you shipped a device that isn’t even about to see the dawn with a vague promise that the sun will rise… some time soon…
Okay, one more bad metaphor and I’m done. Google likes using pastries to talk about their Android updates, so here’s one for you. You baked a cake that looks totally yummy on the outside. It has delicious icing and it looks pretty. But you took it out of the oven too soon. As a result while it looks great, as soon as you stick your fork into it you realize that it is all gooey and uncooked.
Yes, Dell…
You
Should
Have
Waited!!!!!!
Still, I do want to thank you for one thing: I really like the hardware, and the size of the Streak has proven something to me beyond the shadow of a doubt. And that is this … If Apple releases a 5 or 7″ iPad, I’ll be first in line.
And I owe that knowledge all to you!
Yours truly,
Dan