We have know for a while that there were a few Dell phones scheduled for a 2010 release. We saw previews of what where Lightning, Thunder, Flash, Smoke and Streak, and all looked pretty good. Time has moved on, and so have the original models that we previewed earlier in the year.

The Lightning, is now released under the name Venue Pro, Thunder we have here, Flash is an Android phone we don’t have much news for. Smoke is another Android phone in Froyo guise and Streak is the tablet/smartphone hybrid launched earlier this year.

The Dell Thunder looks also to have been renamed, to the Dell Venue. It’s currently with the FCC awaiting approval, but we got a look at the prototype model and we’re here to share the views.

On the surface the Thunder looks like the other Dell phone in the news, the Venue Pro. The main differences are that is has ditched the slider for a longer body, and uses Android instead of Windows 7. Other than that, it looks much the same phone.

Bear in mind, these were engineering test models and they will probably change quite a bit before release. Anyway, to the phone. The Dell Thunder is a sleek looking device. The large LCD screen covers most of the front body, with just three recessed buttons on the bottom.

The release version is due to have an OLED panel, but the one we saw was LCD. Even though there was no evidence to support that, it looked too dim for OLED. The screen size is just right. Big enough for everything to be crystal clear and easily readable, while not being too big that it will make an uncomfortable bulge in your pocket a la Streak.

The software we saw was Android 1.6, which was again, a pre-release test version. It worked well, all the applications included booted and worked as advertised, so no problems there, even in pre-release. We had trouble getting the camera to work, but once working, was quick to adjust and took pretty decent pictures. We didn’t try video though, as we didn’t have time, but there’s no reason to doubt video quality would be any worse than stills.

Performance wise, the test phone was fast. The Dell phone has a 1GHz Snapdragon QSM8250 CPU with Qualcomm Adreno graphics to drive it. These specs are much like the Nexus One, which seems to handle most things. There was a bit of lag when using the apps drawer, but was snappy everywhere else.

The GPS was disabled, as was FM radio and a few other features, this was an early model after all. It’s difficult to make critical judgments about pre-release hardware, so we won’t.

From what we saw, the Dell Thunder, Venue, or whatever the final name will be, is a decent phone, with decent specs. It looks like it will fill a middle ground rather than set the world on fire, but will be a solid phone nonetheless.

Should you take the plunge now, or wait for an updated Android?

Is it a phone? Is it a slate? Dell’s distinctive web communications gadget confuses and delights in equal measure.

It may weigh only 220g, be dressed in sober black and have attracted a fraction of the attention with the Apple iPad, but Dell is pinning a lot of hopes around the humble-looking Streak. And it undeniably has a charm all its own.

Designed to appeal

A 5in display dominates, having a thick black bezel on either side. Should you were feeling unkind you may call it an overgrown phone, particularly when held vertically, but most of the time you’ll be holding the Streak in landscape mode, and in that orientation it looks fairly neat.

Unlike the iPad’s chic minimalism, Dell dots a number of buttons around the Streak’s edge. The Home, Menu and Back buttons sit towards the right of the display. Menu is context-sensitive, showing commands such as Wallpaper when on the home screen and Voice Dial when within the phone app.

At the top (the right-hand side should you use it as a phone) you will discover the quantity buttons, the power switch, a 3.5mm audio socket and also the camera button. The bottom is home to a proprietary connector, which is how you link up with your PC and recharge the device.

The software

As has been nicely advertised, Google Android powers the Streak. But disappointingly, it is Android 1.6 – not 2.1 or the newer 2.2 (FroYo).

That indicates you lose out on support for native multitouch, Adobe Flash and over-the-air Exchange synchronisation.

Which you miss probably the most will depend on how you use the Streak. The absence of Flash indicates you can’t watch videos, or many on the web games for that matter.

The lack of native multitouch is not fairly as poor because it sounds: the majority of the other key apps, notably the web browser, do help it. One application that does not, however, is Google Maps, and that’s a bigger limitation. No pinch to zoom means you need to double-tap the show or use the small onscreen buttons.

To counter the lack of Exchange support, Dell bundles a 30-day trial of an app called TouchDown. It works well, but will price you extra if you would like the full version. Dell assures us it will release an over-the-air update for the Streak to Android 2.2. That sounds great, but as owners of the HTC Hero and other Android-based phones know, such promises could be broken.

This aside, we’re impressed by the work Dell has put in to create Android scale to the Streak’s 800 x 480 show. The neat house display has a search bar and six onscreen shortcuts to key apps such as contacts, messaging and also the web browser. Press the arrow in the top and also the installed apps spring into view.

The majority of these are predictable, but we’re just a little disappointed in the lack of a proper workplace suite. All you can do is view files with the QuickOffice viewer; fantastic for PDFs, annoying for everything else.

Then again, that’s when the strength with the Android Market comes into play. Most apps adapted well towards the larger display, and you can download the third-party Workplace app DataViz Documents To Go for close to $20.

Dell also includes the Amazon Kindle app, which suggests it considers the Streak suitable for eBook reading. While it is never as comfortable to read a book on a backlit device as it is on a dedicated reader, it feels surprisingly natural to read a page around the Streak’s 5in screen.

Strengths and weaknesses

We have mixed feelings about the Streak’s onscreen keyboard. 1 nice touch is the separate quantity pad if you’re typing in landscape mode, but it’s fiddly to enter text at speed. We found mistakes kept creeping in, and the auto-correction is no match for that found on HTC’s Android handsets or the iPhone 4.

Consequently, we wouldn’t want to use the Streak as an email gadget, and if you make frequent calls nor will you want it to be your main phone. Although you don’t look ridiculous with the Streak clamped to your ear, you do not appear entirely sane both. You can use the hands-free set to make and take calls, and call high quality is fine, however the biggest hurdle will be the size. You are able to squeeze the Streak into a jeans pocket, but we suspect most individuals will prefer to keep it in their bag.

Entertainment on-the-go is great

Where the dell streak excels is as an entertainment device. Video appears fantastic around the 5in screen, and YouTube clips had been beautifully smooth thanks towards the 1GHz processor. There’s 16GB of storage as standard, but this comes in the form of a microSD card instead of built-in flash memory. The only room for expansion is to upgrade to a 32GB card.

The hands-free set consists of a pair of high-quality earphones that slip into your ear canal and block out most background noise. There’s no volume control, but a pause button allows you to accept incoming calls.

The 5-megapixel digital camera on the rear takes decent photos in bright conditions. Under much more subdued lighting, twin LEDs help to illuminate your subjects, however the effect does not come close to a correct flash. We were also a bit disappointed by the video digital camera. It only shoots at 640 x 480 and at 20fps.

Searching bliss

The Streak excels when browsing web sites. As long as your connection is strong, even websites that aren’t optimised for mobile browsers load rapidly. And more than Wi-Fi it’s even quicker, with the BBC website displaying in fewer than 11 seconds. It completed the SunSpider benchmark in a extremely respectable average of 25 seconds, although a 91/100 score within the Acid3 standards check is acceptable. But it is hamstrung by the lack of Flash help.

To fully take advantage with the Streak’s GPS capabilities, you need to purchase Dell’s car docking kit, which we expect to retail close to $115.

We took the Streak out onto the streets with out the kit and, as ever, were impressed by Google Maps Navigation. The visual directions are clear and its mapping solid, but in some methods it isn’t ideally set up for the 5in display. Yes, the street mapping is big, but if and when you do require to press a button you will find they’re uncomfortably small.

The other problem will be the built-in speakers. To create certain you can hear what the synthesised voice just said more than the background hum of the road, the volume must be set at three-quarters or above. And also the speakers start to distort at that quantity. It is fine the majority of the time, but if the street name is not familiar then it is easy to mishear.

Battery life

The Streak’s generous 1530mAh battery retained 60% of its charge after our 24-hour test (this includes polling for e-mail every 30 minutes, playing back audio for an hour, making a 30-minute telephone call, and hooking up towards the internet for an hour using the screen on). That puts it on a par using the iPhone 4 – pretty great for a device having a screen this big – but heavy users will require to recharge it every day.

You can do so either by way of the supplied USB adapter plug or by plugging it into your pc. Should you do the latter, you are able to also synchronise your Outlook contacts and calendar by way of Dell PC Suite (which you load direct from the Streak)! It is not probably the most polished software program in the world, with some suspect English to negotiate throughout setup, but it works.

Conclusion

We cannot suggest the dell streak yet. For it to become the natural option for browsing the internet, it must support Flash. And for this, it wants its promised Android update.

You will find other problems with the Streak too.

It is just too large for most pockets, so you will miss the always-there convenience of a phone. On the other hand, its screen isn’t as big or as stunning as that of the Apple iPad, which rules out the much-heralded rebirth of digital magazines.

Nevertheless, there’s a lot to like. Thinking about its display size, battery life is good. Dell makes the the majority of Google Android, having a slick user interface married to thousands of apps, many of which are totally free. And the hardware is rather attractive as well.

The Dell Streak comes out on October 1, for $649 outright, or $0 upfront on a $59 per month plan from Optus.

Dell is releasing quite a few new smartphones and earlier we told you about the new Dell Lightning Windows 7 smartphone, well now thanks to Engadget there’s also the new Dell Thunder handset.

The Dell Thunder is an Android 2.1 smartphone that functions a 4.1-inch WVGA OLED screen; it also has the awesome Dell “Stage” UI on top and Flash 10.1.

This phone also has integrated Twitter and Facebook for that lovely social networking you all love to do, and taps Swype for a touchscreen keyboard replacement, it is possible to also has HTC’s Sense loving.

The Dell Thunder also comes with integrated web video Hulu app, major specifications consist of an 8-megapixel camera and is going to be sold with AT&T and world-friendly HSDPA versions.

This smartphone is expected to release Q4, 2010 and even better news is that an LTE model of this handset will follow at the end of 2011. Please take a look at the photo gallery over on Engadget.