Dell Streak 7

Let's be truthful, the original Dell Streak had a small piece of an identity crisis. The 5-inch device wasn't sure if it belong in the tablet or smartphone world, and eventually it was targeted at a pretty niche user. But its larger brother, the Streak 7, is more self-aware. It's a honest-to-goodness tablet meant for doing all those tablet-y things -- surfing the web, reading e-books, watching video and more. Sure, the Streak 7 may just look like an enlarged version of the 5-inch version, but they fluctuate in more than just screen size: the 7 packs a powerful 1GHz dual-core Tegra T20 processor, 1.3 megapixel front facing camera, 5 megapixel lens on the rear, T-Mobile "4G" HSPA+ connectivity, and 16GB of internal memory. The tablet runs Android 2.2 with Dell's Stage UI for now, but Dell assures an upgrade to Honeycomb once it's ready. It sounds like one of the more well-rounded 7-inch tablets on the market right now and at just $200 on agreement at T-Mobile (it's $450 without), it's actually quite fine priced. However, there are quite a few things that are going to keep 7-inch tablet seekers from forking over the cash. What are those? We'll tell all in our full review -- read on for more!

while powered off, the Streak 7 looks like it has almost the same display as the Galaxy Tab. Both have highly glossy, 7-inch Gorilla Glass screens that feel incredibly smooth to the touch. However, that all changes when you turn them on. In contrast to the Galaxy's 1024 x 600 resolution display, the Streak's 800 x 480 panel just looks cheap, and the experience is definitely felt when browsing, reading, looking at photos, or watching a high-definition clip. In a side-by-side comparison of the same photo, the Streak 7 just looked low-rate in comparison to the Tab's crisp rendering. Yep, it's pretty much a Pixel Density Enthusiast's terrifying

Speaking of that Qik Video Chat app, we were able to successfully gossip with a former colleague using the 1.3-megapixel front facing camera. The app itself doesn't provide the best excellence video -- it was better on WiFi than 4G, but it's still not desktop grade video calling. That said, when we took some stills with the front lens, we found the quality to be polite - unluckily, it picked up the bags under our eyes and our messy hair. Clearly, in evaluation, the 5-megapixel cam on the rear took much crisper shots, even though they seemed a bit washed out. We still have to admit taking a picture with a 7-inch viewfinder is nothing but awkward. Still, the auto focus was quick and the flash came in handy when we went to take shots in a dark taxi cab. There's no incessant or panorama shooting mode like the Galaxy Tab, but the Streak 7 can record 720p video. Motion capture was quite flat, though the footage was fairly grainy and oversaturated.

For individuals, that need to have a 7-inch Android tablet right now, we'd suggest the $500 Galaxy Tab -- the screen is noticeably improved and it lasts twice as long on a charge. (Keep in mind, we're not positive that the Tab will be upgradable to Honeycomb, so you're taking a risk there). There's also the $250 Nook Color, which is really aimed at reading and light browsing, but can be rooted every which way if that's your thing. though, with the Motorola Xoom, LG G-Slate, Toshiba Tablet, and a handful of other slates on the horizon, what we'd actually recommend, is hanging tight and waiting for the Honeycomb tablet era to start.