Dell Streak: Big phone, small tablet

Dell Streak is an interesting device.

The Streak is interesting because it's an odd device. It's bigger than a standard smartphone, but smaller than a tablet. It is, however, packed with a lot of cool features:

• Android 2.2 OS with support for Flash 10.1.
• A sharp 5-inch capacitive multi-touch WVGA (800x480) display for a great full-screen experience watching video or browsing the web
• Fast 1GHz Snapdragon ARM-based mobile processor from Qualcomm
• 5 MP autofocus camera with dual LED flash that offers easy point & shoot capability and quick uploads to YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and more
• VGA front-facing camera enables video chat functionality down the road
• A user-removable (and replaceable) battery
• A 3.5mm headphone jack means many of you can use the Dell Streak as the music source (and more) in your car
• Integrated 3G + Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) + Bluetooth 2.1 (think headsets, external keyboards, stereo headsets, etc.)
• UMTS / GPRS / EDGE class 12 GSM radio with link speeds of HSDPA 7.2 Mbps / HSUPA
• A user-accessible Micro SD slot expandable up to 32GB. That means you can store  lots of movies, music, photos or other kinds of files.

At present, this is a UK-only device (I know, odd ...) but should be making its way to the US soon.

The question is, how usable is a smartphone that's larger than your standard smartphone? To me, the biggest drawback to this device is the fact that its size kind makes it awkward to fit in a pocket. If you're a belt pouch sorta guy then you're OK. If not ...

Another drawback I can see is that holding what is essentially a tablet up to your head to talk could be a little awkward. Again, if you normally use a Bluetooth headset, you're set, otherwise, you're going to have to get used to getting odd looks from people.

An interesting angle to the Dell Streak is that the device offers the best of both worlds of the iPhone and the iPad, but requiring only one data plan. This alone could make it very attractive to those wanting to remain connected when on the move, who want a tablet, but who don't want to be tied to two data plans.

I suggest keeping an eye on Streak ... this could be interesting.