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7. More Powerful
Looking at the spec loadouts between the Samsung Galaxy Note and the Dell Streak 5 is a matter of night and day. Of course, that’s likely got plenty to do with the sheer amount of time between the two, but let’s face it: the Dell Streak 5 only got discontinued back in August, so that’s still reasonably new material. But still, the comparison between the two is markedly different, and geared quite clearly in favor of the Galaxy Note.
6. Slightly Larger Screen
The interesting thing about the Dell Streak 5 was that it had, much as the name implies, a five inch screen. The Samsung Galaxy Note, meanwhile, is sticking a little closer to a seven inch, and that’s about where you’ll find the Dell Streak 7, which is actually still in play. Many regarded the Dell Streak 5 as entirely too outlandish for its own good. Too small for a tablet, too big for a smartphone, it straddled the terminator between form factors, and didn’t do so hot a job. But the Samsung Galaxy Note, meanwhile, is packing a slightly larger 5.3 inch display, which should help, if only a bit.
5. Improved Display Resolution
While the display itself might not be much larger, the resolution will be downright impressive. The Samsung Galaxy Note, you see, is packing a Super AMOLED display showing at 1280 x 800. The Dell Streak 5, meanwhile, could only put up 800 x 480, which in turn is substantially lower in resolution than the Galaxy Note can coax up. The displays may be comparable in size, with the Galaxy Note being slightly larger, but the pixel densities are singificantly different matters. You take two images that are the same size, but one looks clearer and sharper, you’ll probably prefer that image over the other.
4. Significantly Improved Battery Life
The Dell Streak 5 had a battery measured at 1530 mAh. The Samsung Note, meanwhile, will step that up to 2500 mAh. That’s getting within striking distance of fully double the battery capacity, another distinct advantage. Mobile equipment depends on its battery life, and the more time a device can put between charges, the better off that product will be in the grand scheme of things; after all, when you’ve got a choice of devices, and one will run for two and a half hours but the other will run for four, which would you rather have on hand? The Samsung Galaxy Note’s vastly improved battery life should be a huge point in its favor.
3. Incorporates Stylus For Controls
This may be something of a personal bias, but I like the stylus controls. I’m tired of getting a touch screen all smudged and unpleasant looking because I’m actually, you know, using the thing. A properly done stylus control system can give you a little extra accuracy that touch screens, I’ve found, sometimes lack. You might touch a little to the left or right of where the system intends for you to touch, whereas using a stylus lets you land every touch in the same very small radius. The Wacom parts involved in here certainly don’t hurt. And when you consider that the Galaxy Note brings along a host of apps specifically geared for their stylus controls, that makes things even better in the end. There’s nothing like variety to make a device worthwhile, and the Galaxy Note certainly has variety and to spare.
2. Better Version of Android
One of the last things that happened to the Dell Streak 5 was a bit of a mixup regarding its Android operating system. It began with Android 1.6, and half the devices got an updated to 2.1. But following that, the upgraded devices got an upgrade to Android 2.2, but the ones that were packing 1.6 discovered that they would indeed be left out in the cold, at least until they’d got the upgrade to 2.2. The Galaxy Note, meanwhile, will start right in at Android 2.3, thus preventing that sort of problem entirely, and hopefully paving the way for an Ice Cream Sandwich launch later.
1. Can Learn From Dell Streak 5′s Mistakes
Bizarre update rollout schedule, small, low resoltion display, and a lower-end tech loadout is enough to make anyone turn tail and run. But with Samsung now able to watch Dell’s mistakes with the now-discontinued tablet. Basically, Samsung’s got a good position to try and take the missteps that Dell made and carry on accordingly. Sure, they may not be able to avoid all of them, and many of them they’ll be able to avoid by sheer virtue of coming out later, but they’ll have the benefit of Dell’s earlier experiences to apply for their own product life.
And there you go–seven ways that the Samsung Galaxy Note looks like it’s going to have the necessary chops to succeed where the Dell Streak 5 couldn’t. It’s going to be something to see in the coming weeks to see just how well it does, but what do you guys think here? Can the Samsung Galaxy Note stick around longer than the Dell Streak 5 did? Or is the general concept of half-tablet, half-smartphone not going to fly?
