Dell Streak dissected by iFixit

Well-known repair shop iFixit today posted a teardown of the Dell Streak. The Android tablet is put somewhat in contrast with Apple as it's considered relatively accessible. The back cover for the battery and microSDHC slot comes off easily, and the construction is such that both taking apart and reassembling the Streak is easy.

It's possible to put a fully disassembled Streak back together "within minutes," iFixit's Kyle Wiens said.

Inside, the device is dominated by Qualcomm, which supplies the 1GHz Snapdragon processor (QSD8250) at the heard of the tablet as well as the RF transceiver and power management. As Dell doesn't require separate chipsets for most cellular hardware, relatively few other companies are involved. Analog Devices, Hynix, TriQuint and Texas Instruments provide only basic power and display chips.

The VGA front and five-megapixel cameras "pretty closely resemble" those in the iPhone 4, the teardown showed. However, the battery was likely much worse than Apple's, as the 1,530mAh battery didn't appear large or high powered enough to handle the larger five-inch screen. "The fact that Dell didn't publish the battery life hints at the fact that it isn't too great," Wiens said.

Much of the dissection confirms that the Streak is mostly a typical Android device with a larger screen, as evidenced by significant blank spaces on the boards afforded by the larger screen. The iPhone 4 is considered somewhat similar to the iPad in that regard, but Apple uses chipsets and batteries in the tablet that are made possible by the larger size, such as a 5GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi chipset that would be too big or power hungry in an iPhone.

By Electronista Staff