Dell Streak: Android-Based and Easy to Access, Repair: iFixit

by Michelle Maisto

The Dell Streak is the first Android-running Dell smartphone widely available in the United States. It can be purchased on the Dell site for $550, or for $300 with a two-year AT&T service contract.

The Streak’s battery cover can easily be removed, as can the battery (a notable feature as the same doesn’t apply to Apple’s iPhones). The battery is a 3.7 V 1530mAh. How effectively it powers the Streaks 5-inch display may be inferred by Dells lack of commentary on the topic.

With the battery removed, the preinstalled 16GB SanDisk microSD card may be removed. From here, anything else that’s removed by a user effectively voids the device’s warranty.

Wriggle off the back with an opening tool, unscrew the five screws, do a little prying and the back case is off. iFixit notes that the Gorilla Glass front panel should be able to withstand drops from about waist height.

Before lifting out the motherboard, the Streaks touch screen, LCD and control button ribbon cables must be disconnected. From there, the C-shaped motherboard comes out easily.

iFixit points out some “big players” on the motherboard. These include, in red, the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor; in orange, the low-power HDMI/DVI transmitter; in royal blue, the Qualcomm power management chip; and, in black, the power management integrated circuit from Texas Instruments.

The front- and rear-facing cameras on the Streak, iFixit reports, closely resemble those used by Apple on the iPhone 4.

The Streak’s LCD is tightly bonded to the front panel glass. While this reportedly increases the strength of the device and the sensitivity of its capacitive touch panel, it comes as sad news for a disassembly team.

In all, the iFix team was delighted by how easy the Streak is to open and how quickly accessible the battery is. They were less pleased about its rear panel, reporting that it felt cheap and deformed easily, and entirely unhappy to find the LCD bonded to the Gorilla Glass. Should a user break just the glass, this bonding would increase the cost of repair.