Ever since I looked at the iPad and found it not quite what I need, I have been waiting for the promised Android tablets to hit the market, in the hope that they might fit my needs better. So when Dell last week announced the release of its Android Streak tablet for the U.S. market I was interested – until, that is, I read the release. After that, not so much.

Now before I go on I should say that I have not actually seen, much less tried out the Streak, so these are impressions based solely on the written descriptions and photos on the Web. Also, as I have said before, handhelds are very personal devices. They all have compromises dictated by the limitations of size, portability, and battery life, and the compromises that work for one person don’t for another. Also, I probably have about a 50% success rate in predicting the market success for handheld computers.

That aside, when the news release can’t find anything specific more exciting to say than that the device is “carbon black” — well this starts off as a yawn. Then this device really isn’t a slate computer, but it really isn’t a smartphone either (or at least it is a very big smartphone). It seems to be caught in the middle, and that is never good.

It’s screen is too small for some of the most creative tablet applications such as electronic magazines or the electronic forms that most database apps such as Quicken use. On the other hand, it is a pretty large cell phone. Imagine trying to pull a Streak out of your pocket quickly to answer a phone call. I suppose the presumption is that users will wear bluetooth headsets all day. Personally I have no problem with that, but most women find them too geeky for pubic appearances, which cuts out half the potential market. So you are left with a brick phone that still can’t do most of what you want a tablet for.

Then of course the Streak uses Android 1.6, which means it does not support the newest, sexiest Android features. And most important, it does not support Flash. What is it with tablet computers and Flash? The iPad doesn’t support it, and now the first Android tablet doesn’t. Flash may not be the best technology out there, but it is basic to video technology on the Web. Without flash you cannot see a lot of the cool stuff out on the Internet. How many people are going to be happy with a portable that won’t show many Utube videos or Facebook games? This is one of the problems I have with the iPad.

And since this really is a large-screen smartphone, not a true slate computer, it ties you to an expensive two-year data contract with a carrier – in the United States AT&T. One thing I like about the iPad is that I don’t have to have any cell phone carrier to get full use from it.

Then there is another hidden problem with smartphones in general – battery life. If you really use your smartphone – and these devices are only as valuable as the amount and quality of use you get from them – then you run the serious risk of killing your battery sometime before the end of the day. That could result in missing the most important actual call of the day. That is another reason that I prefer to have my cell phone just be a phone, and carry a separate device (actually several in my case) for other uses. Specifically, I do not want a combination tablet computer and cell phone in part because I do not want to be in the position of not being able to read my e-book on my next cross-country flight for fear that when I arrive I won’t have the battery power left to get my business calls.