FREE 50 GB of Online Storage

The wave of future computing is portable and in the cloud. Since you are a proud owner of a Dell Streak tablet, you are already doing portable computing. Now it's time to get in the cloud, and you can do so for FREE. 

Box is giving all Android user an opportunity to receive 50 GB of free online storage. All you have to do is sign up for an account. If you are already a user, then all you need to do is upgrade your account. This offer is only good until Friday, March 23rd, 2012, so act fast. Here is the Android Market link and an excerpt from the Android Market's description.

Box for Android and Android Tablet lets you view and share files from anywhere!Box provides simple, secure sharing from anywhere – letting you easily store files online, send big files quickly, access content from your Android phone or tablet, and collaborate with others. Now through Friday, March 23, 2012, log in to receive a free 50GB account upgrade! Box for Android lets you:

* Access, create and view content on your Android phone or tablet
* Upload multiple images, videos and files from the SD card
* Save files to your SD card for offline access
* Easily share files and folders with links
* Invite colleagues to shared folders and leave comments on files for them (note that you’ll need to grant permission for the app to access your contacts – we only use this permission to quickly retrieve email addresses when you want to invite collaborators, and we do NOT store any contact information on Box’s servers)
* Find content fast with built-in search
* Save files you edit or create in other Android apps to your Box account
* Add a widget to your home screen to see updates on files by colleagues

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Streak 7 Battery Bug Workaround

It is very well known that one of the draw backs of the Dell Streak 7 is its battery life. Apparently there is a bug that is preventing the Streak 7 from going into sleep mode. This bug lies in the Android's Radio Interface Layer (RIL). The RIL is the interface between Android's telephony service (android.telephony) and the Streak 7 radio hardware. The Streak 7 WIFI and 4g model contain a full RIL, and it is enabled. Because of this, the Streak 7 has problem going into sleep mode, even when the screen is off. The workaround to shut this down is to turn on the tablet's Airplane Mode. 

This can be seen in the screen shots below. The first screen shot is from a tablet that has been running with Airplane Mode off for 1 full day. Notice that it shows this tablet has been idle for 36% and the Android System was active for 27%.

The second screen shot is from the same tablet running with Airplane Mode on. The tablet has been running for 2 1/2 days. Notice that this time around the tablet was also idled for 36%, but the Android System was active for only 3%.

Turning on the Airplane Mode will allow the Streak 7 to go to sleep and therefore extends its standby time. With Airplane Mode on, you can still turn on WIFI or Bluetooth and use these services. 

This workaround has been verified with the Streak 7 WIFI model. Of course, turning Airplane Mode on will shut down the 4g modem for the Streak 7 4g model. Since we do not have access to a Streak 7 4g model, we cannot verify if turning on Airplane Mode will extend its standby time or not. So if any of our readers who have a Streak 7 4g and would like to verify this for us, we would greatly appreciate it.  

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