Dell Venue Pro (T-Mobile) – Professional Windows Phone 7 Phone
The Dell Venue Pro ($99.99-499.99) lives up to its name: It is a powerful, expert Windows Telephone 7 telephone for T-Mobile with a terrific keyboard and a huge screen. It’s a tremendous messaging and media telephone, in much more methods than 1. But a lack of focus on some fundamental telephone functions leads to it to fall brief individuals Editors’ Option.
Design and Physical Features
First of: The Dell Venue Pro is really a boat. Okay, it is an extra yacht. At four.eight by 2.5 by .6 inches (HWD), along with a hefty six.eight ounces, it’s huge, but it is gorgeously crafted. Which consists of slider closed, it is currently larger compared to the T-Mobile myTouch 4G ($99.99, 4.5 stars), or the Samsung Vibrant (Free, 4 stars). The 4.1-inch, 800-by-480 AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) display has rich colors, although it is not almost as vibrant because the Vibrant’s screen. There is a kind of executive tie pattern on the phone’s black back panel.
Slide the display up having a satisfying thunk, and you’ll start to see the nearly ideal four-row QWERTY keyboard. The keys are little, but backlit, well-shaped, clicky, and properly separated from the body with the telephone.
Dell did the best factor by making this style a portrait QWERTY rather than a landscape-format phone. Windows Phone 7 hates landscape mode, many with the built-in apps work only in portrait mode. Therefore the Venue Pro feels a lot more natural than the AT&T LG Quantum ($99.99, 3.five stars).
The durable Gorilla Glass screen is bowed out slightly, i didn’t love; it shows fingerprints much more easily than the displays on the competing HTC HD7 ($99.99, 3.five stars), T-Mobile myTouch 4G, or Samsung Vibrant. It is not only a deal-killer, though.
There are 2 Dell Venue Pro models: An 8GB unit for $99.99 with a two-year contract, or $449.99 without, along with a 16GB model for $50 more. You can’t add memory, so I’d say select the more capacious device.
Signal, Voice, and Battery Performance
Here’s the location where the Venue Pro has trouble. While the telephone is a fantastic mobile office, its signal and battery problems give to us some concern. Essentially the most serious problem is due to signal fluctuations. I saw the signal indicator flip from 3G, to EDGE, to no signal, while a nearby T-Mobile myTouch 4G showed a regular and average signal. The situation has no to complete having a “death grip;” generate income was holding the telephone didn’t matter. It did actually have to do more using the Venue Pro strongly preferring a weak 3G signal over the strong EDGE signal. The myTouch falls back again much much more gracefully, making for a much more consistent experience.
I was also disappointed with all the Venue Pro’s battery: Only three along with a half hours of talk time, leading to 12 hours of standby time. T-Mobile’s other Windows Phone 7 device, the HTC HD7, also runs out of juice after just one day. But the Venue Pro’s life of the battery is even shorter.
As soon as you work through these problems, you do have a decent but not extraordinary voice phone. The earpiece distorts somewhat at high volumes, and voices never sounded as sharp as calls made on the myTouch 4G. The speakerphone, around the contrary, was quite loud without distorting in my tests, although transmissions through the speakerphone mic sounded somewhat muffled on the opposite end. There is no Wi-Fi calling, unlike on a few of T-Mobile’s Android smartphones.
The telephone paired easily with a Plantronics Voyager Pro (4 stars, $99) Bluetooth headset, and effortlessly triggered the accurate voice dialing.
Windows Phone 7, and Multimedia
All of the current batch of Windows Phone 7 devices uses a similar 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, so they really all perform pretty similarly. The Venue Pro is really a trustworthy companion for Xbox Live gaming, Zune music and video, and Windows Telephone 7′s 4,000, approximately apps. Outlook/e-mail support, and Web browsing both perform very well. For particularly Windows Phone 7′s core features, read my overview of Microsoft Windows Telephone 7 itself. Some encounter any noticeable bugs.
The Venue Pro is surely an HSPA 7.two telephone that is run on T-Mobile’s and foreign 2G and 3G networks. What’s more , it supports 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, and that i had no trouble hooking up to a protected 802.11n network. The manufacturers should phone supported T-Mobile’s new “4G” HSPA+ network, though. And also you can’t tether this phone for a PC for a modem, unlike with numerous of T-Mobile’s Android phones.
I had a thrilling time using the Zune music and video client, which syncs with both PCs, and with unprotected files from Mac iTunes libraries. Music sounded great over headphones attached to the three.5mm jack at the very top, and also over Altec Lansing BackBeat 903 Bluetooth headphones.
T-Mobile and Dell added a multitude of their very own apps on the Venue Pro. T-Mobile TV ($9.99/month) comes with a very broad selection of big-name, streaming cellular TV content furnished by MobiTV. It plays entirely screen, but can be quite jerky and blocky determined by your Internet speeds.
The Telenav Gps device program ($9.99/month or $2.99/day) worked with out a problem, but it is affected with Windows Phone 7′s lack of multitasking; attempt to look at your messages, and you also lose your navigation while you are carrying it out. The GPS kept in quickly and accurately inside my tests.
T-Mobile’s Family area app lets people who just love multiple T-Mobile Windows Phone 7 devices create ad-hoc groups including group calendars, photo albums, and messaging. The Newsroom app combines weather, news, and stock information; though If only it displayed the elements on its home-screen tile. Dell adds in Pageonce Personal Finance, a great app for managing your accounts, and bill payments.
The 5-megapixel camera is fine if you have plenty of light. In vibrant, even light, it produced quick, sharp still images, and 640 by 480, 30 frame per second videos. However it had some problems outdoors must be not enough dynamic range caused darker foreground areas to look in deep shadow. Pictures also quickly got soft as the lights occurred, and a few indoor shots in dim light just became blurry messes.
Production Concerns, and Conclusions
Dell isn’t noted for generating reliable smartphones. The Streak would have been a mess. The Aero was so bad, the organization didn’t even send out review units. Along with the Venue Pro has received some noted production delays and gaffes. Even T-Mobile has hedged its bets-you can’t obtain a Venue Pro from the carrier, only from dell.com.
Nevertheless, We have my fingers crossed here. I like this phone; I favor typing on the excellent keypad, and watching words pop up inside the beautiful e-mail client. I’m bumping up this phone’s rating somewhat because it’s gorgeously constructed, along with a pleasure to work with.
Even although it’s some major issues, the Dell Venue Pro is my pick to get a Windows Telephone 7 device on T-Mobile. Yes, you will ought to hook it up twice daily. Yes, it drops signal sometimes. Nevertheless the style is simply that good: Tthe excellent portrait-format QWERTY keyboard and big display get this the total premiere device for Microsoft ‘office’ work, and it is really a swell Zune, too.
But those RF (rf) and battery issues maintain your Venue Pro from getting an Editor’s Choice on T-Mobile, or from being the best Windows Phone 7 device overall. For most folks, I do believe the T-Mobile myTouch 4G is a much better buy. It is slimmer and lighter, with longer battery, better reception, and faster Internet access. Being a phone with a keyboard, the T-Mobile G2 ($99.99, four stars) remains our choice for a similar reasons. As well as Windows Phone 7, I still think the Samsung Focus ($99.99, 4 stars) on AT&T offers the best experience.
Specifications
- Service Provider T-Mobile
- Operating System Windows Phone 7
- Screen Size 4.1 inches
- Screen Details 800-by-480 AMOLED capacitive touch screen
- Camera Yes
- Network GSM, UMTS
- Bands 850, 900, 1800, 1900, 2100, 1700
- High-Speed Data GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA
- Processor Speed 1 GHz
Price Range $449.99
The Dell Venue Pro ($99.99-499.99) lives up to its name: It is a powerful, expert Windows Telephone 7 telephone for T-Mobile with a terrific keyboard and a huge screen. It’s a tremendous messaging and media telephone, in much more methods than 1. But a lack of focus on some fundamental telephone functions leads to it to fall brief individuals Editors’ Option.
Design and Physical Features
First of: The Dell Venue Pro is really a boat. Okay, it is an extra yacht. At four.eight by 2.5 by .6 inches (HWD), along with a hefty six.eight ounces, it’s huge, but it is gorgeously crafted. Which consists of slider closed, it is currently larger compared to the T-Mobile myTouch 4G ($99.99, 4.5 stars), or the Samsung Vibrant (Free, 4 stars). The 4.1-inch, 800-by-480 AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) display has rich colors, although it is not almost as vibrant because the Vibrant’s screen. There is a kind of executive tie pattern on the phone’s black back panel.
Slide the display up having a satisfying thunk, and you’ll start to see the nearly ideal four-row QWERTY keyboard. The keys are little, but backlit, well-shaped, clicky, and properly separated from the body with the telephone.
Dell did the best factor by making this style a portrait QWERTY rather than a landscape-format phone. Windows Phone 7 hates landscape mode, many with the built-in apps work only in portrait mode. Therefore the Venue Pro feels a lot more natural than the AT&T LG Quantum ($99.99, 3.five stars).
The durable Gorilla Glass screen is bowed out slightly, i didn’t love; it shows fingerprints much more easily than the displays on the competing HTC HD7 ($99.99, 3.five stars), T-Mobile myTouch 4G, or Samsung Vibrant. It is not only a deal-killer, though.
There are 2 Dell Venue Pro models: An 8GB unit for $99.99 with a two-year contract, or $449.99 without, along with a 16GB model for $50 more. You can’t add memory, so I’d say select the more capacious device.
Signal, Voice, and Battery Performance
Here’s the location where the Venue Pro has trouble. While the telephone is a fantastic mobile office, its signal and battery problems give to us some concern. Essentially the most serious problem is due to signal fluctuations. I saw the signal indicator flip from 3G, to EDGE, to no signal, while a nearby T-Mobile myTouch 4G showed a regular and average signal. The situation has no to complete having a “death grip;” generate income was holding the telephone didn’t matter. It did actually have to do more using the Venue Pro strongly preferring a weak 3G signal over the strong EDGE signal. The myTouch falls back again much much more gracefully, making for a much more consistent experience.
I was also disappointed with all the Venue Pro’s battery: Only three along with a half hours of talk time, leading to 12 hours of standby time. T-Mobile’s other Windows Phone 7 device, the HTC HD7, also runs out of juice after just one day. But the Venue Pro’s life of the battery is even shorter.
As soon as you work through these problems, you do have a decent but not extraordinary voice phone. The earpiece distorts somewhat at high volumes, and voices never sounded as sharp as calls made on the myTouch 4G. The speakerphone, around the contrary, was quite loud without distorting in my tests, although transmissions through the speakerphone mic sounded somewhat muffled on the opposite end. There is no Wi-Fi calling, unlike on a few of T-Mobile’s Android smartphones.
The telephone paired easily with a Plantronics Voyager Pro (4 stars, $99) Bluetooth headset, and effortlessly triggered the accurate voice dialing.
Windows Phone 7, and Multimedia
All of the current batch of Windows Phone 7 devices uses a similar 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, so they really all perform pretty similarly. The Venue Pro is really a trustworthy companion for Xbox Live gaming, Zune music and video, and Windows Telephone 7′s 4,000, approximately apps. Outlook/e-mail support, and Web browsing both perform very well. For particularly Windows Phone 7′s core features, read my overview of Microsoft Windows Telephone 7 itself. Some encounter any noticeable bugs.
The Venue Pro is surely an HSPA 7.two telephone that is run on T-Mobile’s and foreign 2G and 3G networks. What’s more , it supports 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, and that i had no trouble hooking up to a protected 802.11n network. The manufacturers should phone supported T-Mobile’s new “4G” HSPA+ network, though. And also you can’t tether this phone for a PC for a modem, unlike with numerous of T-Mobile’s Android phones.
I had a thrilling time using the Zune music and video client, which syncs with both PCs, and with unprotected files from Mac iTunes libraries. Music sounded great over headphones attached to the three.5mm jack at the very top, and also over Altec Lansing BackBeat 903 Bluetooth headphones.
T-Mobile and Dell added a multitude of their very own apps on the Venue Pro. T-Mobile TV ($9.99/month) comes with a very broad selection of big-name, streaming cellular TV content furnished by MobiTV. It plays entirely screen, but can be quite jerky and blocky determined by your Internet speeds.
The Telenav Gps device program ($9.99/month or $2.99/day) worked with out a problem, but it is affected with Windows Phone 7′s lack of multitasking; attempt to look at your messages, and you also lose your navigation while you are carrying it out. The GPS kept in quickly and accurately inside my tests.
T-Mobile’s Family area app lets people who just love multiple T-Mobile Windows Phone 7 devices create ad-hoc groups including group calendars, photo albums, and messaging. The Newsroom app combines weather, news, and stock information; though If only it displayed the elements on its home-screen tile. Dell adds in Pageonce Personal Finance, a great app for managing your accounts, and bill payments.
The 5-megapixel camera is fine if you have plenty of light. In vibrant, even light, it produced quick, sharp still images, and 640 by 480, 30 frame per second videos. However it had some problems outdoors must be not enough dynamic range caused darker foreground areas to look in deep shadow. Pictures also quickly got soft as the lights occurred, and a few indoor shots in dim light just became blurry messes.
Production Concerns, and Conclusions
Dell isn’t noted for generating reliable smartphones. The Streak would have been a mess. The Aero was so bad, the organization didn’t even send out review units. Along with the Venue Pro has received some noted production delays and gaffes. Even T-Mobile has hedged its bets-you can’t obtain a Venue Pro from the carrier, only from dell.com.
Nevertheless, We have my fingers crossed here. I like this phone; I favor typing on the excellent keypad, and watching words pop up inside the beautiful e-mail client. I’m bumping up this phone’s rating somewhat because it’s gorgeously constructed, along with a pleasure to work with.
Even although it’s some major issues, the Dell Venue Pro is my pick to get a Windows Telephone 7 device on T-Mobile. Yes, you will ought to hook it up twice daily. Yes, it drops signal sometimes. Nevertheless the style is simply that good: Tthe excellent portrait-format QWERTY keyboard and big display get this the total premiere device for Microsoft ‘office’ work, and it is really a swell Zune, too.
But those RF (rf) and battery issues maintain your Venue Pro from getting an Editor’s Choice on T-Mobile, or from being the best Windows Phone 7 device overall. For most folks, I do believe the T-Mobile myTouch 4G is a much better buy. It is slimmer and lighter, with longer battery, better reception, and faster Internet access. Being a phone with a keyboard, the T-Mobile G2 ($99.99, four stars) remains our choice for a similar reasons. As well as Windows Phone 7, I still think the Samsung Focus ($99.99, 4 stars) on AT&T offers the best experience.
Specifications
- Service Provider T-Mobile
- Operating System Windows Phone 7
- Screen Size 4.1 inches
- Screen Details 800-by-480 AMOLED capacitive touch screen
- Camera Yes
- Network GSM, UMTS
- Bands 850, 900, 1800, 1900, 2100, 1700
- High-Speed Data GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA
- Processor Speed 1 GHz
Price Range $449.99
