What is it?
A slew of Windows 8 mini-tablets hit the market recently while the Windows 8.1 update also added some features and capabilities that lend very well to the small form factor. Dell's maiden Windows tablet, the Dell Venue 8 Pro, gets most of the things right and competes well with many of the Android tablets in the market. But it is not without a few miscues that come along the way.
Design
The 8 inch Dell Venue 8 Pro is pretty well designed with an impressive build quality for a budget device. It's thin, light, and easy to hold in one hand. The latter is actually true for most 8 inch tablets and a validation of the form factor over 10/11 inch devices.
The micro-patterned back feels good in the hand and the rubbery finish gives it a solid grip. Of course, it is not the lightest tablet in the market but feels, for a lack of better word, dense rather than heavy.
One of the awkward design choices in the Venue 8 Pro is the start button. Instead of a physical or capacitive button as expected on the bezel, the start button sits on the right end of the top edge if held in the portrait mode.
When you are using it for the first time, it definitely feels awkward. In most cases, I chose to use the Windows button via the Charms bar, rather than the physical button. But once you get the hang of it, it won't really matter. The position is well-thought-of and works well in the landscape mode.
Hardware
From a hardware perspective, Dell gets most things right. Powered by Intel Atom Z3740D with 2 GB RAM, the tablet comes in two storage editions - 32 GB and 64 GB. The quad-core Bay Trail processor is a great improvement over the predecessor, Clover Trail series, and gives a snappy performance overall, as well as a good battery life.
The tablet packs in a 5 MP rear camera and a 1.2 MP front camera. I am not a big fan of taking snapshots with a tablet, but the results are decent. The front camera also works well for video chats and web meetings. But the front camera is off-center - so you will have to position the tablet consciously instead of just facing it straight.
The tablet features a beautiful 1,280x800 IPS display and the colors are vibrant, without being over-saturated. The viewing angles are great, too. The non-full HD displays don't look good on the specifications sheet these days but honestly, that's more of a marketing pitch than practicality.
Out of the box, the screen brightness of the Venue 8 Pro is set to auto. The colors are dim and the details are difficult to view. But don't dismiss it right away. After the launch, Dell had issued a firmware update that corrects the issue with the ambient light sensor. The display now defaults to a better, readable setting that does justice to the true beauty of the screen.
I was actually quite surprised to learn that the Venue 8 Pro is packed with an active digitizer, a rarity in budget tablets of any size. You would need to buy the Dell Active Stylus separately, though. It is a better stylus than those useless capacitive pens, but still lacks in performance or accuracy. There has been a firmware fix for the stylus as well.
The addition of digitizer doesn't make up for some disappointing omissions. There's no micro-HDMI port, which is a shame if you are like me and prefer pushing your experience to a larger display. There's support for the Miracast, but the wireless streaming standard is not as ubiquitous as HDMI. Then there is the missing USB port. There is micro-USB but that just isn't the same thing, and you would need an adapter for most things.
Most tablet users spend a lot of time watching videos and playing games. And the Venue 8 Pro offers a glorious speaker, louder than most mobile devices. Granted that the sound gets a little distorted when pushed to maximum, but you won't complain.
Experience
Performance wise, the Venue 8 Pro is impressive. Apps get downloaded very quickly and can compete with an average PC in terms of speed. The animations and transitions in the modern UI fly though and the Bay Trail processor doesn't disappoint with lightweight desktop programs. Web browsing is a breeze and the pages load quick. Switching between tabs is a breeze as well.
But the tablet stutters while playing graphic-intensive games. When pushed hard, it also tends to get a little hot. For average user, however, these won't pose much problem.
Since the tablet runs on Windows 8, instead of Windows RT, you have access to full power of the desktop environment. But most desktop applications are not actually designed for an 8 inch touch screen. In most cases, you would misfire a lot and unless you are using a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, it is practically unusable and frustrating. Microsoft Office, with its optimizations for touch screens, works fine here and the tablet comes bundled with Office 2013 Home & Student Edition.
The battery life is quite decent for an Intel-powered device of this form factor. We could manage more than eight hours in most cases, which is pretty good. For modest usage, you can even push it to 10 hours, we reckon.
Best Part
- Great display
- Pen input
- Build quality, at the price point
- Loudspeaker
- No micro-HDMI port
- Lack of capacitive start button and the position of the physical button
If you are looking for a Windows tablet, Dell Venue 8 Pro checks all the boxes. It is good value for money and the benefits ultimately outweigh the quirks of the tablet. A few issues have been ironed out in subsequent firmware updates.
However, there's a wider pool of devices if you have to choose from an Android tablet, the iPad Mini, and a Dell Venue 8 Pro. This one is a pretty good device, but not the best in class.
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