Dell Venue 8 Pro Unboxing and First Impressions

The tablet market is peculiar. The first couple of years, we saw the iPad completely dominate, and then we saw the small tablets emerge like Kindle Fire that disrupted the market and fueled competition. All this while, Microsoft struggled to bring their tablet PC vision forward, something which they pioneered way ahead of time, with the right idea and wrong execution. Fast forward to now, the market is full of small 7-8 inch tablets dominating the segment, with Apple’s own Retina iPad mini being the latest entrant, well prepared to cannibalize its own bigger brother. It’s obvious that Microsoft sees this as the biggest chunk of the tablet market, even though they don’t have their own hardware, yet.

Windows 8.1 brought support for smaller screen with better DPI management and lesser snap restrictions, it also brought better portrait orientation support, the way these small tablets are meant to be used and held. With Microsoft standing by the side, the OEMs have taken the pole position for delivering these small tablet experiences, with affordable price tags and uncompromised solutions. One of them is Dell, and their first small tablet running Windows is, the Dell Venue 8 Pro. The base model – 32 GB version costs just 299$.

Box contains:

• Dell Venue 8 Pro 32 GB variant in black
• Micro USB cable for charging and data transfer
• 10W Dell USB plug for AC charging
• Office Home and Student 2013 license key
• Information booklets – user manual and safety/warranty

Nothing special to notice in terms of box contents, except the Microsoft Office 2013 license key. The box says Office is pre-installed on the Venue 8 Pro, but that’s hardly the case. We had to download Office after activating it with the key provided. Considering it worked, we have no complaints, but the box saying it is “pre-installed” is false information. Now, on to the Dell Venue 8 Pro!

When we first took it out of the box, the thin and light build of the Venue 8 Pro was immediately apparent. The device is just 9 mm thick and weighs 395g. Even though it doesn’t match the iPad mini in thickness or weight, this is substantially low for a full Windows 8 device, no doubt about that. The end result is an extremely light tablet that is comfortable to hold in the portrait orientation, making it perfect for casual reading and general usage. The front is full covered in glass and underneath the glass is the brilliant 8 inch IPS LCD screen at 1280×800 resolution. The PPI might be too low when compared to the current breed of small tablets, but the display is downright brilliant. It has great viewing angles, excellent brightness and contrast, and is way better than the crappy Acer iconia W3, our first 8 inch Windows tablet experience

The back is completely plastic, but is of the soft touch variety, making the grip and single handed feel comfortable. The logo in the middle is surrounded by concentric circles expanding outward, creating a unique texture that, in the end, improves the grip. There is a 5 MP camera on the back that is fit only for video calls, so don’t expect anything out of the ordinary for that, we didn’t.

It’s great to finally see a well built Windows 8 small tablet, that too from Dell. Our only gripes with the Venue 8 Pro are its weird Start button placement and its clumsy micro SD slot flap. That’s about it really, and that speaks volumes on how awesome this tablet is. The screen is brilliant, the performance is blazing fast thanks to the new Intel Atom BayTrail processor and Windows 8(the full version) is just so much better now, with much needed improvements for small tablets in portrait orientations! We look forward to reviewing this device to see if our overwhelming first impressions carry through. Design decisions like the lack of a video out port or the lack of a full USB port will be taken into consideration, and the all important battery life will be tested too.