Dell Venue 8 32 GB Tablet (Android)..
Special Price Dell Venue 8 32 GB Tablet (Android) By Dell
Most helpful customer reviews
197 of 203 people found the following review helpful.
DELL has a WINNER with the Venue 8" android!
By DigitalGurl
I ordered this from DELL and have had it approx. 2 weeks. I am more than pleased with the build quality of this device. The back has a nice rubberized texture which makes it quite easy to hold. The display is nice and bright (actually it is VERY bright) and the colors are OK but not as vibrant as my Samsung devices.
This tab is very fast and snappy which is due to the intel processor and 2 gigs of RAM. All apps open fast and run perfect. I haven't had any glitches with any apps that I've installed from the Play Store. Netflix & YouTube work perfect!
I was pleasantly surprised by the minimal amount of apps that was installed on the device. I was expecting a ton of bloatware as that is the norm for DELL on their desktops and laptops. There is only a couple of DELL cloud apps installed and you can easily disable these if you don't want to use them. In other words, this is as close as you will get to a "pure" Android OS without buying a Nexus 7. So, a big thumbs up for DELL on this point.
What you won't be pleased with is the cameras. But, who uses a tablet to take photos? Your phone will produce much better images. So, this is not a deal breaker for me and shouldn't be for anyone interested in buying this tablet.
The speaker is quite loud (much louder than any of my Samsung devices). Plug in some headphones and you will be impressed!
The micro usb port will work with an OTG cable. GPS works great. It does have an ambient light sensor for automatic brightness. This device does NOT support haptic feedback ... so if you are a gamer and need this feature, look elsewhere.
The only thing that I have to gripe about is Adobe Flash Player ... sideloaded it and can't get it to work in any of the browsers that support flash. Maybe it has something to do with Android 4.2.2? The only reason you would need "flash" is to watch Amazon Prime (since they refuse to give us Android users an app). If anyone has been able to install flash and get it to work, please share :o)
For $199 you won't find a better tablet that has 2 gigs of RAM, 2.0 GHZ intel processor and an almost pure Android system.
I will update this review if I have any major problems with the DELL Venue 8.
90 of 92 people found the following review helpful.BEST 8 inch TABLET FOR THE PRICE, HANDS DOWN. WE LOVE IT!!!
By Amazon Customer
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UPDATE (12/19/2013):
I've had the tablet now for a month and I'm loving it more everyday. Here's why:
1. MUTI-USER ACCOUNT SUPPORT has arrived!!!: Today (12/19/2013), Dell released Android Jelly Bean 4.3 update. For those who need or want multi-user account support, it's available. You can now set up a separate space with/without password protection for each member of your family that shares the tablet. Each user can have their own login, email accounts, notifications, app space, homepage, wallpaper, etc. You can even create Restricted Profiles. I've tested it and it works perfectly. Thank you Dell!
2. Battery lasts me about 8.5 hours of straight use with Wi-Fi and GPS enabled. I set the screen to low since I use it mostly inside and the screen is too bright for my eyes. The screen is the biggest battery drainer.
3. Screen resolution is excellent for an 8" screen. You don't need anything higher for a screen this small. I haven't had any problems with dead pixels, screen lock-ups, or touch sensitivity. In fact, the screen continues to respond to touch despite the fact that I haven't cleaned it once. However, if you get dirty residue on the screen, e.g. from food on your fingers after eating and touching it, you will lose some sensitivity and will need to clean it. But that's true of all tablets. If the screen is clean and you're noticing that it's not responding, make sure that NO OTHER part of your body, i.e. other fingers, thumb, etc., are touching another part of the screen. This screen is 5-point sensitive. That means that it can detect up to 5 fingers/skin touching simultaneously. If the app you're using is not written properly to handle accidental multi-touch, the screen will appear unresponsive when you tap with your dominant finger, e.g. index finger, while holding/touching it with your thumb on your other hand. This is NOT the fault of the tablet. It's caused by a poorly written app that doesn't know what to do when the user accidentally and simultaneously touches another part of the screen, e.g. with your thumb, as you are holding it in the palm of your hand. The glass (even on the edges) is very sensitive to your skin's capacitance/charge. Be aware of this before you conclude that your new tablet is defective.
4. The 2GB of RAM makes a difference. With my Samsung Tab 2, memory would fill up after opening 3 apps and it would slow down to a crawl. Download a Task Manager app, and make sure you close apps that you're not using. This will free up memory and speed up other apps. Most FREE apps are designed to stay open or re-open automatically after you close them so that they can collect as much information about you as possible, or serve you as many ads as possible. Be aware of this. Also, rebooting the tablet while it's recharging overnight helps to clear up any running or hanging apps and will clear the memory and speed up the tablet for the next day's use.
5. The 2GHz CPU makes a difference. It's zippy. My Samsung Tab 2 was much slower.
6. You can install up to a 128GB microSD card, for a total of 160GB of storage with the 32GB version!! Download a good File Manager and try to keep the folders, specially the Download folder clean of installation packages after you've installed them. With the right File Manager, you can even move some apps to the external microSD card to keep the usage of internal storage to a minimum. NOTE: Some apps are written to disallow you from moving them to the external SD card. This is not Dell's fault. The newer versions of Android allow app developers to decide whether or not they want to allow users to move their apps to the external SD card or not. As such, some apps cannot be moved to the external microSD, unless the tablet is rooted. Just remember that.
7. If you're having Wi-Fi problems, install the inSSIDer app and analyze your Wi-Fi coverage, as well as competing interference from other Wi-Fi's on the same channel. You may need to change the channel on your router, or buy a higher gain antenna. This can make a huge difference. I've had EXCELLENT results with my $20 TL-WR841N TP-LINK router. It's flawless, with bug-free firmware. I haven't had to reboot it once in a month, unlike my Linksys router which required daily rebooting, and constantly dropped my VOIP calls.
8. GPS works flawlessly, and along with a good Map/Navigation app, it's one of the best and most powerful uses for this tablet.
9. It's worked flawlessly everyday since I've had it, and I use it 11-16 hours per day. I do everything on it. The only apps that have crashed are a few poorly written apps, mainly free children's games. These apps are written by programmers who do not know how to handle exceptions and memory allocation/de-allocation properly. That's not the fault of Dell or the tablet.
In summary, this is the best tablet on the market at this price point, without question. When Dell releases KitKat Android 4.4, it will be that much better. Buy it, try it, and don't listen to the negative reviews. You won't regret it. I don't believe any of these negative reviews after my experiences with this tablet. And you won't either.
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
Bought the 2GHz CPU, 2GB RAM, 32GB storage Dell Venue 8 on Thanksgiving for $159. I had also bought the Samsung Tab 2 7.0 with 1GB RAM, 1GHz CPU and 16GB of storage for $149, so my expectations for the Dell Venue 8, for just $10 more than the Samsung were very low. After all, how could I get 2x the hardware and 30% more screen for just $10 more. It doesn't happen. Well, I was wrong. I've been VERY pleasantly surprised. It's faster, hasn't run out of memory or storage, the screen is more responsive despite the fact that I haven't cleaned the oily fingerprints once! I love it!!! The Samsung stopped responding to touch by the 2nd day of intensive use, and I had to keep cleaning it. After receiving and using the Dell Venue, I'm returning the Samsung, it simply cannot compete at this price point. Dell hit one out of the park with this device. The best value hands down. I highly recommend this tablet and I'm not easy to please when it comes to hardware, as I am a computer hardware design engineer. Don't pay attention to any low reviews that you read. They all have an agenda to promote a competitor's product or are just ranting because they expect too much. Instead, buy this from a vendor that has a good return policy like Amazon. Try it, compare it, keep in mind the price that you're paying, and I'm sure that you'll be very happy with your purchase. I know we are and we're picky when it comes to technology.
96 of 105 people found the following review helpful.
Where's the LTE option? Still a great device but would have been nice to be able to order the mobile modem
By S. J McCartin
This is my second tablet, the first was an android 4.0 cheapie off ebay with 512k ram and a 1 ghz processor and a seriously poor screen but what do you want for seventy bucks? That tablet is stuck in a boot loop (common problem with some units) and it's not worth the repair to reload the OS from scratch, it's a future project to try to get a generic android os like uberoid installed on it. I can't find out if the venue has a hardware factory restore mode outside the OS, but for the price I'd think it should.
What's in the box?
Tablet
2Amp power adapter (usb non hard wired micro usb cable)
setup sheet
Setup:
Plug it in
Turn it on, asks for language, time zone and google account information.
Immediately updates the firmware to latest, restarts and downloads updates. (It saw my wifi immediately, I didn't have to do anything at all because I have no security on my access point.)
Automatically connects to google and downloads all your apps and calendars, contacts etc. Anything not compatible with android 4.2 is not downloaded or installed.
Connectors:
Micro usb for data and power adapter, OTG capable
headphone plug, also works for external amplified speakers etc.
micro SD aka transflash card slot
Buttons:
Volume up/down
power (hold down several seconds for hard reset, no reset hole)
I loved this thing from the moment I turned it on. The decent amount of ram and fast cpu makes it positively zippy. The decent quality screen (I understand there are better) really makes it wonderful to use. So far I've watched movies, played a lot of candy crush, did my banking, used the online gateway for Neverwinter and the mobile utility for RIFT, used a kitchen measure conversion utility from the android play store and played a dungeon crawl android game. This tablet handled it all speedily. I did find a game that ran awful slow, probably needs an update for the newer OS. From what I've read Dell has promised that we'll get the newest android KitKat when it is released for everyone other than the test sites, lol. When I ordered this the beginning of November they were saying early december delivery date but I had it in less than two weeks, was I happy! Someone made a comment about flash player, I couldn't get it installed either. But that is really minor, most web pages run great even without flash support. Maybe kitkat will resolve the flash player issue. Battery life is what dell claims, around four hours of continuous use, about two full length movies and maybe a little more. When the screen is off, the standby mode is really efficient, I left it in standby all night a couple of times and the battery was only down a little the next morning when I turned it on; really impressive!
Dell offers extras that you don't need like stylus, etc. The difference between 16 and 32 gb onboard storage was $20.00 so I ordered the bigger storage. Micro SD cards are currently available up to 32 gb and the micro usb slot is OTG (on the go), so with a cable you can plug in any usb drive/zip drive or an external self powered OTG compatible hard drive even. You can buy a usb thumb drive/zip drive on ebay with a regular male usb connector on one side and a micro usb male connector on the other, so you don't even need an otg cable with those. I would really prefer a separate AC plug instead of charging from the usb but few are doing that, my old chinese tablet did but that's apparently not the usual. There are cables on ebay that split with a male and female to let you charge and use the data connection simultaneously. The cables are a few dollars, I think dell should have included one of those in the box myself. Cases are under ten bucks on ebay and you'll probably want a screen protector to protect from scratches and little peanut butter fingers.
The only big thing that aggravated me when I ordered this was the complete lack of the LTE (3g cellular network) modem option. It's mentioned in one place, but never made available during the ordering process. I found some pictures of the internals online, the motherboard has the circuit traces for the sim card slot but there is no hardware for the card to slide into at least on the android 3830 version motherboard. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that the battery plugs into the motherboard, it's not hardwired like my cheapie that you'd have to unsolder to change the battery out. Any tech savy type could disassemble this in their sleep, so maybe after the warranty is out i'll see about a new motherboard with the sim card slot. It's really not that big of a deal, most carriers have those wifi hot spot things that act as an access point for several devices. Virgin mobile has one for $70.00 for the device and enough data to do a lot of small things is about $25.00 a month, that might be where I end up going in the future.
After a 9" tablet I was afraid smaller would be annoying but so far 8" is fine, I don't think I'd like the 7" version. This is a great product and you can't do any better on ebay for the same specs. Dell is also providing support in the way of auto updates over the internet instead of download. For the price recommend this to anyone. I looked at the pro but I had to ask myself why you'd want to run a resource hog like windows 8 on so little hardware resources...why? Android is so much more stable and better support and more free apps in my book. Love this thing!
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