Dell Venue Pro WinPho 7 smartphone

When the first wave of Windows Phone 7 handsets washed up on our shores back in October one handset was noticeable by both its absence and its form factor - the Dell Venue Pro. Now however it's finally made it to Blighty if only through third-party suppliers rather than from Dell itself. Dell Venue Pro Boardroom coup: Dell's …

[DaveyP]

Hap'orth of tar?

I'm a long time smartphone user (starting back with the Motorola A780). Had WinMo when it was the only game in town, and now using iOS. The one thing that would really tempt me away from iOS now would be big storage. My 16gb iPhone doesn't have enough for European Maps, some vids, lots of apps and lots of music, and I don't want to keep moving stuff about via iTunes... So why have they limited this to 8gb? Or are my requirements THAT unusual?

[whiteafrican]

DaveyP

WP7 uses a standard MicroSDHC card for its memory. Most manufacturers put the MicroSDHC card inside the case, in a slot that is pretty much hidden from the average user (I'm speaking as an owner of an HTC WP7, so I can't speak for Dell). They did this because carriers in different countries wanted to set the amount of memory and the price, according to what they thought would sell. So the last step before dealing up the case and sending the phone to the carrier was to add whatever memory the carrier wanted (essentially, either 16gb or 8gb).

However, the slot is accessible if you're prepared to attack your phone with a Torx screwdriver, and the memory itself is just a bog standard MicroSDHC card (i.e. no soldering irons needed). If you do open it up, you'll void the warranty, but you can upgrade the phone's memory to 32gb (though I don't recommend using anything less than a class 6 card or it'll get really slow). There's a pretty good walkthough example here:

http://lifeinthefastlaneok.wordpress.com/2010/11/07/new-htc-7-mozart-sd-card-memory-upgrade/

[Anonymous Coward]

Whoops

Specs list two versions, 8 and 16GB...

[Giles Jones]

Compromises I guess

8GB is paltry these days. If they really want to show up Apple they would be using 32GB now.

£440 for a phone with 8GB storage is just a joke. I'm guessing that the screen and keyboard cost so much that they didn't have money or space left for more storage inside?

[whiteafrican]

@Giles Jones

I'm guessing that the screen and keyboard cost so much that they didn't have money or space left for more storage inside?

Guess again. As I explained above, the storage on each phone was pretty much chosen in every case by the carrier, *not* the OEM, who merely installed a bog-standard MicroSDHC card to meet the carrier's requests. If you want to expand the memory yourself, you can (you just need a torx T6 and a larger MicroSD card).

[TrickyRicky]

pointless keyboard

Aha! I see what they've done... By not Fn mapping on the comma and period keys, they've had to forgo a + and a _.

Numpties.

[TeeCee]

Re: pointless keyboard

I suspect that stabbing the button marked "sym" ("Symbol" I am guessing) in the bottom right hand corner gives you access to all the missing bits.

Whether that's an acceptable substitute would depend on the implementation from there on. On my antique WinMo 6.1 device's keyboard, thumping this pops up the standard WinMo on-screen keyboard in symbol mode, which means either fishing for the stylus or playing "fat finger roulette" for a while and is a right bloody pain! Hopefully this thing's got a better trick up its sleeve......

[Lottie]

Now...

... that's what I'm looking for in a phone. It's a decent weight and size, but mostly, the battery lasts a good while.

[Anonymous Coward]

umm ok .

The reviewer must have ramen noodles for arms ... Yes the phone is big and weighs wee bit more than most of the phones out there , but it is well built and because of it's shape and weigh it feel pretty darn comfy to hold and use. Especially when typing on it. You'll never have to worry about the phone slipping out of your hands when trying to txt or email somone in a hurry. Oddly enough the weight actually help the phone...

If 8 or 16gm seems to small for your choice in drive size you can easily crack open the Venue Pro and replace the 8gb card with a 32gb.

[Anonymous Coward]

Have to say...

Im a solid WM6.5 user and more recently have done Android too and they both are great, for various reasons, WM for its seemingly endless abilities and Android for its ease of use.

Then i Jumped on WP7 to see what thats all about, expectations very low i got to task with it, the UI "Looks" after all a pile of poo, then something happened that, quite frankly, flipped my whole idea of "Smartphones" on its head. I used WP7 for about a week and not once did i get the urge to mod the crap out of it, yeah i changed the tile colour a bit but that was it, i just dont have this urge to fiddle with it, it just works, does what it does and does it very very well, as mentioned on the article Sat-nav is a serious thorn in the side, and i'd like memory map to get their act to gether too, but is this microsofts fault? nope, these are third party apps, Bing is a pile of crap tho, which can thankfully be easily changed...so make that mod number two but that really is all ive done. 2 months later and here i am, and im not going back.

This phone looks the piece, having options in the market for keyboard and standard phones makes sence and this is a viable HD2/7 contender, by the sounds of it the hardware is probably the same too, just thought id get in there before all Anti Microsoft folk jump on slagging it off.

I am in no way saying its better tha anything else, it doesnt have the abilities of WM it doesnt have the looks of android, but its definitiely a broadside at Iphone and i think they nailed it....pending a couple of patches that is :)

[Christian Berger]

OK, can it do typical business applications?

Can I access the PDF-files on a Windows share, so I can read documents on the fly?

Can I open and edit Microsoft Office files from Windows shares?

Can I log into my desktop computer via SSH?

Can I execute Windows applications?

The point is, WP7 might be better than a lot of what's being offered today, however it's still far from useful.

Microsoft would have the possibility to just slim down Windows and port it to phones, adding an x86 emulator for standard applications. That would have had serious value in a business world.

[Anonymous Coward]

fair points

But your just one userbase, they have never said it would do all of that, I suspect, no i hope, that there will be a much larger cloud intigration, whilst its possible to open PDFs you cant as you rightly pointed out access shared folders.

I Believe MS is going to open it up a bit from what ive read, allow further access to core functions to what extent i dont know but, from a New OS point of view i think they got it the right way around.

The issues With its desktop cousins arrise from the fact that too much is open, programers develop software based on what they can get away with which left the core OS too open, the same could be said for WM as well. But i think, personally, by providing a solid base to start with then building on it, hopefuly! we will see a very good OS that could potentially meet the needs of a lot more people.

[Al Taylor]

Weight

It's not weak arms that are the issue, it's that when you put it in your inside suit jacket pocket it makes it look like you can't dress yourself or stand up straight!

[Robert Hill]

Totally agree...

I used to have Windows smartphones, including some of the giant sliders, until my gf read me the riot act and said I Iooked the geek with my suit hanging or jacket hanging down on one side, or a holster on my belt. Actually bought a shoulder holster (like a gun holster) that carried it for a while, but unfortunately twice people thought I WAS carrying a gun, so that got dropped.

Then I bought an iPhone, and I've never had to worry about how to carry a phone again. I think that is a point of view that manufacturer's are losing, as they begin to compete in a "spec war" on biggest screen size, largest battery, etc. Some of us just don't want to have to lug a big hunk of metal and plastic...

[Anonymous Coward]

What's the smiley button for?

Please don't say there is a button for emoticons.

I'd rather have an @ button that doesn't require a shift (and RIM if you're reading, not having a dedicated @ on the Blackberry sucks too)