Buyer's Guide: The Dell Venue Pro
Windows Phone 7 launched with a fantastic range of devices, all packing plenty of power and enough features to keep you occupied from now until Christmas, but you may have noticed the lack of any device with a hardware keyboard, and if you're a power or business user this may have put you off.
Don't despair though, as Dell have come to the rescue with the Venue Pro, a device that should satisfy even the most demanding of users. There's plenty to like in the Venue Pro and here are 5 features that standout above the rest.
Display
We believe that just because you need a hardware keyboard that shouldn't mean you get gypped out of a large, high quality display and thankfully Dell agrees. The Venue Pro comes packing a spacious 4.1-inch AMOLED screen with multi-touch support, which brings photos, videos and the world wide web to life in vivid, bright colour.
Being AMOLED it also uses less power than other screens, meaning your device will help you stay productive for longer. It isn't a screen that needs to be coddled either. Thanks to those smart people behind Gorilla Glass, the Venue Pro's display is pretty much life-proof – drop it in your pocket and go.
Build
The Venue Pro is built well. It may be a little on the chunky side but don't let that put you off, it's constructed with top quality materials and feels solid and comfortable in the hand. There are no creaks and cracks with this device. The sliding mechanism is solid too, and unlike some of its competitors you get the feeling that you could slide the Venue's keyboard in and out all day without worrying about anything becoming loose or unstable.
Keyboard
To even compete against the likes of BlackBerry the portrait QWERTY on the Venue Pro was going to have to be pretty good and thankfully it is. We found the keys responsive and the faintly rubberised veneer lent a feeling of comfort when typing out long e-mails and messages.
In no time at all we were punching out messages with minimal errors at a fair rate of knots, with some practice you'll find it second nature meaning that you can stay away from your PC for longer and keep busy doing other things whilst maintaining contact with the people in your life that matter.
Camera
The Dell Venue Pro comes packed with a high-quality 5-megapixel auto focus camera with an LED flash, which takes excellent snapshots. You're also able to capture 720P video with the device, so you needn't miss those important family moments while you're busy working. There's no need to concern yourself with space either, as the device comes equipped with either 8 or 16GB of onboard storage, which should be more than enough to store all of your favourite media.
Connectivity
What really matters with a messaging device is staying in touch and with the Venue Pro you should never be out of the loop. It covers all the usual bases with support for Wi-Fi (b,g,n), 3G (HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps) and Bluetooth. The device is also quadband so it will travel with you wherever you need to go.
Final Thoughts
There's no question that the Dell Venue Pro is a device aimed squarely at business people but that doesn't mean it has nothing to offer other demographics. It's a reliable, robust handset with excellent battery life, which would be as at home with a student as it would be a corporate high-flyer and thanks to Microsoft's excellent Windows Phone 7 software there's as much room for pleasure as there is business!