Dell Venue Pro update

Well after traveling back and forth across the country my Dell Venue Profinally arrived in my hands. This was the unit that I ordered direct fromDell. The replacement from the MS store still has not arrived.

My initial thoughts are as before.. The build quality is good and everythingfeels to be top quality. The problems that I see now are internal issues. Ihave had to pull the battery a few times already since I got it yesterdayafternoon.

The lockup issue seems to be happening to a few users as there is a longthread on the Dell support forums. Seems some people think that they canre create the issue but so far it seems to be random for me.

I am also having an issue running the Crackdown game on this phone. For somereason it claims it can not connect to live but my HD7 starts the title fineso I am not sure what is going on there.

Will give the phone a few days of use before deciding which phone to use asmy daily device. I like the Dell screen and form factor better but the HD7seems less buggy. Both of the cameras are terrible so will use the Nokia N8for that.

Well time to open gifts. Merry Christmas all.

Written on Dell Venue Pro.

Update on Sunday, December 26, 2010 at 7:32AM by Gshocker

Another 24 hours with the phone and not as many battery pulls. It seems to be related to the marketplace and downloading apps. Have not had to reset the phone in about 10 hours so maybe it was just all the installing of apps.

The one remaining issue is that I am unable to start the crackdown xbox live title on this phone. It is still running fine on the HD7 but it will not load and says there is a connection error each time I try. Not sure if this is some wifi issue of not but will try a few things later today.

So far the phone feel solid and I really like the size of the device. I think that the 4" screen is really as large as I like. At 4.3 it might be just a little to large for my hands to reach all areas of the touch screen easily. Certainly not a deal breaker if there was a compelling device in that size but 4" seems to be the sweet spot.

Where are they now?

So the saga of the Dell Venue Pro continues on. Here are the facts at the moment -

1) Returned the one I purchased on 11/8 for a fully working unit.. Well that did not work and none of the units at the MS store would take a SIM card so ended up walking out with a “loaner” HD7. Was told when they got phones in I would be called and could exchange no matter how long it took. All in all Microsoft Store has given me 1.5 years of Zune service now.

2)Ordered a 16GB model from Dell on 12/1 assuming that I would get a call from the MS store long before this came in but wanted to make sure I got something. Was already starting to dislike the HD7.

3) Seems orders are shipping for some direct from Dell. I call the MS store and they still have no word on getting phones back for the people who purchased on 11/8.. Let me do some math.. Hmm.. that seems to be over a month ago.. And hey wait.. Why are the people who ordered almost a month later getting their phones first?

4)My ship date comes and goes and I get an email pushing the ship date back to next year. WHAT? Seems if they had no intention of shipping the product they should not have been giving out ship dates. After more blogs pick up the story Dell comes back with some un-official sounding excuse that they are working to get orders out and they have had problems but are looking into them.. what does this mean exactly. Sounds rather like they are avoiding the question.

5)Chaos takes over the forums where people are trying to figure out what the heck Dell is doing. Some people who ordered after the first of December are getting ship notices.. Anyone heard of first come first served.. Dell blogger then states not to worry.. If you ordered before the 14th you will have your order before Christmas.

6)As the last few days before Christmas hit people are freaking out. EDD dates for many still show next year and now it seems that some who ordered much past the first are getting their phones. My order from Dell still says I will not get anything till next year. I am OK with that but the Dell blogger keeps telling people that phones are shipping and not to worry. Certainly keeps with the company line till the bitter end.

I will post an updated as Christmas draws near. I understand that this is far from a life and death issue but it seems that some major press should call Dell out on this type of thing..

Nokia with Windows Phone 7? I wish…

This mockup is pretty cool. Rumors are that Nokia and MS have been talking but who knows if that is really true. People like to start rumors about Nokia switching to some mainstream OS like Android or now Windows Phone 7. I love my N8 hardware but once again the Symbian OS is the only thing keeping it from being great. It was a great OS years ago but it has really not kept up.. Throwing some thing more modern on the Nokia hardware would be cool. N8.. hands down the best camera on a phone I have ever seen.

Back to reality.. I am guessing Nokia may be dipping their toes to see how the water is that that is a long way from actually producing a device with the OS.. But one can always dream…

Painting a mug

Dell Venue Pro Issues

Well I had been getting to writing up a little something with some comments about my Dell Venue Pro but this post on WPCentral explains it all now. Go check out this post . I will have more comments later but this is something that Dell needs to address right away.

Update - Pocketnow.com has picked up the story a well..Post

Update - WMPoweruser.com has the story now as well.. Post

Update - EverythingWM.com another site has it also.. Post 

Still MORE - TMoNews.com has just added the story.. Post

TechCrunch.com posted as well ... Post 

Ubergizmo has the news also .. Post

WMBlast! - Post

Electronista - Post

Phonearena.com - Post