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Oct 11, 2010

Dell Venue Pro Hands On: A Solid First WP7 Slider

Dell's WP7 phone may have gotten a name downgrade—Dell Venue Pro just doesn't have quite the cachet of Lightning—but after some hands on time, the slider at least looks and feels every bit as promising as we'd hoped.

The Venue Pro has a bit more heft than some of the other WP7 devices launching today, but it's not overly bulky. It just feels solid, durable. Likewise the portrait slider keyboard: good spacing on keys, a sliding mechanism that seemed capable of enduring an extended SMS barrage. The 4.1-inch multitouch AMOLED screen is bright, crisp, and responsive. I can't wait to see how pics from the 5MP camera look on it. One quibble: the phone's already so long that the added hight from sliding out the keyboard vertically makes it look and feel a little gawky and off-balance. But it otherwise seems, so far, like a warhorse.

It's a promising start for Microsoft, and a pretty clear indicator that their strict guidelines for hardware partners is paying off. It's also a fresh start for Dell, who between the Venue Pro and the rumored Thunder Android phone are going to quickly make Aero a distant memory.

41 comments:

Savage Nugget said...

It's an attractive phone but the keyboard looks quite tight. :D

Anonymous said...

Solid is good - it's one of the reasons I still use [gasp] a flip phone.

la comédie said...

nice post

Nie Mand said...

No, thanks. But Windows on smartphones is a no go.

Wondergecko said...

Looks pretty cool.

funkotron77 said...

Looks like a cool phone, thanks for the info!

anontcotrol said...

Phone looks worth it

razortek said...

kewl bro!!

Drackar said...

They hope.

Bernhard said...

a beautiful piece

Sebastian said...

Smooth design. I like it.

Anonymous said...

looks good

Zohrlaff said...

Phones now
One day, scouters...
Yeah........

befashionistic.blogspot.com/ said...

looks like exactly what I want!!! slider phones ftw

Goodfella said...

well it looks nice.

Anonymous said...

nice :=)

Michele said...

Cool man!!

jeanjean said...

looks nice but I don't have enough money for that

DrFresh said...

man, thats screen looks nice. wonder if it'll hold up better than my buddies iphone 4. lmao.

Discerning Gentleman said...

cool, this works for me!

Zykei said...

Looks very slick :)

Roqi said...

ks sexy.

If you would like a banner ad on my blog let me knoww

Lil Pee said...

It looks really nice. My eyes were very drawn to it. I just hope it can stand a chance against android os'.

Damien said...

It looks pretty sleek.

Altair said...

Nice phone. I can't wait to get a new phone with Windows 7.

freakonaleash31 said...

this looks crazyy. will probably be getting one.

Gimmedis said...

Yeah I have big pudgey fingers I think I'll stick with the Droid.

Ratch said...

looks nice

Anonymous said...

Looks nice and sleek but they keyboard is too small :(

Cro Magnon said...

looks like a phone i would use

Matt said...

Yeah, Looks cool

Terminally Ill said...

siq post brah

Terminally Ill said...

siq post brah

Jimmy Volmer said...

oh wow, that phone looks sharp and slick... i wonder what the typing experience would be on it

Marc said...

Sweet, Dell products are awesome.
So happy with my laptop, I'm sure they won't let us down with this.

Applelove said...

Looks pretty cool to me, I'll look into dell phones next time I trade up, or down as the case may be

thecatzpajamas said...

whatevz. iphone ftw

Unknown said...

I want it! NOW!
I'm sure Dell did a great job @ it

musicnote said...

lol iphone knock off.

Victor M. said...

This looks actually pretty amazing. I will be trying this out sooner or later.

http://quarterqwerty.blogspot.com/

Joel C Anatoli said...

looks good, but I dont know about slide out keyboards.. they're old style