Dell Venue Pro
 | |
| Manufacturer | Dell |
|---|---|
| Compatible networks | T-Mobile USA |
| Form factor | Slider smartphone |
| Dimensions | 119.7 mm (4.71 in) (h) 61.5 mm (2.42 in) (w) 12.97 mm (0.511 in) (d) |
| Weight | 165 g (5.82 oz) |
| Operating system | Windows Phone 7.0.7392.0 (USA) 7.0.7355.0 (India) |
| CPU | Qualcomm QSD8250 1GHz Scorpion (Snapdragon) |
| Memory | 512 MB RAM |
| Storage | 8GB, 16GB |
| Removable storage | N/A |
| Battery | 1400 mAh Lithium-ion battery |
| Rear camera | 5 megapixel autofocus with flash, rear-facing |
| Front camera | None |
| Display | 4.1-inch (diagonal) widescreen 480-by-800 WVGA AMOLED |
| Connectivity | Quad-band UMTS 850; UMTS 1900; UMTS 1700; UMTS 2100 |
| Data inputs | Multi-touch touchscreen display Dual microphone 3-axis accelerometer Digital compass Proximity sensor Ambient light sensor |
| Development status | Available |
| Other | Wi-Fi, Vertical slide out QWERTY keyboard, FM radio, GPS |
The Dell Venue Pro, codename Lightning, was a mobile smartphone running the Windows Phone operating system. The phone used the T-Mobile network, but was only available for purchase at Microsoft retail stores or directly from Dell.
The launch of the phone suffered multiple setbacks, due to many technical and logistics issues, with poor communication between Dell and its customers.
Launch
The phone was codenamed 'Lightning', and was leaked to the Internet on April 21, 2010.[1]
Despite being cited as a launch partner for Windows Phone headsets early in July,[2] the phone was not widely on sale in the United States on the launch day, unlike phones from other launch partners, such as Samsung Focus and three other phones by HTC.
On October 11, in an official statement, Dell announced the phone to be available in the U.S. in holiday season of 2010.[3] On November 8, Windows Phone was launched, and a very limited quantity of the phone was available for purchase only in the 7 Microsoft stores in the U.S.[4] However, some early adopters of the phone received defective phones with Wi-Fi issues, SIM card issues, faulty headphone jack, and batteries marked as "Engineering Sample".[5] Despite Dell urged users to return the phones, no phones were available in stock for exchange, and phones were not reshipped on November 19 as claimed.
After missing both the States-wide launch on November 8 and the online launch on November 15, Dell announced that they were "ramping up production" and intended to launch the phone in a bigger scale.[6]
On December 1, Dell reintroduced the phone and began taking orders.[7] Customers were given a shipping date of December 15. However, a day before the estimated shipping date, customers were informed that the shipping date was pushed until January 6, 2011, two months after its intended launch date, as the phones "were being reworked in the factories".[8] This caused user uproar in many Windows Phone communities.
On December 16, Dell issued a new notice to assure that orders received before December 14 would be shipped before Christmas with overnight shipping upgrade and a free gift. However, the Estimated Delivery Date of the orders were not updated until a couple days later, causing confusion amongst anticipating customers. Several customers ordered on a later date received phones before those who ordered earlier. The promised shipping upgrade was also not fulfilled for many customers.[9]
On February 3, 2011, Dell launched Venue Pro in India. The launch price of Dell Venue was Rs. 34,990.It was also mass ordered for Forest Officials of Karnataka.[10]
On September 23, 2011, Dell posted that the Dell Venue Pro will get mango "later this fall" on the unlocked, Cincinnati Bell, and T-Mobile devices. Dell released the Venue Pro for the AT&T network later that year. [citation needed]
As of December 1, 2011 all Dell Venue Pros have been upgraded to Mango, including those shipped from the factory. [citation needed]
As of March 8th 2012 Dell are discontinuing future production of the Dell Venue Pro and Venue smartphones-This was announced internally to Dell Staff on the 8th of March. [citation needed]
Technical issues
Wi-Fi bug
The first batch of Dell Venue Pro phones to be manufactured suffered a bug which prevented them from logging onto secure Wi-Fi networks. Dell urged users with buggy phones to return them to the place of purchase and receive replacement handsets.[11] In addition, even after the full launch of the Venue Pro, there have been reports of WiFi crashing the phone while downloading or using the data connection in some way.
RAM
Phones were reported to have only 256MB of RAM according to a third party SystemInfo application in the marketplace, which were considerably less than 512MB RAM as originally cited. Dell later contradicted on its DellCares Twitter page that in fact the device does have 512MB RAM and indicate at the operating system uses the memory before applications do. [citation needed]
With the update codename "NoDo", the Venue Pro correctly report its RAM count as 512MB. [citation needed]
Third Party Involvement
When entering a Venue Pro's IMEI number into a IMEI checking facility the manufacturer of the device is reported as Qisda Corporation, a subsidiary of BenQ[12][13]. The involvement of a third party is also apparent in the 'EM' phone management app.
End of manufacture
On March 28th 2012 Dell posted that the Venue Pro and Venue are no longer for sale on Dell.com, the reason was stated that the devices had come to their end-of-life.[14]
References
- ^ "Dell Lightning: the ultimate Windows Phone device leaks".
- ^ "Windows Phone: Microsoft confirms launch partners". Pocket-lint. 21 July 2010.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Meet the new Dell Venue Pro Smartphone with Windows Phone". Direct2Dell. 11 October 2010.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Dell Venue Pro on sale at Microsoft stores, but good luck getting one".
- ^ "Dell Fesses Up To Venue Pro Wi-Fi Issues, Will Reship November 19th".
- ^ "Where we are with the Dell Venue Pro". Direct2Dell. 19 November 2010.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Dell Venue Pro finally available to order: $99 on contract, shipping December 9th". Engadget. 1 December 2010.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Dell: 'Venue Pros are being reworked in the factories,' ship schedule unclear". Engadget. 14 December 2010.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "On the topic of Dell Venue Pro Order Delays". Direct2Dell. 14 December 2010.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Dell Venue and Venue Pro officially launched in India, this time for real!". TechIt.in. 3 February 2011.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Dell will replace flawed Venue Pro smartphone handsets". Computerworld. 11 November 2010.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "IMEI lookup". http://imei-number.com. 31st March 2012.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Qisda Lightning". http://imei-number.com. 31st March 2012.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Dell retires Venue and Venue Pro in the US, future smartphone plans unclear". The Verge (website). 28th March 2012.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help)
