Review: Dell Venue 8

Introduction and design

The Android tablet can be quite overwhelming, with choices from Dell, Asus, Lenovo, Acer, HTC and so many more brands you might never have heard of. The distinction between these brands shrinks even further as we get down into the budget price range, too.

This is roughly where the $199 (£179, about AU$227) Dell Venue 8 fits in. It's an inexpensive, albeit solid Android tablet that doesn't have any glitz and glam, but it gets the job done. What job is that? Well, any job you'd need an Android tablet for: web browsing, watching videos, answering e-mails and maybe some light document editing.

The Venue 8 is slim, lightweight and the battery lasts about seven to eight hours if you're using it consistently. Overall, you're getting your money's worth, but not much more.

Design and hardware

If you're looking for a bland, unassuming tablet, you've hit the money with the Dell Venue 8. It's a black slab made of glass and plastic, like so many other Android tablets. If you were to place the Venue 8 against similar tablets and have me stand 10 feet away from them, I wouldn't be able to pick it out from the crowd.

The display measures 8 inches diagonally. The device packs a 1,920 x 1,200 display, meaning that you're looking at a 16:10 aspect ratio, which is slightly unusual for tablets, most of which are 16:9 or 4:3. Regardless, it's a perfect size for me – not too small and not too large. (And I stand at 6 feet, 2 inches, with slightly larger-than-average hands.)

For those who prefer a slightly smaller slate, there is a 7-inch version, which is practically an identical tablet.

There is a 5MP camera on the rear with no flash, and a 2MP camera in front for self-portraits – I won't dare use that god-forsaken nonword – and video chatting. Neither camera is very sharp, but it's hard to imagine taking serious photos with an 8-inch tablet.

In terms of specs and all the innards, we're looking at an Intel Atom Z3480 chipset with a 2.1GHz, dual-core processor. There is 16GB of storage on board for storage, however you're only left with around 10GB to use due to the Android 4.4 KitKat size requirements. There is, however, microSD card support for up to 64GB additional storage, which is great if you want to add additional movies, music and photos to the tablet.

Around the edges, you'll find a speaker at the bottom, volume buttons on the right edge along with the memory card slot, and a power/standby button up top. The speaker, it's worth noting, is not all that great. The driver produces a tinny quality, and it's not very powerful. If you're watching videos or listening to music, I would highly recommend using headphones.

As far as the hardware goes, as I've mentioned before, there really isn't a standout feature here. It's a clean slate, a black slab that serves as nothing more than a portal to Android apps and multimedia. With that said, however, it feels sturdy and sleek – definitely not as if it was made cheaply.

Software and performance

The Dell Venue 8 comes equipped with Android 4.4 KitKat, which is a fine addition in a budget tablet. Typically, tablets that cost this much end up running older versions of Android. The benefit here is that you won't be left behind when it comes to app updates, or newly released apps, which tend to support only the latest versions of the Android OS.

Strangely, there are some pretty common apps that aren't available on the Dell Venue 8, like Instagram. A quick search shows that the reason an app like Instagram wouldn't be supported on a piece of hardware is because of its hardware or software being unable to power Instagram's filters. This doesn't seem like the case for the Dell Venue 8 with its high-end specs, so some apps may take a while to update before supporting all hardware, especially Android tablets.

If you're already familiar with Android, you'll feel comfortable and right at home with the Dell Venue 8, especially with its practically stock UI. I never felt the device lag or run into any performance issues. Every app opened and ran just fine, so the Intel Atom must be humming right along with everything you can throw at it.

Rather than going over the entirety of KitKat here, you can read our thorough and comprehensive Android 4.4 KitKat review if you're completely unfamiliar with Google's mobile OS.

Productivity bonuses

The Dell Venue 8 does come pre-loaded with some apps that help with productivity and organization, like Dropbox and Polaris Office 5. Polaris is like a Microsoft suite of apps, where you can create and edit word documents, spreadsheets and slideshows. The nice thing about the inclusion of these apps is that you'd normally have to pay for the alternatives.

You'll also find Pocket Cloud pre-installed, which is an app that allows you to connect your tablet to your Mac or PC. The company likes to call itself a personal cloud for your pocket with no storage fees, but it's more like remote access to your laptop or desktop. So, you won't be uploading terabytes of photos and videos to a cloud service any time soon.

Pure Android

Basically, you're getting an unadulterated version of Android KitKat on the Dell Venue 8, which is fantastic. The minimalist hardware and software means you can focus on what really matters here: a screen larger than your phone for videos, viewing photos and reading.

In fact, I would go so far as saying that buying the Dell Venue 8 is akin to buying a Nexus 7. Of course, albeit with the additional software mentioned above and a slightly bigger screen.

Verdict

The Dell Venue 8 is a rock-solid Android tablet devoid of bells and whistles. If you're looking for a clean slate – pun intended – with bare bones Android 4.4 KitKat on it, this is the tablet for you. And honestly, I think more budget tablets should be exactly like this.

The reason you're buying a tablet is for its bigger screen, which helps in reading text, watching videos, looking at photos and maybe having a little more space in tending to e-mails and documents. Since all of that happens on the display, you want the hardware to get out of your way, and the Dell Venue 8 does just that.

We liked

This is what a $200 Android tablet should be. You're buying a big screen – or at least a screen bigger than your phone – that's sharp, vivid and happens to have good battery life. It's responsive and doesn't lag, and it lets you meddle with apps and take in multimedia content without bothering you with quirky hardware design.

We disliked

The speaker on the Dell Venue 8 could be a lot better. It sounds metallic and weak, although not entirely awful. A wired or Bluetooth headset or speaker would do just fine here, but simply a deeper, more powerful speaker would've been ideal.

And while I generally poke fun at people who take photos with their honking tablets, the camera on the Venue 8 is an afterthought. It'll take photos for the sake of documenting them, but don't expect to win a National Geographic award with anything you snap on this thing. Colors are dull and images seem oversharpened.

Verdict

Simply put he Dell Venue 8 is an excellent value. It's kept speedy, thanks to a lack of annoying or useless UI elements. Stock Android 4.4 KitKat really works well here, and the battery life is lengthy.

If you could design a clean slab of glass, plastic and pixels, and throw in Android KitKat at its barest with a few add-ons, that's what you get in the Venue 8. Couple that with snappy performance and long battery life, and you practically have a steal at $200.

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