14 DAY TRIAL // Today, the Computex trade show is the scene of a lot of product launches. Dell also has something interesting put on display, in the form of an upgraded version of its budget set of Android tablets, the Dell Venue 7 and Venue 8.
Compared to the earlier version, Dell has swapped out the sleek black soft touch rear panel and replaced it with a black plastic textured finish.
Moving on to the display, the Venue 8’s resolution has been bumped to 1920 x 1200 pixels while the smaller of the two retains the same 1280 x 800 pixels, notes NDTV.
More than that, Dell says each tablet has been fitted with Waves MAXXAudio Pro audio tech, which should deliver premium audio capabilities.
In terms of internal hardware, Dell has added 1GB of RAM, 16GB of eMMC storage and Intel HD graphics (Imagination PowerVR G6400) with Miracast support in both tablets.
As for processors, the Dell Venue 7 now has an Intel Atom CPU Z3460, as opposed to the 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z2660 processor, while the Venue 8 now lives off a 2.1GHz Intel Atom CPU Z3480, instead of the 2GHz Intel Atom Z2580.
These new chips pertain to Intel’s 5th-generation Merrifield platform that should be able to deliver longer battery life.
We already knew Merrifield-enabled Venue 7 and 8 tablets were coming, because the larger of the two appeared online not so long ago, giving us a preview of what we see in Taiwan today.
Both models come with microUSB, microSIM slot, headphone/microphone jack plus a microSD card reader that can push the tablets’ storage capacity as far as 64GB. Both models run on Android 4.4 out of the box.
Dell has recently pushed out the update for its original set of Dell Venue Android tablets, but as we warned you in our previous article, installing the new build might cause some devices to brick.
It’s good news that Dell is offering the new range of devices with Android 4.4 KitKat straight out of the box, so issues like that should not arise with the newer models.
Dell also introduced a series of accessories for the two slates, including the Dell Bluetooth Keyboard Folio, Bluetooth Portable Speaker and Duo Tablet Case. The Dell Venue 8 can also take advantage of the Dell Venue Cradle which delivers wireless charging.
The two slates will be available starting July 1, with price tags of $159 / €117 and $199 / €146.
