Late last twelvemonth , Dell announcedthe most interesting Android tablet in year . It has outstanding guts in a thin physical structure with striking design , go past off with one horrible name . But it ’s so much more than just a pretty face and a hot body .
What Is It?
The humans ’s slight tablet , running Android 4.4 KitKat on a rattling 8.4 - inch , 2560 x 1600 OLED screen with an Intel Atom processor and 2 GB of RAM underneath . Only thinner thanthe secondly - gen iPad Airby a bare 0.1 mm , listen you , but still imprecate thin . A pad with a tv camera that can tell you how improbable thing are . dreadfully , awfully named ; it ’s known as both the Venue 8 7000 Series and the Venue 8 7840 , and I ’ll be using that second one from here on out . The most interesting Android tablet I ’ve seen in ages .
Why Does It Matter?
Dell ’s 7840 is n’t just another underspec’d , “ me - too ” Android tablet like so many previous Android slates . The 7840 is a uncanny and honestly pretty groundbreaking afterthought of what a black substantial touchscreen gadget can be . Dell ’s injecting a little creativity into the small tab place right whenwe thought small tabs were pop off off . Maybe it ’s reason enough for them to cohere around .
Design
Dell Venue 8 7840 , left . Nvidia Shield Tablet , good .
The 7840 is all around unique and beautiful , which is something I ’m not sure I ’ve ever said about an Android tablet . It ’s also really unearthly . At 6.0 mm and just over half - a - pound light — ever - so - slightly light than the likewise sized iPad Mini , and noticeably light thanthe Nvidia Shield Tablet — it ’s highly easy to use one - handed , as any in force ~8 - inch pad should be . But the thing that have it super one - handable is a big handle - like bezel at the bottom ( or is it the top ? ) of the filmdom .
Instead of load down an adequate border of smuggled charge plate on all sides , the 7840 choose to concentrate all of that stuff — including its front - facing River Cam and exclusive speaker — on one sharpness . Which leaves the other three edges practically bezel - free , and make the silver screen experience a flake like it ’s floating on airwave . The 7840 cue me a lot ofthat bully bezel - less sharp-worded speech sound , but with elbow room better specs .
The dissymmetry is n’t just a whatsis to hype up an mundane equipment : the 7840 is a high tone tab . The 8.4 - inch , 2560 x 1600 OLED panel seem hella sharp , even if it does n’t quite have the same eye - popping direct contrast as the one you ’ll find onSamsung ’s Galaxy Tab S. The anathemize purty 359 PPI screen is right smart forward of the Nvidia Shield Tab ’s 1080p 275 PPI display . And screen apart , the angulate aluminum side and the little square buttons you ’ll find are pleasantly minimal . Also super minimal is the microSD expansion slot , which I was surprised to find on such a slim lollipop .
The one thing I do n’t like about the blueprint is the check ’s back . The 7840 ’s trio of Intel RealSense depth photographic camera are subtle enough , but the dead - center Dell logotype is just garish . I ’m being a small nitpicky , I sleep together ; the back of the Shield Tablet is hardly better , ditto mark the back of any late Nexus tablet , or any Amazon lozenge — but it just make believe me feel like I ’m take the air around with a cool - arsenic tab that hasa giant Gateway cowboxon the back or something . Sorry Dell , I guess I just hate your logo .
Using It
So let ’s spill about how that weird asymmetric intent hold in up in practice .
That plastered bezel on 75 percent of the screen is great most of the time . When you ’re just sit on the couch and surfing the web or whatever it is you do with a 8 - inch tablet in portrait fashion , the screen feels all futurey . It ’s easy to forget that there ’s a heavy , unconditional expanse at the bottom where a photographic camera and verbalizer and all style of circuitry live .
And the big flat area is great for gripping when you need to go landscape ; I ’ve never used a tablet that ’s easier to concord sideways . But I lean to do that when I ’m watching video … and when I take for the tab by that askew bezel , my thumb always winds up smack pat on top of the speaker . The sound gets all tinny and garble as it bounces off my hand . fortuitously , there are other ways to transfix the chit that do n’t block the talker , but they finger a little more unstable .
And though you do n’t have to worry about block the loudspeaker system if you secure in headphones , the location of the jack means the fireplug will be jutting flop into your palm if you ’re right - handed . Flip the affair 180 ° to your left hand and the job ’s solved , but it ’s still a little annoying . And using the self - facing camera necessitates one of those 180 ° spin around too . With the big bezel at the bottom ( the “ right ” portrait orientation ) the front - facing camera is just raring to take the worst self - portrait you ’ve seen in years . Chin - fat metropolis .
Sexy and I know it .
Of of course you do n’t have to hold the 7840 by the giving bezel . It ’s totally potential to hold it by any other side or box , though you in all probability wo n’t want to . My inclination was to dig a corner into my palm and use that leverage for stability … but about half the clock time that ’ll make the touchscreen block responding to pokes and prods because it think I have an indicator finger’s breadth just sitting at the most distant nook of the sieve .
Every one of these beef is reasonably minor . Like I aver , the design make most of the time . The reason they ’re worth name is because they are thing the 7840 does poorly that any traditional pad can do just fine .
The 7840 runs near stock Android — albeit outdated KitKat or else of the young Android Lollipop . There ’s a fiddling bit of Dell bloat packed in there , but just in the form of a few additional apps , some of which are required to make use of the RealSense depth cameras , so it ’s mostly venial .
When it comes to operation , the 7840 ’s quad - core Intel Atom processor is more than capable , if not blow - your - hairsbreadth - back fast . purloin around the homescreen is snappy , and apps adulterate up enough fast — roughly on par with the variety of velocity I get out of the Nvidia Shield tablet . For twenty-four hours - to - day enjoyment , the 7840 is just as snappy as you could want .
But the carrying out waver a piffling when you protrude hurl games at it . bare stuff like Hitman Go loads up just as fast as it does on the Tegra - powered Shield or my Snapdragon - power Nexus 6 , but more graphic - intensive games not so much . The graphics on Dead Trigger 2 default to low quality , and public presentation still stutters when there ’s a fate go on . XCOM : Enemy Unknown — a scale - down Xbox 360 game that runs swimmingly on a Note 4 — is totally playable here , but with a framerate that ’s observably jerky if you ’re looking for it .
stamp battery liveliness , meanwhile , is fantastic — especially for a tablet with such a slim profile . I have over 10 hours of video playback at 70 % smartness , and in more varied , day - to - day employment I was always surprised at how easy my battery life was retick down . It ’s a damn sight better than the Nvidia Shield pad of paper ’s miserable ~6 hour life , and decidedly in force than you ’d expect from something this size .
Camera
So one of the 7840 ’s big selling points is that it has Intel ’s RealSense tech in it . Instead of one rear - facing tablet camera , it ’s got a trio of astuteness - sensing cameras on the back .
This allow it perform tricks like pretend to bea Lytrowith pictures that are refocusable after the fact , plus edit gimmicks like changing the brightness or impregnation of piece of a ikon based on how far they are from the camera .
It ’s just not that cool . The refocusing peter , arguably the most utilitarian , did not work specially well for me . Here ’s a photo I took of a Sonic the Hedgehog figurine , with a Cheezits bag in the screen background ( graphics ! ):
Cheezits :
transonic :
you may see how the area around Sonic is also brought into focus . It ’s not the public figure so much as the approximate space around him . telling , it ’s just the end upshot is n’t great . In part because the camera ( an 8MP shot ) is kind of shit .
That ’s not to mention how laborious it is to take pictures with the thing . Not blank out one tv camera with your hand is hard enough , but assay three . You really have to pinch the 7840 around its edge to get off a steady slam .
One of the cooler thaumaturgy — and one thatSean got to see during his early hands - on with the pill — was RealSense ’s power to use that depth detection to measure things . Unfortunately that ’s not part of Dell ’s app right now , and will evidently be added later in an update , according to a footling pop - up dialogue box . An update that I hope also restore some of the buggier bits of Dell ’s special RealSense - enable apps . I had the art gallery app smash on me a few times , and the Android home buttons can get perplex on the top of the television camera app .
There ’s elbow room for this material to get better and more useful , but it totally feel like a doojigger decently now , and one that ’s not even that much fun to mess around with . Definitely not coolheaded enough to justify walk around and taking word-painting with your tablet which — while not a deathly hell — is still generally unpleasant .
Like
The 7840 seem good . It looks real good . All - around I think it ’s the sharpest Android lozenge I ’ve ever see . Those tiny bezel look keen , and that slenderness is almost beyond belief . It ’s not just the body ; the 2560 x 1600 OLED screen is fantastic too .
The shelling life story and performance are great , too .The 7840 ’s Intel Atom Z3580 is no slouch performance - wise , but does n’t chew up assault and battery life either . I was able to get over 10 hour of video playback at 75 percent brightness , and there was nothing I threw at the 7840 that it could n’t run well enough . Impressive for something this humble .
Super light and one - handable .
Mostly stock Android , even if it ’s KitKat instead of Lollipop . KitKat is better on tablets anyhow and an update is coming shortly too .
MicroSD enlargement one-armed bandit ! These are getting rare .
The 7840 vs the Shield Tablet
No Like
The 7840 ’s asymmetric design can be more annoying than a more traditional bezel layout at times .
The RealSense cameras are a letdown . deepness - sensing Lytro - style refocusing tech in your tablet could probably be cool , but the apps and television camera are flukey . This is far from reaching its full electric potential .
The battery charges pretty tardily . If you ’ve gotten used to the quick charging that Qualcomm ’s latest Snapdragon chips have built decently in , you ’re gon na miss it here . It bring me about 3 hour to get it from zero to full , even with a in high spirits - voltage charger .
Should You Buy It
Are you looking for a smallish Android lozenge with a great screen ? Then yes . The 7840 is the best one you’re able to bribe . Samsung ’s similarly price Galaxy Tab S is no slouch , but loses points for its lusterless design and Samsung ’s TouchWiz peel . The Nvidia Shield Tablet is cheap at $ 300 compare to $ 400 you ’ll pay for the Dell , but it ’s set about a modest resolution screen , way worse bombardment liveliness , and acres of bezel compare to this lovely lulu .
That state , there are exceptions . If you ’re into gaming ( or are just on a budget),the Nvidia Shield tab does have a load of exclusive benefits deserving moot . And if you are n’t all sold on Android , theiPad Mini 2is roughly like and commence at just $ 300 .
But mostly , the 7840 is a fantastic machine with a sweet - await design , slender profile , and no trade - breaking drawback . Just some affair to get used to . And if an dodgy , pocket-size lozenge is what you ’re looking for , you ’d be intemperately - weightlift to do better .
Dell Venue 8 7840 Specs
• oxygen : Android 4.4.4
• CPU : Intel Atom Z3580
• property : .24″ ( 6 mm ) x 4.88″ ( 124.4 mm ) x 8.50″ ( 215.8 mm )
• Screen : 8.4 - inch 2560 x 1600 OLED 359 PPI
• RAM : 2 GB
• Storage : 16 GB
• Camera : 8MP rear RealSense array / 2 MP front
• Price : $ 400
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