Dell Venue Pro - year together
Hi Habr.
This post is something between a very short review and a retrospective of a rather rare representative of the devices of the first wave of Windows Phone 7 - Dell Venue Pro.
In my area, it is so rare that at one conference a Microsoft representative sfotkat it (by the way, Samsung Ativ S was the first device on Windows Phone 8) and generally said that legends were spoken about him at the local Microsoft office, many people had heard, but no one have not seen. Judging by some comments, habravchanam also not very much known about this device, despite the wonderful review from rednaxi .
The phone, brought from Texas by a colleague, was purchased on Amazon for $ 240 with the postscript Unlocked (this is an important point, about the “unlinking” process later) to replace my Nokia E63. There are two reasons: the reluctance to abandon hardware qwerty and the desire to feel a rather new platform at the time of acquisition. By the way, this is the only device on WP7 with a portrait qwerty keyboard. The other two - HTC 7 Pro and LG Quantum are revealed in landscape orientation.
')
Something like this:
Taking into account the fact that not all applications under WP7 were able to roll over, it was decided to purchase Venue Pro.
Despite the unlocked postscript, the phone was still tied to the American t-mobile (not surprising, at such and such a price). After reading the advice of good people on the xda-developers forum, it was decided to write in support of Dell on the topic of providing an unlock code at unlockcoderequest@dell.com (even there is one). An answer was received to my letter saying that send us something certifying the purchase. I decided to call Dell support and clarify how I should be. They told me the same thing, they say, send proof of purchase, and then we'll talk. In response, a photo of the box was sent, from the side on which IMEI, barcodes and otherunnecessary and incomprehensible service tags were pasted, as well as an order confirmation from Amazon, which the colleague sent to me. When I called again, a Dell support representative confirmed that this is a retail device that is subject to free unlocking, after which he said that he would now register the phone in my name and tell me the code. That's just for registration you need some address in the United States. Any, but existing, because they have instructions to check addresses in Google Maps - Bing Maps. Fortunately, remembering that our company once had an office in sunny California, I dictated it, he gave a support representative, after which the coveted code was dictated to me. Free and without SMS. Victory!
I see no reason to paint the characteristics, appearance and usability, because rednaxi did it perfectly in a super detailed review here - habrahabr.ru/post/127325 . Thank you so much!
With everyday use, as well as with metal objects (this is very much loved to demonstrate in soul-nosing video clips about knives and nails) it is almost impossible to scratch it. But the Russian man does not give up! The glass was successfully scratched (by dispute) with a pebble, in which there were particles of comparable hardness (right in the center of the screen):
Also, in some completely unthinkable way were lost:
For almost a year of use, the keyboard slider mechanism began to noticeably loosen up, and more recently, the loop between the halves began to fail - in the process of disclosing, distortions appear on the screen (opening up to the end, the problems disappear):
This is not an Android !!!
Due to the rarity of this model and some other factors, t-mobile decided not to engage in support - not to release WP7 updates through itself. Devices that were not originally tied received updates via Zune and the Windows Phone Connector for Mac. So, thank you very much to these people and to the xda-developers forum (Venue Pro branch - forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=799 )! They collected the necessary packages of all the updates that came out, for updating via cabsender (a console utility using the flash driver from the WP7 SDK). However, this is by no means custom firmware, just such a forced update method. As a result, the device obtained with WP7.5 Mango was updated 3 times, and last week it saw itself in a new light, withbetter big tiles, some other little things and a version of WP7.8 (yes, yes, the one that is criticized update "for backward and poor", "why not Windows Phone 8" ).
During the time that I have this wonderful device, Windows Phone took another step forward, Dell completely disappeared from the market of mobile devices, as well as HP (and Palm), Nokia managed to jump from a burning platform to a new one. In general, a lot of changes. Perhaps the Venue Pro will be remembered by everyone as a cult device and the people will be nostalgic for it (and I can). It’s a pity, but soon I’ll probably have to look for a replacement for it, and maybe some of the big market players will soon launch a qwerty smartphone for Windows Phone 8 or Android. I think that not only I am waiting for something like that.
And yet, if spoken English allows, feel free to call the support services of large companies, sometimes it can solve the problems that arise much faster. In the meantime, thanks to Microsoft for a good, fit Windows Phone 7, Dell for a uber device, Dell support for a free unlock code, and many thanks to the Habr audience for their attention.
Constructive (and not only) criticism is welcomed in the comments.
PS: Below 2 questions. I already asked Habr's opinion on the topic ( http://habrahabr.ru/qa/32661/ ). Perhaps now the picture will become even clearer.
This post is something between a very short review and a retrospective of a rather rare representative of the devices of the first wave of Windows Phone 7 - Dell Venue Pro.
In my area, it is so rare that at one conference a Microsoft representative sfotkat it (by the way, Samsung Ativ S was the first device on Windows Phone 8) and generally said that legends were spoken about him at the local Microsoft office, many people had heard, but no one have not seen. Judging by some comments, habravchanam also not very much known about this device, despite the wonderful review from rednaxi .
The phone, brought from Texas by a colleague, was purchased on Amazon for $ 240 with the postscript Unlocked (this is an important point, about the “unlinking” process later) to replace my Nokia E63. There are two reasons: the reluctance to abandon hardware qwerty and the desire to feel a rather new platform at the time of acquisition. By the way, this is the only device on WP7 with a portrait qwerty keyboard. The other two - HTC 7 Pro and LG Quantum are revealed in landscape orientation.
')
Something like this:
Taking into account the fact that not all applications under WP7 were able to roll over, it was decided to purchase Venue Pro.
Unlock
Despite the unlocked postscript, the phone was still tied to the American t-mobile (not surprising, at such and such a price). After reading the advice of good people on the xda-developers forum, it was decided to write in support of Dell on the topic of providing an unlock code at unlockcoderequest@dell.com (even there is one). An answer was received to my letter saying that send us something certifying the purchase. I decided to call Dell support and clarify how I should be. They told me the same thing, they say, send proof of purchase, and then we'll talk. In response, a photo of the box was sent, from the side on which IMEI, barcodes and other
Using
I see no reason to paint the characteristics, appearance and usability, because rednaxi did it perfectly in a super detailed review here - habrahabr.ru/post/127325 . Thank you so much!
Now a little fly in the barrel Dell
Gorilla Glass does not scratch *
With everyday use, as well as with metal objects (this is very much loved to demonstrate in soul-nosing video clips about knives and nails) it is almost impossible to scratch it. But the Russian man does not give up! The glass was successfully scratched (by dispute) with a pebble, in which there were particles of comparable hardness (right in the center of the screen):
Also, in some completely unthinkable way were lost:
- The second letter L from the DELL logo on the back cover
- Part of the letter E from the DELL logo on the back cover (seen while writing this article!)
Slider, slider, do not let
For almost a year of use, the keyboard slider mechanism began to noticeably loosen up, and more recently, the loop between the halves began to fail - in the process of disclosing, distortions appear on the screen (opening up to the end, the problems disappear):
OS updates
Due to the rarity of this model and some other factors, t-mobile decided not to engage in support - not to release WP7 updates through itself. Devices that were not originally tied received updates via Zune and the Windows Phone Connector for Mac. So, thank you very much to these people and to the xda-developers forum (Venue Pro branch - forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=799 )! They collected the necessary packages of all the updates that came out, for updating via cabsender (a console utility using the flash driver from the WP7 SDK). However, this is by no means custom firmware, just such a forced update method. As a result, the device obtained with WP7.5 Mango was updated 3 times, and last week it saw itself in a new light, with
Instead of conclusion
During the time that I have this wonderful device, Windows Phone took another step forward, Dell completely disappeared from the market of mobile devices, as well as HP (and Palm), Nokia managed to jump from a burning platform to a new one. In general, a lot of changes. Perhaps the Venue Pro will be remembered by everyone as a cult device and the people will be nostalgic for it (and I can). It’s a pity, but soon I’ll probably have to look for a replacement for it, and maybe some of the big market players will soon launch a qwerty smartphone for Windows Phone 8 or Android. I think that not only I am waiting for something like that.
And yet, if spoken English allows, feel free to call the support services of large companies, sometimes it can solve the problems that arise much faster. In the meantime, thanks to Microsoft for a good, fit Windows Phone 7, Dell for a uber device, Dell support for a free unlock code, and many thanks to the Habr audience for their attention.
Constructive (and not only) criticism is welcomed in the comments.
PS: Below 2 questions. I already asked Habr's opinion on the topic ( http://habrahabr.ru/qa/32661/ ). Perhaps now the picture will become even clearer.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/169209/
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