Dell Venue hands-on and initial review

The Dell Venue remains unreleased on any U.S. mobile carrier, and is available only in an unlocked version for $499 directly from Dell. It's certainly a solid piece of hardware and it looks like Dell really took some time into crafting a sleek and attractive phone. The phone features a 4.1-inch AMOLED display that looks fantastic, but at 800x400 pixel, it isn't the top of the line, with higher-resolution qHD phones hitting the market. And unfortunately, I have to say the same about almost everything inside the Venue. Now don't get me wrong, the phone is far from a slouch, but on paper, it just doesn't stand up to some of the handsets we've been seeing rumored (and released) lately.

The Venue sports a first-gen 1 GHZ Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and 512 MB of RAM. The camera is a respectable 8MP with autofocus, digital zoom, and flash. The Venue has 1GB of on-board memory with an included 16GB memory card, and is powered by a 1400 mAh removable battery. With quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and tri-band HSDPA 7.2 (850/1900/2100 Mhz), the Venue is ready to run on EDGE on either AT&T or T-Mobile, and supports high-speed HSUPA uploads (though it lacks full support for either carrier's 4G HSPA+ network.) It lacks the 1700MHz band for T-Mobile's 3G.

That 4.1-inch screen is different than the 4.3-inchers big shots like HTC and Motorola have been shipping with, but with its slightly-curved shape, it comes together to create a unique look. At 4.76 inches tall and 2.52 inches wide, the phone has a completely different feel than most others on the market. It's thin, too, at just slightly over a half inch thick. But don't be fooled by the Venue's svelte figure: it's not light, by any means. With battery in tow it weighs in at 5.8 ounces. It certainly won't weight you down, but you'll certainly know you're holding it.

At first glance it would appear that Dell has maintained a mostly Vanilla-flavored Froyo, though after some digging around it's obvious that the Venue does come (very lighty) skinned with a Dell experience. It isn't as noticeable as, say, HTC's Sense (and certainly not as obtrusive as Motoblur), but we can't call the Venue a true “Google experience.” Dell has equipped the Venue with its “Stage” software, which it says will “Organize your music, photos and more so what’s most important to you is always at the front and center and never more than a touch away.” We'll show you more of that in our full review.

We'll be putting the Venue through its paces in the next few days, so expect a full review shortly. For now, you can take a look at the quick video run-through and some pictures of our shiny new Venue after the break.

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