Dell on Wednesday unveiled the Android-powered Venue 10 7000. The tablet is a big brother to theDell Venue 8 7000, one of our favorite tablets here at CNET, and shares many of the same features. Inside of the Venue 10 is the same quad-core Intel Atom Z3580 processor clocked at 2.3GHz and supported by 2GB of RAM.
The Venue 10 7000 also comes with the same 8-megapixel rear camera as its sibling, with Intel's RealSense technology, which allows you to adjust the focus on images after they have been taken and even measure the distance between items. Other specs include a microSD card slot that supports cards up to 512GB, and a 7,000mAh battery, which Dell says should get you around 15 hours of usage.
As the name implies, the main difference between the two slates is the Venue 10's display. The tablet is equipped with 10.5-inch OLED display with a pixel resolution of 2,560x1,600. That works out to roughly 287 pixels per inch. The Venue 10 is Dell's first tablet to ship with Android 5.0 Lollipop. It runs a near-stock version of Android, although Dell has included some of its own apps.
An optional keyboard dock is also available with the Venue 10, similar to the Microsoft Surfacekeyboard. In fact, in the short time I spent tapping on the backlit keys, it felt just as nice as, if not nicer than, Microsoft's keyboard cover. Both the trackpad and keyboard were responsive, although it remains unclear how much work could actually get done on Android tablet compared to one with Windows 8. With the keyboard dock connected, the tablet can be used in various positions: laptop mode, slate mode, tent mode or presentation mode.
One of the first things I noticed was the rounded speakers at the bottom of the slate. I initially found them to be rather ugly, but a Dell representative explained that the design allows them to face forward regardless of what position the tablet is in. It was a smart design choice. As for how they sounded, the answer is relatively good. The volume was loud and music sounded crisp and clear.
Dell intends to market the tablet toward consumers that want a device that can be used for both personal use, and for small and medium businesses. Along with Android for Work -- an enterprise feature for keeping your work and personal apps and data separate and secure -- the Venue 10 also supports Dell's Data Protection Solutions for encrypting and protecting personal data.
The Dell Venue 10 7000 is slated to arrive in the US and China first later this month, with availability coming to the UK and Australia in the future.
The tablet is being offered in 16GB or 32GB in the US and Canada only. The 16GB slate starts at $499 without the keyboard dock, or $629 with it. Pricing wasn't announced for the UK and Australia, but the US pricing directly converts to about £336 and AU$653 for the tablet only, or £425 and AU$823 with the keyboard dock.
