Dell Venue 8 7840 review

Performance

Dell’s newest tablet is nothing to laugh about in the power aspect, and is supported by Intel’s quad-core Atom Z3580 processor. It’s the most powerful processor in Intels 22nm range, which in numbers means upwards of 2.33GHz
and a GPU that clocks out at 533MHz.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4, with its 8-core processor that has 4-cores at 1.9GHz and 4-cores at 1.3GHz, is the only tablet that can come close to the strength and raw power of the Venue 8 7840.

Though these are just numbers and in daily performance neither will really feel slow, as the tablet industry makes apps that can run on a toaster, so these beasts will tear every single game in the play store apart and ask for more. The rest of the specifics are rather basic and bland, with 2GB of RAM and 16GB on-board memory that come to only 10GB of vacant memory after the OS and the bloat-ware take their parts away. The microSD slot saves the day with its 3TB capability, and though we don’t have microSD cards in that size, the ability to use it makes a point. The accelerometer, GPS, dual-band 802.11ac wireless and Bluetooth 4.0 are all present.

With the 20251 score in Ice Storm Unlimited benchmark you can tell that Intel is no joke when it comes to power. Although the numbers are all theoretical and no benchmark is perfect, we can vouch that this tablet is in-fact as powerful as it the number make it sound, with the snappy-fast home-screen movement and menus that load instantly you will never think twice about performance. Only issue that ever arose is with the included software that is packaged into the tablet.

Software

*(The only software we installed was PCMark, CPU-Z, and AnTuTu Battery Life Test, which is not shown in the apps window.)

Dell loaded this tablet with its own fair share of bloat-ware. All of this is running under Android KitKat 4.4.2, which will be updated to Android Lollipop 5.0 in April, with some battery improvements, a smoother app-switching experience and better support for graphics. Some of the preloaded apps include office focused software, POLARIS Office 5, a business card-reader, Dell Cast app which is a more expensive Google Chromecast. MaxxAudio is also included to tweak the speakers. Dropbox also has a spot on this list as an app that was preloaded.

Conclusion

This is where it gets hard, because the price of $399 and the small issues that are presented will deter some of the elitist tablet users. The bloatware and the camera quality will deter most users as well. So the question stands: Are you looking for a small tablet with a fantastic screen? Are you looking for a tablet that will survive all day without the need to look for an outlet? Are you an avid Dell supporter and do not care for my opinion because you already made up your mind? Then this will satisfy your urges.

That said, this tablet does have drawbacks a few aforementioned few, and if you are a gamer, this will not beat the nVidia Shield, which is the same price and significantly faster. So all things considered, this is a great choice for most people that just want a great tablet with a reliable build and a sexy look for only $399.

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