Dell Venue 8 Pro vs Google Nexus 7 2014

[undulose]

Would it be wise to swap the Nexus 7 2013 for the Dell Venue 8 Pro? I'm a geologist btw and I do lightweight work like Excel and Word. Aside from that, the apps that are important for me game-wise is PPSSPP and PS 2 Emulator. Whoever got a Dell Venue 8 Pro there?
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[xandros9]

Personally I would do it at the drop of a hat. But I value different things than some.

Lightweight Office work is a high point of this device, since Office is the de facto suite and is included. for heavier work, you may want to pick up optional accessories like a stylus and/or keyboard.

Since its full Windows, you can run nearly anything under the sun. (exaggeration of course) those two emulators included.
My hangup though, is that they may not be touch-centric given that Windows is usually used with a keyboard and mouse.

In the Store itself, there is lots of Gameboy, SNES, Atari etc, but I haven't seen any playstation ones.

IIRC, the current N7 has a really nice display, the Venue's isn't exactly retina-quality at 1280x800 but it still looks good though, certainly beats my 1280x800 14" laptop.

 

[psychotron]

I use my DV8P for light office work all the time. Bought a $20 Anker Bluetooth keyboard and it was off to the races. Perfect road rig for me. Don't even bother taking my laptop with me anymore. As to gaming, I really don't do much of that so can't really comment. But if office is mainly what you're after it's head and shoulders above any Android tablet, hands down.

 

[Bora777]

I actually did swap my 2013 Nexus 7 for a Venue 8 Pro. The Nexus is a great device for what it is, but I found that I wasn't really using it as much as I thought I would, largely because it's so similar to my phone in what it can do. It just wasn't that useful to me in that sense and wasn't providing much added value to my life.

The Venue 8 Pro, on the other hand, has very clear advantages over my phone and their roles are distinct and therefore useful to me. It goes without saying that the Office experience is far superior, but besides that you are basically getting the same utility that you would from your PC, which means everything you browse on the web is exactly how it should be, Flash is supported, practically every Windows program you're used to will run on it (though the stylus definitely helps in desktop mode), you can connect any phone directly via USB and export everything on it, and of course no file manager app in the Play store will ever rival Windows Explorer.

Pros of the Nexus 7? The screen is still noticeably sharper, the YouTube experience is still slightly better and I did actually use the wireless charging. Other than that, I'm glad I switched.

 

[Ted#WP]

Flash is a deal breaker for me. How many times have you seen this dreaded error message?

I used to use my Google Nexus 7 before I bought my Venue 8 Pro. I did purchase the one and only browser for Android that is Flash capable. It's nothing to brag about, it's got a slew of other problems with it. With Venue 8 Pro all the headache with running Flash goes away for good, and the browsers run without any issue.

The Metro IE and Chrome in desktop mode are lightning fast compared to what I have running on my Google Nexus 7. I thought it was due to my wifi router, I do have 105 megabit Comcast service, but no. Running my Venue 8 Pro side by side with the Google Nexus 7 clearly shows my wifi isn't the bottleneck. Venue 8 Pro is a far superior hardware speed-wise compared to Google Nexus 7.

 

[Blacklac]

The only reason I went with a Nexus 7 over a Windows Tablet was for Apps. Having came from Blackberry to WP7.5, I just got sick of either not having Apps or having Apps way behind in features. I would have rather owned a W8 tablet. Especially for Flash. That said, the Nexus is a great piece of hardware for the $. That screen is beautiful. It doesn't feel cheap at all, either. I really love the material on the back.

 

[zhris]

I could understand that if this was Windows RT, but the DV8P runs full-blown Windows 8.1. If you can run it on your desktop PC, you can run it here (hardware limitations notwithstanding).

 

[Armada]

I could understand that if this was Windows RT, but the DV8P runs full-blown Windows 8.1. If you can run it on your desktop PC, you can run it here (hardware limitations notwithstanding).

Yeah, but, speaking as an owner, I would much rather use apps designed for a tablet. Using desktop apps can be very cumbersome. The Microsoft Store needs a little more growth to be worth it. I'm still missing a lot of my "daily driver" apps.

 

[misfitpierce]

I'd say yes because more functionality from the dell venue 8 pro. It runs full windows 8.1 so you can connect a disc drive via USB and use like a full PC and run store apps plus full windows apps giving you more of a full fledged library of options. Android has its limitations and even as a portable system the dell is better value for what you get power wise and investment wise.

 

[WillysJeepMan]

Yeah, but, speaking as an owner, I would much rather use apps designed for a tablet. Using desktop apps can be very cumbersome. The Microsoft Store needs a little more growth to be worth it. I'm still missing a lot of my "daily driver" apps.

I agree. I'm experiencing this issue with my Surface 2. Terrific as a netbook... sub-par as a tablet, primarily due to the lack of quality apps.

I've been looking at a DV8P to be primarily used as a notepad (due to the form factor and active digitizer). I think for that it could work. And so basically it comes down to an individual's intended use. I suggest to people that they examine their needs and search through the Windows store to see the quality of the apps that are available and try to determine how well those available apps will meet their needs.