Dell Enters Android Fray With Pair of Venue Tablets

Nearly a month after stockholders approved a plan to take the company private, Dell held a press event today to unveil its new line of laptops and mobile devices.

The spotlight was most definitely on Dell's new Windows 8 ultrabooks and convertibles, but much like HP, Dell is ready to step back into the Android arena, and has revived the Venue brand for its latest Android tablets, the Venue 7 and Venue 8. The pair enters an increasingly saturated market, especially at the low end, but they sport a few notable features that help them stand out.

From outward appearances, there's nothing too remarkable about the Venue 7 and 8. The rounded edges and soft touch finish feel good in the hand, but the all plastic design isn't all that impressive. The two are well built, and nearly the same thickness, at 9.6mm for the 7-inch version and 9.8mm for the 8-inch model. Both also sport IPS displays with the same 1,280-by-800-pixel resolution. The displays look good, but likely won't stand up too well against full HD displays featured on tablets like the Nexus 7 or Kindle Fire HDX.

The real notable feature here, on both, is the choice of processor. Instead of a typical ARM system-on-a-chip, Dell went with Intel Atom processors—a dual-core 1.6GHz chip for the 7-inch model and a dual-core 2GHz chip in the 8 incher. Both tablets will be paired with 2GB of RAM and 16 or 32GB of internal storage. We'll reserve judgment until we get the two into our labs for thorough testing, though the last Android tablet we saw with an Intel chip was the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1, which ended up disappointing on the performance front.

Both tablets will run Android 4.2.2 out of the box, but there was no mention of impending updates to 4.3 or the new 4.4 version, Kitkat.

Rounding out some of the features are dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, microSD card slots, and a micro SIM slot for mobile connectivity. Dell lists a Netgear Push2TV Wireless Display adapter as an optional accessory, which uses Intel's Wireless Display standard as opposed to the more common Miracast standard found in newer Android devices.

The Venue 7 and 8 will be offered for $149 and $179, respectively, putting them in a crowded, budget-friendly Android tablet market. Dell didn't give any exact dates for release, but expect these tablets sometime this fall.