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201014
Dell Venue 8 3840 - JUNK!
I have to agree with everyone's posts related to the Venue 8 3840. My daughters have the 3830 and they run like a champ. I got the 3840 thinking it would be even better. Boy was I wrong. Apps crash or lock up, keyboard won't appear or is very slow to respond. Can't run a browser or it just hangs indefinitely. What makes it even worse is that I sent it back to Dell and they rep[laced the Mother Board, and guess what....the same problems continue. As Tempting as the new Venue 8 7000 is, I think I will have to look elsewhere for a new tablet that actual functions. If nothing else, use this tablet as a reminder not to purchase from Dell again.
HLMetuchen
2 Posts
2
December 2nd, 2014 07:00
My Kindle Fire is getting old so this is the replacement. An Android tablet seemed like a good choice as I can get more apps from Google Play. I had nothing but trouble since getting it.
1. Hanging/freezing - More times than not, whenever I press a link or an app icon, nothing happens. It just hangs! This has never happened to either my Kindle Fire nor to my iPhone.
2. No Amazon Instant Video - KitKat is not compatible with Amazon Instant Video. I downloaded the Amazon Instant Video app and got a white screen. There seems to be some hacks to fix this problem but with my hanging issue above, it has been very aggravating to try the hack.
3. Minimal operating instructions - The tablet came with minimal instructions - just how to turn it on. I am still trying to figure out how to get rid of that annoying clicking noise whenever I type. Turning off the sounds works but then I cannot hear any music or Netflix movies. Ugh.
I never experienced these issues with other devices. As such, I do not recommend this product. There are too many worthwhile options out there to be stuck with this one. I recommend buying a Kindle Fire HD or HDX or if you have the money, will go with an iPad Mini where you have even more app choices. No more Dell Venue 8 for me.
whahappened2myd
10 Posts
1
December 2nd, 2014 17:00
Howdy,
I know how frustrating this tablet can be.
Before I go on a rant about how totally useless Dell support is, let me help you with the annoying clicking sound.
Go to settings, scroll down and click on Language and Input, look for Keyboard and Input methods, click on the settings diagram tom the right of the Dell Keyboard, click on preferences, and there you will see an option to mute sound while typing.
Hope that helps.
Now to my rant.
Dell had the right idea, made a great product and completely fumbled it straight out of the gate.
Their customer support is non existent.
Their Kit Kat upgrade is an utter failure which has rendered more than a few devices in operable.
They have not once reached on this board to acknowledge the myriad of problems that users are experiencing and giving sound, accurate and helpful solutions.
Replacing motherboards and factory rebooting are not solutions.
This is software related.
I had zero problems on JellyBean.
I upgraded to KitKat and now my tablet is useless.
Dell will not give me the option of rolling back to JellyBean because to do so, they will have to admit that there is a problem with KitKat on this device.
My wife has the Venue 7.
On my advice, she avoided the upgrade to KitKat and her device worked perfectly for more than 10 months.
Unfortunately, she grazed the update icon one day and it automatically downloaded the KitKat "upgrade".
Less than an hour later, the problems began - all identical to every single person on this forum with complaints about KitKat.
Really disappointed with Dell.
This was our first purchase with them, it will now be our last.
Guess I know whose tablet Santa will be bringing me this year - I'll give you a hint - it doesn't rhyme with bell......
mtclemens
3 Posts
1
December 2nd, 2014 20:00
Yes, I have to agree.. Dell has dropped the ball on the kitkat update.
They have lost a large share of future tablet sales by their lack of help on this major problem. I will be checking xda regularly to see if there may be any custom roms in the future for the venue 8 tablet.
In the meantime, will be using the wifes google nexus tab.
robamosjr
1 Message
0
March 5th, 2015 07:00
Same issue,
I have a venue 7 with jellybean and it runs great , bought a Venue 8 as a Christmas present for my kids, and it is a useless brick , locks up on games , slow screen transitions if they scroll, I would really like to put jellybean on it but that would destroy the warranty .
Very disappointed that Dell does not provide a rollback as an option, until their kitkat upgrade is corrected and ready for market.
DanielNTX
73 Posts
0
March 5th, 2015 09:00
It's usable and lagging alot less. It's a memory issue... 1 GB is not enough.
DanielNTX
73 Posts
0
March 5th, 2015 09:00
You can make it perform better by doing this:
So I found a way to make the tablet perform better...
Force stop and Disable the following Apps:
Amazon app suite
Amazon Kindle
Amazon Local
Amazon Music
Android Live Wallpapers
Appstore (Amazon)
Audible
Basic Daydreams
Black Hole
Browser
Bubbles
CamCard
Chrome (I use Chrome Beta from the Play store)
com.android.providers.partnerbookmarks
com.android.wallpaper.holospiral
Email
Exchange Services
Google One Time Init
Magic Smoke Wallpapers
Market Feedback Agent
Music Visualization Wallpapers
My Dell
OpenWnn
Phase Beam
PocketCloud
POLARIS Office 5
Skitch
TalkBack
After rooting the tablet, you can also freeze these additional apps with Titanium Backup...
Okay, I rooted the tablet using the T3 method here: Intel Android Devices Root / Temp CWM Session
Make sure you have the Intel ADB drivers installed first: https://software.intel.com/en-us/android/articles/intel-usb-driver-for-android-devices
Then I was able to root and Freeze some additional apps via Titanium Backup, thus freeing up more memory:
AcousticWarning 4.0.1.0
Laucher 4.4.4-31 (DESKTOP) [I'm using the Google Now Launcher]
Live Wallpaper Picker 4.4.4-31
Mobile Data 4.4.4-31 (VOICEMAIL)
Mobile Network Configuration 4.4.4-31 (SMS/MMS/APN)
phone 1.0
Picasa Uploader 1.3.242047
cassfutbol
42 Posts
0
March 5th, 2015 09:00
How much better does it make it? Are there still limitations?
cassfutbol
42 Posts
0
March 5th, 2015 10:00
I have an Acer Iconia A500 that has onlky 1Gig memory and it does not lag. Why is 1Gig not enough is the Acer works fine? Can't Dell upgrade the OS to not have all the items that are not usabel, like voicemail?
cassfutbol
42 Posts
0
March 5th, 2015 10:00
I would really like Dell to respond to this and give an explanation. I'm so confused on how they can put out an unusable product and not know it. Maybe they need better testers.
DanielNTX
73 Posts
0
March 5th, 2015 12:00
You know Dell Product Engineering really doesn't participate in these forums. There are Dell folks that do but they aren't really part of the engineering team.