Dell Venue Pro - frustrating experiences

JohnDavid1948: My apologies for your experience so far. I'll reach out to directly to get details from you. From what you write, I'm confident that we can get you a unit that corrects many of the issues you reference. The one issue that may not be improved is the quality of photos from the camera.

Sincerely,

LionelatDell

How fair is this? So all other dell venue pro users who have the exact same problem and have suffered the exact same amount of frustration for the same amount of time are not deserving of such attention? The rest of us can go jump, right?

P.S.S. What is the point of coming in here once every 6 months to offer to fix 1 of the 900,000 defective units, and then disappear into the night like Superman? Either fix them all or don't fix any of them. You look like some ego maniac when you pick and choose who gets to have a working unit and who gets stuck with the defective ones.

Dude... while I completely agree with your rant - it's bad form to just outright make fun of the guy and company as a whole and then expect a dignified response from anyone. I could only imagine your frustration after that long of a period though. This most certainly is a hardware issue and the fact that only my 1st replacement phone is working flawlessly goes to prove this since it has the same firmware. He took my contact information AFTER I told him I had a working handset so I'm really not sure what the purpose was behind that. Either way though - he is just a blogger, a tech enthusiast like the rest of us - not the man behind the curtain who is fixing these devices or working on (we hope) firmware updates. He is nothing more than an advocate between us and customer "service". Maybe Dell has found the issue and if you asked for a warranty replacement again they would provide you with working hardware... maybe... I know it's a long shot and you're mad, but just bashing your head in here won't make things instantly work.

Dear Lionel,

I purchased my DVP on 13 Apr and within 2 weeks I'm a thoroughly frustrated user. I had read about the problems with early handsets shipped (test devices etc), but then I also read that devices shipped in India were of a later build and already had Copy/Paste. So I assumed that the problems would have also been sorted out.  I even took care to buy a handset (16 GB) which was packed in Jan '11 and imported in Feb '11 to ensure that I get a good handset. But it seems these problems are with all DVPs. My phone gets locked up for no rhyme or reason at least 2 to 5 times a day and most of the times even a forced shut down doesn't work. I have to take out the battery to make it restart. I don't have much issues with WiFi and I'm resigned to the fact that the camera is atrocious, but this lock up issue sure gets my goat. I also have to touch the screen several times in several applications to make it move. I had grand plans to show around the handset and promote Dell and Windows Phone 7 in this place with low smartphone penetration because I like this form factor and believe in the relevance of WP7, but I'm afraid to even show the phone for the fear that it will lock up and all our collective reputation will go for a toss.

Really Lionel, replacing few odd handsets of customers like us who whine about it is not the solution. You need to devise a fix for all the known issues and deliver it to all users day before yesterday!!

Sincerely

Hotmail Alias

What a deafening silence!! I guess its now clear. Dell has officially abondoned DVP buyers. We are left with a unusable phone and $600 less in our pockets. Bravo Dell, you've achieved a rare distinction totally unheard of among modern corporates. Way to go.....

In case anyones interested and so they can compare and contrast with their experience (updated the main crash thread with the same info).

Just logged call with Dell Mobility for the following issues:

Dust under capacitive screen

WiFi consistently crashing device and requiring battery out

SD card (Original factory) causing a reset of device and a message about it's failure - battery out clears for a few days

Response was that they are going to pick it up in a weeks time and have it for at most 12 business days for repair. Not sure what the repair will entail as the support representative wasn't sure and to be honest it'll be a chore to be without my device for that length of time (thankfully held on to my iPhone) but attempting to remain optimistic.

Dell Venue Pro 16GB

OS: 7.0.7392.0

Firmware: 2250.1800.7355.210

Hardware revision: 112.576.2.0

Radio software: 2.2.50.18

Radio Hardware: 8250

Bootloader: 7.27.1.0

Chip SOC: 0.36.2.0

Update to my previous post:

31/05/2011 - UPS picked up Dell Venue Pro

01/05/2011 - Dell phone to confirm pick up

03/06/2011 - Dell phone to claim the device has been tampered with advising that there was a missing anti-tamper sticker from the device. I've duly advised them that the device is exactly as it came brand new from box and pointed out that it was only DAYS old, some £500 in cost and that I'd be a fool to remove some form of factory seal.

Naturally I then sort re-assurance that this wasn't an indication that I'd in fact been sent a reconditioned device when I'd clearly purchased brand new direct from the Dell website.

The support agent assured me this was not the case and after consultation with a supervisor confirmed the repair would go ahead.

***THERFORE ITS VERY IMPORTANT*** and I'd advise that despite not being sure what it should look like that you ensure there is some form of sticker within the battery compartment, if your DVP doesn't have this from new then I'd recommend sending it back immediately to avoid this form of difficulty or indeed any doubts over whether or not the device has been through whatever quality control processes they may have and indeed a nagging doubt over whether it's new from factory.

Please let us know how you get on with that KhakiMan, as it was something I wasnt man enough to try - if it does turn out SD card resolves for you then as its another successful user fix reported it could be something that DVP owners could request/respectfully insist of Dell as a resolution only under warranty and not at the expense of the owner.

As for me I'll post back in the next 10 - 12 working days or sooner if appropriate with an update on Dells efforts and the results.

I got my mine about two weeks ago to compare to my existing Iphone 4.  I am very troubled by the lack of reception that I get.  The device changes constantly from H to 3G to E.  I will have 4 bars one second and then no service and then 1 bar.  Last night it locked up at least three times and needed a battery reset.  I am going to try it for one more week and then switch back to Iphone-much more reliable.

E-Ster, installed the 32GB micro card but still seeing the same secure-wifi issues.

Wifi is faster, but it still locks up the phone after some time... ranging from 5 minutes to an entire day on wifi.

Not sure why the card change didn't fix the problem as it has with most others who made the switch.

Dell, you really need to support and fix your hardware issues.

@golfingbanker, the problem you're experiencing is with Tmobile reception in your area, not a problem with the phone itself. I have the same issue at home living in wine country where reception is poor. Once I get closer to town where there is a stronger signal, I can make calls without issues.

As for the phone locking up, are you connecting your phone to your home network via secure-wifi? Secure-wifi is the issue with the Venue Pro and we're all waiting for Dell to do something about it.

If you can live through the lockups, hopefully temporarily, you'll love using the Windows Phone 7 device. It really is a great mobile OS and moving away from the iPhone's kitschy UI is a much better experience.

Actually I bought the unlocked model to use on AT&T.  I have been comparing the coverage with my Iphone on a separate line and the reception is not as good with DVP.  

I do connect at home to secure wifi, so I guess I will join the agony.

Thanks for the update dude, sorry to hear it hasn't made much difference. Those that have had success with this have either lucked out on the particular card they've purchased and how it performs with the OS or don't have whatever the magic amount of content is on their card to start seeing the issues as the lockups only evidence themselves once theirs apps and media installed.

I'll post up the details for my DVP when it comes back in case there's anything of interest there, not too optimistic given that we're still seeing new users reporting the same issues that I'll get a working device back - think it's pretty poor show that Dell are continuing to sell duff devices to poor unsuspecting customers.

Given that the device, as you would expect, lists WiFi as one of it's features I'm fairly sure there's some consumer legislation violations being evidenced in their continued sale of known defective units.

Back to the waiting game as ever in hope but if my device comes back still evidencing the issue with WiFi (the others I can handle as they're not catastrophic failure of an advertised function) I'm sure I'll be composing an email to the Trading Standards Institute about the fact that these devices are not fit for purpose in their present state.