Dell Issues

Bluetooth -  My DVP is randomly disconnecting from my BMW's bluetooth system, sometimes the call is disconnected.  Also the DVP fails to connect to the car's bluetooth system after the car is started up even tho the blue tooth is "on".  (This has not been a problem with Blackberry's and iPhones connected to the same system.  I'm willing to help provide information, test fixes any way I can)

SIM Card issues - According to the management at the Oak Brook IL Microsoft store and the Tmobile staff at the same mall, several new SIMs were rendered inoperable once inserted into a DVP.   

SD Card - A Larger (or user serviceable) memory allocation is needed,  I only have 1GB left of storage and another 6 GB's of data I want to have available.  Dell should immediately make the 16GB units available at the Microsoft Stores so the existing 8GB units can be upgraded when we're exchanging the "engineering sample" units for "production" versions.

Microsoft 30 Day Return Policy -  Dell needs to work with Microsoft to ensure that units exchanged have a full 30 days from the date of exchange to return units.  Also those of us who have picked up units on the 8th from Microsoft stores will probably see our original 30 days expire as a result of delays getting in new units from Dell.  Please work with Microsoft stores to ensure this wont be a problem for your customers affected by the exchange.

Microsoft Issues

On Device Encryption - I can't connect to my company's Exchange Active Sync service without it

Call history missing phone #'s - If a contact calls me and they use their office number, I can't tell by looking at the call log.

Can't send SMS texts from non mobile numbers - I have several contacts that have multiple cell phones.  I can only SMS one number per contact forcing me to create multiple contacts for the same person so that I can SMS different number for them.

Art_Mighty

@Art_Mighty,

I'm not sure what you mean by "On device Encryption", my email server requires ssl for outgoing and incoming seems to work fine for me.

Also I didn't include the issue you have with multiple mobile numbers because this seems to be a rather special case... I'm guessing anyone who has multiple mobile #'s has an identity crisis, and its probably best to have multiple contacts for that person :emotion-8:

-xer

How is having multiple numbers a special case? That's the norm, not the exception. Are people supposed to set up multiple contacts for the, at least, 10-20 people they deal with on a daily basis for business, much less entire organizations? Think not.

I've only heard of two cases of it, but the device entering a power cycling state is a problem, albeit apparently rare. Mine was initially blamed by MSFT on swapping the SD card (which worked fine for a week, thanks) whereas in the other case, the card wasn't swapped. Mine did not recover, but the other case did. My initial phone was not an engineering unit.

.net nate, do you have a good case where you have multiple mobile phone numbers for 1 person? Except for a cellphone salesman. I don't know any business people who carry two+ cellphones daily and if they did I would think they would only give you 1 of the numbers like a personal and a business# not both.

Can you provide more details on the power cycling? The only problem I had was twice when accessing the Marketplace installing large games like earthworm jim, the screen appeared blank but the 3 button lights were on, I had to remove and put back the battery to get any response from the phone. That would be a OS or marketplace app issue I'm guessing.

I made 5 contacts, all with mobile numbers, linked the 5 contacts to one contact (so now there is only 1 contact), I was able to add all 5 phone numbers to an SMS

-xer

@XER21

The On Device Encryption:  This is pretty well documented and annoying (References).

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsphone7/thread/039a14f6-1d91-4a99-82e5-3d7c8965fa3b

http://www.cio.co.uk/news/3247943/windows-phone-7-lacks-on-device-encryption/r

http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobilize/windows-phone-7-lacks-device-encryption-585

http://www.msfn.org/news_story/windows_phone_7_lacks_on_device_encryption_.html

The servers at work require Outlook/Exchange information on the phone be encrypted after it gets there not only during transit.  EAS service has a policy that checks for this and rejects connecting devices that don't comply.  The sad thing is that this is supported on the iPhone and Windows Phone 6.5, but not in Android and not in Windows Phone 7.0.    

As for the cell or pager per contact problem, I don't want to speak for any personality or technology displacement issues some of my contacts may have.   :)  

I know that my blackberry handled this beautifully, my DVP, um not intuitively.  But I think your "solution" will work but it's not as elegant as providing a simple menu option to send a text to any number.

@art_mighty, so your request isn't so much "allow to send txt to multiple numbers on same contact" but instead, "allow multiple mobile phone entries per contact"?

xer21, Art_Mighty and others: Wanted to say thanks for your efforts here. Me and several others on the Dell team will work to keep you informed. At this point, I can say that the SIM card issue was a Dell software issue that has since been fixed. All new units will not be affected by it.

I'm still digging into details to understand how we can fix existing units. When I have an update on the SIM card fix or any of these other topics, I'll make sure we keep customers informed on this thread, on the Direct2Dell blog and the #dellvenuepro hashtag on Twitter.

Just so everyone sees it, here's my earlier post on the Wi-Fi issue and the batteries that were mis-labeled as engineering samples. And here's an overall Venue Pro update where I discussed the launch delay, and acknowledged other issues we're looking into like camera image quality, camera settings, certain headdphones not fitting in the headphone jack, and not swapping out microSD cards.

Know we've got more work to do, but as I said, I do appreciate you continuing the discussion here.

Thanks again,

Lionel

One other point I meant to clarify: Windows Phone 7 is not designed to connect to a non-broadcasting protected network. If the network is broadcasting, Windows Phone 7 supports connecting to a protected network. This is a function of WP7, not a shortcoming with the Venue Pro's Wi-Fi functionality.

UPDATE:

To echo Lionel's reply, we really appreciate your feedback here. We just wanted to give you an update that action items are being assigned and taken internally on these issues.  We will continue to keep you posted as new information becomes available.

For all the early adopters, we appreciate your feedback and patience while we work through these issues. Please be reassured, your participation and customer experience have been noted and we are committed to ensuring the right outcome for you.

Thanks,

Amy

Venue Pro Issues Update

Hi Folks,

We just wanted to share the latest status on the issues reported here. 

We have a software fix that corrects the camera settings issue, the original Wi-Fi issue, and the SIM card issue. This fix will require a product exchange. We are still working out the details on how best to do this.  

Regarding the camera quality issue, we are actively testing a new firmware revision to improve. More work needs to be done. When we have more details to share, we will.

Our teams have done more testing re: Bluetooth. A couple of general questions for the community:

·         What device are you pairing the Venue Pro with?

·         Have you tried to pair this device w/another phone?

Thanks again for your feedback. We’ll share additional details as they become available.

Thanks,

Amy

Thanks for the update!

In regards to the bluetooth issue I'm using the built-in hands free system in a 2008 Nissan Altima which only supports the hands free profile. I know it's paired and connected correctly as WP7 says it's connected and I can see device status status like battery and signal strength in the car's GPS console. However there is no audio being transmitted over the bluetooth link in either direction, meaning I can't hear them and they can't hear me.

Both the Dell Venue Pro engineering sample and it's replacement that has the SIM issue exhibit this behavior. I've also tried paring two other different phones, a Motorola Razor and a Motorola Zine, both of which work perfectly fine with the built in hands free system in the car.

Thanks for the update Amy.  Regarding my bluetooth experience:

Motorola S805 headset: used heavily on other phones and PC's without issues.  On my DVP it frequently looses connection when I move between WP7 screens. Resolved by a quick disconnect/reconnect on the Bluetooth settings page. Gets confused when I try to use S805 for a phone call.

Microsoft SYNC 2.1 (Ford Touch): Bluetooth connection seems to work better than it did with my BlackBerry Bold!

HP Bluetooth Stereo Headset: ditto S805 behavior

Dell E5400 Laptop: Flawless connection

Dell Tower PC (can provide details if needed): Flawless connection

HP enterprise laptop (BT 1.x, several years old): Flawless connection

Thanks,

@DouglasG

Are these software changes going to be applied to any units that were ordered and are currently awaiting shipment?

CB55555, I'm going to say yes, all new/replacement dell venue pro's will have the already marked resolved changes on their phone by default. They may sneak more in or they might do a firmware update after more devices are shipped. If something is broken when the updated model comes out I'll update this post.