In the course of a Delhi day, there are few silent moments. The sun rises on a busy street, several cars and their owners already enroute their destinations. Birds complain of the smokey air, their song laced with grievances. Onboard the Delhi Metro, I tried several methods to tune the noise out. Excuse my non tolerance, but it continued to get to me – the endless chatter, the people sitting on the floor despite instructions not to, the wailing children, the sleepy morning faces, people announcing their Europe trips to all the people in the coach! My phone hasn’t exactly been designed to play/store much music; the poor network connectivity impedes conversation with anyone I feel like talking to at that hour. To cut a long story short, the Dell Venue tablet came to me as a gust of lifting wind, breaking right through the layers of dust a Delhi day puts on my being.
I received the tablet a week or so ago, as part of Dell’s Blogger Review Program. Now, I am not your typical gadget freak.
I get snide remarks when I am honest about that. “Didn’t you study Engineering, many moons ago?” That doesn’t necessarily mean I enjoy going about with tons of electronic devices on my person, for God sake! I convey the same by rolling my eyes. That said, I have always, by strange quirks of fate, laid my hands on enough smartphones and tablets to know a good one when I see it. The Dell Venue tablet, packaged in a neat black base, is simple, basic and non-flashy. Just unlike Delhi. This is precisely why I am warming towards it, slowly but steadily.
Loaded with my favourite music across the ages, and my most cherished reading material, the tablet is now completely my own. Thanks to its decent memory configuration (2 GB memory and 16 GB hard drive) and screen readability, my Metro ride has become infinitely smoother. What is surprising is how the music (smart playlists based on your listening habits et al.) makes it much more bearable to scan through work documents as well. I find myself more tolerant of people trampling on my feet in their rush to get on/off board. Most importantly, the tablet is small enough to comfortably hold even in the rush of the world around, and large enough to make reading/editing simple.
“Do you use that – err, thing – as a phone?” an interfering little neighbour asked me one evening, as I danced my way into the house, music filling my ears.
“Yeah. That way, I can tell people it’s hard for me to listen for too long, holding this to my ears.”
The neighbour gave me a scornful look. She wouldn’t call me anytime soon. But yes, the tablet can double up as a phone – it has a Micro SIM slot. In the remaining months (and posts) of the review program, I am sure the tablet will unveil several more aspects of its persona. For now, though, I am content with using it as my entertainment and work on-the-go device. Quiet and sturdy, without needing too frequent pampering in terms of battery-charging, it is my exception to a usual nonchalance about new gadgets.
Helpful yet unassuming, the Dell Venue tablet is my all-new, fun companion.
Stay tuned for more on this, shortly.
*Written as a part of Dell Blogger Review Program
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Great idea…especially on those long commutes! Have you tried watching films etc?
Hello Ketaki. 🙂
Yeah, it’s good for watching films and video clips especially, like you said, on long commutes. Handy and easy to use, with decent AV support.
Loved the post! Would you say its more of a phablet than tab? Just trying to figure which will work better for me!
Welcome to Saddi Delhi, Jasmine. 🙂
Dell Venue does come with a SIM slot but I have personally not used it like a phablet yet. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am still awkward with the idea of large-screened phones. 🙂 I daresay this one can be a good two-in-one though.
I agree with you Deboshree, phones often run out of juice if you listen to music or do some browsing, using the Dell tab for all these would be a good idea!
Exactly, Lavanya. Phones are not used to multitasking, notwithstanding the fact that TVCs are hellbent on proving otherwise. A tablet can be very useful here. 🙂 This is especially true in an era when we are increasingly attention deficit and prone to jumping from one thing to the other. 😀
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I gave up on i-pad within a week the good old PC continues to be my best friend 🙂
Haha the PC definitely wins all races for me too. 🙂
I guess a point can be made for friendly, on-the-go devices though.
Ipad and smart phone comes handy to spend time in traffic hours, listen to music and reading books..I confess that I still don’t know how to operate the gadgets but, still enjoy using them.
They absolutely do, Vishal. It’s infinitely better to tune into your own music and be at ease rather than wait for something bearable to be up on the FM radio, for instance.
Haha, I know, so many new technologies are doing the rounds today that it can get intimidating. I sometimes feel the kids are better with these gadgets than we are. 😉
well well , I would find it funny holding that big a thing to your ear while answering a phone 🙂
that looks like a good gadget 🙂
Haha yes, that would be a funny sight. 😛
A friend of mine would go about with a phone much larger than the Dell Venue. What’s more, she seemed perfectly at home with it. There was an era when slim phones were the hottest possession. Then phones started getting bigger and bigger. And now, it seems, slim is in again. The world and its ways, I tell you!