Dell Venue 10 7000 review

The Dell Venue 10 7000 is an excellent Android tablet for everything from media consumption to light office work. But if you're considering a tablet for your end all, be all productivity, you should keep looking for something more reliable.

The shortage on memory hampers the Venue 10's ability to multitask, let alone reliably switch between two apps. Despite my frustrations, this is still an excellent device in many ways with a solid build quality, superb display, great sound and excellent keyboard.

We liked

It's easy to see the similarities between the Venue 10 7000 and the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2, but it's clearly much more than just a rote reimagining. Between the metal frame and unique barrel hinge, Dell's tablet even feels and looks a bit more stylish and sturdy.

Good looks aside, the tablet's screen is gorgeous with a sharp pixel count, vibrant colors and excellent contrast. Even more impressively, the booming sound that emits from the Venue 10 beats the pants off larger laptops, despite the device's small size. The Venue keyboard also offers a great typing experience, even if the touchpad is so finicky that you'll want to just disable it.

We disliked

Trying to multitask on the Venue 10 is largely an exercise in futility. You'll often find yourself reloading every app when switching between them, and that's simply not acceptable for a mobile work machine.

Perhaps the biggest annoyance most users will encounter is the near-requirement for the Venue keyboard to type and prop the screen up. At the same time, this bothersome accessory that gets in the way every time you take our your tablet to just look at it or take a photo.

Final verdict

Priced at $679 (about £437, AU$913), the Dell Venue 10 7000 is dangerously close to the price point of excellent laptops, like the Dell XPS 13. And it's well past the premium I'd be comfortable with shelling out for a Chromebook.

That said, the Venue 10 is still more affordable than the $479 (£399, AU$589) Nexus 9 with an accompanying Keyboard Folio Case for $129 (£110, AU$197). An iPad Air 2 with 64GB of storage might be more affordable at $599 (£479, AU$739), but that's not counting in the price of a separate Bluetooth keyboard.

By far, the best features of the Venue 10 7000 over its competitors is a better sound system and longer battery life, plus a screen that can project a gorgeous picture with the best of them. That said, this tablet is better left to regular usage – like watching movies and browsing the web – than a demanding daily work load. But wasn't productivity the point?