(DEAD) USED T-Mobile Dell Venue Pro 8GB $129.99 @ Secondipity.com

I finally got the updating to work. It's been going for the last 30 mins or so. It's not even halfway done. How big is this update? But it is progessing so I think it'll work in the end.

In the end I just installed Zune on a Vista machine and hooked it up. Worked right off the bat. So W7 bad. XP bad. Vista good. I burned through the dozen or so usb cables I had thinking it was a bad cable but I'm back to the original cable and it's working fine. There's no excuse that the Zune software is so flakey. Microsoft, if anyone, should have their own programs working under the various flavors of Windows. Under W7 if nothing else since that's the current one.

Yeah, Mango is installed. It works.... mostly. It did lock up requiring a reset. 7.0 never did that. I hate the red color scheme, I haven't tried but I hope I can switch it back to blue.

Quote from travfar : I hate the red color scheme, I haven't tried but I hope I can switch it back to blue.

Not that we don't love these little realtime updates, but if you have to complain about something before you even try to fix it, you might want to consider Twitter.

Pro tip: your lock screen doesn't have to be a picture of mangos either.

Quote from Technosquid : Not that we don't love these little realtime updates, but if you have to complain about something before you even try to fix it, you might want to consider Twitter. Pro tip: your lock screen doesn't have to be a picture of mangos either.

Why? This thread is dead. Why not use it for this and save Twitter for more important things like revolutions and such.

I think I won't keep it in the long run. The sole reason I wanted it was for Bing Translator. It looked so cool during the phone challenge. Now that I've been able to play with it for a while, it really is quite lacking compared to google translate. It doesn't work that well. The cool feature is the offline packs. The lack of offline mode in Bing Maps kills it as a travel device as well. I can learn another language as a I go. Maps are more crucial.

Also, the camera is.... how should I put it gently.... crap. It is the worse camera on any phone I have. The Optimus for example takes far better pictures.

It's still a beautiful piece of hardware. I like Dell phones in general. I love my Streak. I wish there was a Android port for the DVP.

Quote from travfar : The lack of offline mode in Bing Maps kills it as a travel device as well. I can learn another language as a I go. Maps are more crucial. Also, the camera is.... how should I put it gently.... crap. It is the worse camera on any phone I have. The Optimus for example takes far better pictures. It's still a beautiful piece of hardware. I like Dell phones in general. I love my Streak. I wish there was a Android port for the DVP.

Google maps offline cache is just as worthless. The only manufacturer that offers free offline maps is Nokia.

Quote from poo : Google maps offline cache is just as worthless. The only manufacturer that offers free offline maps is Nokia.

Google Maps offline cache is invaluable. I use it all the time. Whether I'm in a city or in a jungle. It works great. Although my crappy Optimus GPS wouldn't lock when I was in a Thai jungle a couple of months back. But that's not a Google Maps problem, that's a Optimus problem. I don't even bother with paper maps anymore. Google Maps is all I need.

Has anyone found a decent, inexpensive case for it?

Quote from deelseaker : Has anyone found a decent, inexpensive case for it?

There aren't many options. The only good one I've ever seen is the one made by OtterBox [otterbox.com], but that goes for about $35. The only other one I've seen goes by either the name BoxWave [amazon.com] or Monaco [wirelessground.com], which is an iodized aluminum case that looks a lot cheaper, but still goes for around $25. The only reason to buy the BoxWave/Monaco version over the OtterBox is if you need it to have a belt clip.

I've personally never used a case on mine. The thing is already 15mm thick. Pretty much at the upper limit of my pocket tolerance.

Quote from Technosquid : There aren't many options. ....

Ouch, but thanks for the info. Unfortunately, it won't let me rep you again - so please accept my virtual rep.

Man. It idles well. I haven't touched it in 2 weeks thinking that I had turned it off. I hadn't. I went to turn it on today and found out it's been on all this time. Still 25% charge.

Back in stock at secondipity -- $129.99 - 10% with coupon code FATHERS1 = $116.99. Coupon code expires June 30th. Not listed on their ebay store yet, unfortunately. Keep an eye out, though... just in case you want one for $100.