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Image courtesy of The Verge

Today Dell announced its latest carbon fiber and aluminum creation, the XPS 11. The manufacturer’s latest machine features a beautiful design and 2560 x 1440 resolution. In addition, Dell takes a cue from Lenovo’s IdeaPad YOGA and introduces a hinge that allows the screen to flip back 360-degrees behind the keyboard.

Did we mention that Dell flattened the keyboard so much that you might confuse it with a Microsoft Touch Cover? We don't know about you, but to us, one of the main factors laptop machines still have going for themselves, over their tablet counterparts, are the keyboards. Why Dell, why?

The other day AT&T pushed out the Windows Phone 8862 update for the Nokia Lumia 900 and now they are giving the Samsung Focus 2 and the Dell Venue Pro little attention with Windows Phone 7.8 updates as well.

The update process for the Samsung Focus 2 is rather lengthy and includes four updates that ultimately brings the Focus 2 to the 8862 OS version.  It also includes one Samsung firmware update.  The whole process takes about forty minutes and in the end, the update gives the Focus 2 multiple Live Tile sizes, more theme color choices, and lockscreen support for rotating Bing wallpapers.

Just when you thought the Dell Venue Pro was being relegated to being a Wikipedia page, it looks like the Windows Phone with a bottom slide keyboard is making one more swan song.  We received a tip that the unlocked, unbranded Dell Venue Pro was getting updated to Windows Phone 7.8 and sure enough, it is!  

It was a pleasant surprise seeing this old, no longer in production, Windows Phone getting the update.  The Dell Venue Pro joined the HTC Arrive and LG Quantum as the only Windows Phone with a slide out keyboard.  The Dell Venue Pro is a decent Windows Phone and it's a shame the other devices aren't getting the same level of attention.

It’s been a little over two years since Windows Phone landed in the market. One of the first devices at that time was from Dell. The Venue Pro was one of the most unique handsets at launch, it was the only device with a portrait-oriented slide out QWERTY keyboard. That device had a small, loyal fan base for being really great at pounding out emails the old way. If you were hoping for Dell to release a follow up to that stoic phone, it’s time to move on as Dell has no plans to reenter the smartphone market.

While the Dell Venue Pro has been discontinued, we were surprised to see the Windows Phone receive the 8107 update pushed out to the phone.  It was equally surprising today to see the Tango update hit the unlocked Venue Pro. While forcing the Tango update on the Samsung Focus S, we connected the Dell Venue Pro up to the computer and sure enough, the update notices appeared on the screen.

There was no need to force the Venue Pro to recognize the update and the previous updates to Tango (7740, 8107, etc) were installed first. Needless to say, it has been a while since my Venue Pro had seen the light of day...

When all was said and done the OS version on the Dell Windows Phone is 7.10.8773.98 and the firmware version is 2250.1800.7720.219. Because the process dealt with several updates, for me, the entire process ran about ninety minutes. If you have been using your Dell Venue Pro more regularly than I, the process may be shorter.

The Dell Venue Pro is a decent Windows Phone (still can't get used to the buttons) and it's nice to see the Venue Pro getting a little update attention.

Thanks, everyone, for the tip!

Fare thee well, Dell Venue Pro.  That's right, Dell has discontinued sales of the vertical-sliding Windows Phone handset in the United States, along with the rest of its smartphones, effective immediately.  The smartphones have been removed from the website for users in the U.S., but will continue to be sold in Japan, India and China. 

PC World reports that Dell has decided to shift its focus to emerging markets and higher-margin items.  A Dell spokesperson told them that the smartphones had run their course saying, "mobility products have shorter lifecycles than laptops and desktops."  He said that Dell will be offering new mobile products later in 2012, but did not specify whether that would include smartphones.

The Venue and Venue Pro join a long list of other mobile devices, like the Streak line of tablets and any number of netbooks that have seen their last days.  They have been unable to keep pace with the plethora of consumer-minded manufacturers and has chosen to focus instead on enterprise-based mobile devices that can be used for both work and home.

So... will Dell be missed?

Source: PCWorld; Via: Business Insider

Marios Karagiannis, the developing superpower behind the title MonsterUp, has published an interesting article on his blog detailing how 2012 is going to be the "Year of Nokia" for Windows Phone. Looking at the above charts, on the left we have the total breakdown of Windows Phone OEMs since early 2011 and on the right we have the representation of the month of January 2012 only (data is extracted from devices playing his games).

There's a clear trend that is noticeable when comparing both charts. Nokia is on the rise (within the Windows Phone market anyway), helped by the quality of the handsets manufactured and the sheer scale of marketing. HTC is still the clear giant, but with the 900 uprising, as well as the probability of the monster Lumia handset being available on a global scale, we should see a further increase to the chunk Nokia owns.

While we have no exact figure for the amount of handsets Nokia has sold, apart from the 1 million shipped estimation by analysts, this is an indicator that the Lumia family is selling. Especially with the 11% jump in Windows Phone OEM shares in just under a month.

Source: Marios Karagiannis

In what is undoubtedly a very pleasant surprise if you're an owner of an unlocked Dell Venue Pro, you can now reportedly upgrade your device to OS 8107.

For those unfamiliar, OS 8107 addresses the disappearing keyboard issue as well as other security fixes and patches. In addition, prior to receiving 8107 the user will be prompt for 7740, a previous update which also addresses some bugs e.g. voicemail notifications and Exchange 2003 email errors.

We received numerous reports of the DVP getting the update (although our is just showing 7740 as being the latest).  If accurate, this is great news for Dell owners, especially as the OEM has unceremoniously dropped out from further smartphone development for the foreseeable future.

Hit us up on comments if your DVP has received 8107 in the last 24 hours.

Thanks, Arnout and Sven Z., for the tips!

Bad news for you die-hard Venue Pro users, Dell has seemingly confirmed that no compass-support will be coming to the device. It was  about a month ago after the unlocked and T-Mobile versions of the DVP received their Mango updates did we noticed that no compass support was on board. From Lionel Menchaca, Dell's chief blogger:

"@HotmailAlias The update hasn't yet happened on the AT&T version of the #dellvenuepro. The compass function will not be supported."

At the time, it looked like an error on installation where the driver was deleted. But now it appears that this is on purpose. As far as we can tell, the hardware should support compass but for some reason, Dell has opted to not enable it. We're unsure how OEMs make decisions on these matters and whether they have to license and pay for access to that hardware (much like back in the day with aGPS and Qualcomm), but between the Radar (see review) and Venue Pro, it's a bit unsettling to have a fairly basic smartphone feature disabled in our hardware.

Source: Twitter; Thanks, Daniel R., for the tip!