Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'm going to post this review under both the Dell Venue 8 Pro and the Lenovo Miix 8 as I believe some people may find the comparison helpful. I will cut to the chase and say that I have decided to keep the Venue 8 Pro and return the Lenovo Miix 8. I rated both of the devices a 5 because they are both very similar and I didn't feel it was fair to dock the Lenovo just because I preferred the Dell. If I could have rated the Lenovo 4.75, I would have. Here is what I like and dislike about both devices: 1. Screen on the Dell is better than the Lenovo in my opinion. For example, in the Kindle App for Windows 8, after changing the settings to white text on black background, you get a truly "black" background on the Dell whereas it is more of a gray on the Lenovo. Also, the colors just seem to be more accurate on the Dell. The Lenovo offers a brighter screen but the Dell is plenty bright for me. I was also able to dim the backlight on the Dell more than the Lenovo which was helpful to me for nighttime reading. These are not major issues but it was something I noticed after comparing side by side. 2. I have grown to prefer the build materials and quality of the Dell more than the Lenovo. The Lenovo is thinner and lighter which I thought was something that was important to me, but the Dell is much more comfortable to hold. This is mainly because the Dell is made from some sort of rubberized plastic material that is very "grippy". It just feels comfortable to hold. The Lenovo on the other hand is made from some sort of slick plastic and it always felt like I was going to drop it. Also, the Lenovo made a faint "creaking" and "crackling" sound whenever I held it. 3. I originally didn't like Dell's placement of the start button on top of the device, and this was one of the reasons that I purchased the Lenovo. After using them both, I have grown to prefer Dell's implementation since I don't ever power off the device. The Start button acts as my "on" button and I have grown accustomed to the placement. I thought I would prefer the Lenovo with its capacitive button, but I find myself having to hit the button at least twice to activate it which is very frustrating. I realize it must be very difficult to design a capacitive button with just the right level of sensitivity, but if Surface and many Android tablets can pull it off, so should Lenovo. Hopefully both companies will figure out a way to engineer a hard button on the front like on the iPad. 4. I thought I would prefer having the GPS that the Lenovo offers, but since there aren't currently any good GPS apps for Windows 8 touch devices, I didn't find much use for it. I tried it with Streets and Trips and the program would not recognize the GPS sensor. 5. I get slightly better sound quality from the headphone jack of the Dell than I do with the Lenovo. It's just a minor difference and probably just a matter of personal preference, but it is something that is important to me. 6. Actual user performance on both devices was about equal for me, even though the Lenovo apparently offers a slightly better processor. 7. The Lenovo offers a cheaper case and stylus than the Dell. I have found the Lenovo case and stylus for as low as twenty dollars here on Amazon. 8. I was able to pick up the Dell unit for twenty five dollars less than the Lenovo and see a lot of deals on the 32 gb version of the Dell. Something to consider. 9. Battery life seems to be similar on both but I can't say I have performed any scientific tests to verify. Here is a list of tablets that I currently own and used as reference points in deciding whether or not to keep the Dell: 1. iPad 2. I no longer have any need for this device and find it to be too limited for its size and weight. I have handed this down to my wife and kids. The kids get a LOT of mileage out of it playing various learning and leisure games. My wife mainly reads books and plays candy crush on it. 2. Kindle Fire HD 8.9. I ONLY use this device because of the text to speech feature and only when I need to read something technical and/or boring for work. I tried to "upgrade" to the Kindle Fire HDX 7" and later learned that Amazon crippled this amazing feature (you have to buy the audio book now) so I ended up returning the HDX. I may upgrade again if Amazon ever brings this functionality back. 3. ThinkPad Tablet 2. This is my go to device for customer meetings as it is very convenient for taking notes with the screen size and dock-able stylus. That said, the device is a little slow for my taste so I'm really looking forward to the new version early next year. 4. Nexus 7 (1st gen). Too slow and battery life sucks. Pretty much collects dust now but I do use it occasionally as a controller for my Sonos system. 5. Surface 2. Love this device with the Type Cover 2 and use it as a bridge between my home pc (Samsung Series 7 Slate) and work pc. 6. Kindle Paperwhite. Love this device for long reading sessions as I don't get any eye strain like I do on my LCD devices. 7. iPad Mini (1st gen) Great for what it is, but very limited in what I can do with it. I use it mainly as a quick consumption device and ebook reader. I might end up getting rid of it now that I have decided to keep the Dell Venue 8 pro. Well, I think that is everything I wanted to share. I do want to make it clear that I like both the Dell and Lenovo very much, and would have kept the Lenovo if the Dell wasn't a choice. Thankfully, I have a choice and will stick with the Dell.