Venue Pro issue tracker

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EDIT: Feb 14 / 2012 - Wow. It has been a while. I pre-ordered one of the original DVPs, went on the roller-coaster ride of trying to get it SIM unlocked, returned it to Dell and took the 15% restocking hit, then watched in agony as a simple "just email Dell" free unlocking solution came available about a month later. I've had a second-hand HD2 through most of 2011, running various builds of WP7 and Android, until the digitizer bit the dust. Just snapped up a DVP on eBay - I'm back baby! Time to update this thread.

Whether you're a DVP owner, future owner or still on the fence about a purchase, it might be useful to have a single thread listing the known issues with this model (and any discovered fixes, workarounds, etc.). I'll try to keep this up-to-date based on comments below. Have I missed anything?

Compass driver broken by Mango update
Much-discussed; interop unlock or custom firmware would allow a fix (i.e. flashing an unsigned cab could potentially put the old driver back)

No HSPA or roaming triangle indicators
Diagnosis: software issue... can't get an "H" or triangle symbol to appear in the relevant contexts.
Apparently this is only an issue on TMO-US branded units, and it is entirely cosmetic. Interop unlock would allow us to make the necessary registry edits to bring back the HSPA indicator.

Camera: slow shutter speed = blurry indoor shots
Partially improved in successive firmware updates

Flaky reception
Somewhat improved, according to user reports.

Cell radio: drops connections when switching from 2G to 3G
Fixed by Dell in new units.

WiFi: some devices can't connect to secure networks
Fixed by Dell in new units.

SIM: error
Fixed by Dell in new units.

Windows Phone 7 general issues
No copy & paste
Fixed in NoDo

Email: forwarding from non-Exchange account uses .eml attachment instead of inline text
Fixed

Camera: issues with retaining settings
Fixed

Headphone jack: curved, bad connection?
I don't think the headphone Jack poor connection is explicitly caused by the curved jack. Checking out my friends HTC desire, I noticed that it too has a curved jack that doesn't completely cover the headphone plug.

Originally Posted by jcoob

Headphone jack: curved, bad connection?
I don't think the headphone Jack poor connection is explicitly caused by the curved jack. Checking out my friends HTC desire, I noticed that it too has a curved jack that doesn't completely cover the headphone plug.

Thanks. I'm partly basing this on a youtube video from a DVP owner who demonstrates how the earphone jack won't plug all the way in, because of the curved design.

Can any actual DVP owners comment on this? Is the problem widespread?

RE: SIM locking of Dell Venue Pro

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Note: the following threads discuss DVP-US frequencies, possible SIM-locking to T-mobile (even for off-contract, paid-in-full devices), etc.:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=858181
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=857572
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show...838105&page=51

Awesome thread, love the idea & I haven't really heard much of the issues listed here but its great that you put it out there.

Hopefully many get fixed in the upcoming update in January or even the new devices.

Many don't seem to apply to me like the camera since I rarely ever use the camera but the 2G to 3G one is pretty big.

The camera was bad in the first phone I received (Engineering Sample) but in the next phone the Cam was alright. This unit didn't have that slow shutter problem

The images were comparable to HD7.

Originally Posted by benjaminries

Whether you're a DVP owner, future owner or still on the fence about a purchase, it might be useful to have a single thread listing the known issues with this model (and any discovered fixes, workarounds, etc.). I'll try to keep this up-to-date based on comments below. Have I missed anything?

Camera: slow shutter speed = blurry indoor shots
Reported here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=841391
Diagnosis: since the camera EXIF reports that it is the same hardware as the iPhone 4, hopefully this can be fixed via software patch
Solution: might have been fixed in updated device ROM? (thanks eyan15 - http://forum.xda-developers.com/show...49&postcount=6 - can somebody confirm?)

Camera: issues with retaining settings
Reported here: http://en.community.dell.com/dell-bl...venue-pro.aspx
Diagnosis: software bug
Solution: unknown

Cell radio: drops connections when switching from 2G to 3G
Reported here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=839051
Diagnosis: radio firmware issue?
Solution: unknown

Headphone jack: curved, bad connection?
Reported here: http://en.community.dell.com/dell-bl...venue-pro.aspx
Diagnosis: hardware design flaw?
Solution: unknown

WiFi: some devices can't connect to secure networks
Widely reported
Diagnosis: firmware bug
Solution: these units can be exchanged at their source

SIM: error
Reported here: http://www.electronista.com/articles...g.many.issues/
Diagnosis: firmware bug or hardware issue
Solution: these units can be exchanged at their source

Windows Phone 7 general issues
No copy & paste
Widely reported
Diagnosis: missing feature
Solution: OS update in January 2011 will add clipboard functionality

Email: forwarding from non-Exchange account uses .eml attachment instead of inline text
Reported here: http://wpcentral.com/windows-phone-7...hange-accounts
Diagnosis: software bug
Solution: unknown

Might want to add these to the Windows phone 7 list:

1) No real multi-tasking support to speak of in phone 7, even the "back" button doesn't bring you back to an active program in most cases, but the program has to re-initialize.
2) No support for mobile hotspot function in phone 7
3) No true "live tile" support for 3rd party apps (like twitter etc...); more like dead tiles.

I am concerned that the speed of WP7 is dependent on only having 1 app running and therefore MS doesn't want multi-tasking.

Originally Posted by sureloch

Might want to add these to the Windows phone 7 list:

1) No real multi-tasking support to speak of in phone 7, even the "back" button doesn't bring you back to an active program in most cases, but the program has to re-initialize.
2) No support for mobile hotspot function in phone 7
3) No true "live tile" support for 3rd party apps (like twitter etc...); more like dead tiles.

I am concerned that the speed of WP7 is dependent on only having 1 app running and therefore MS doesn't want multi-tasking.

This stuff crosses over into general criticisms of the OS. I'm trying to restrict bugs to things that were obviously overlooked or have been announced as upcoming fixes - not new features or disagreements over design.

This is an Windows Phone 7 bug, all devices suffer from this. So while this is an issue nonetheless, you should not decide not to get the Dell Venue Pro based on this 'bug' alone. If you want a Windows Phone 7 device, you will have this problem, hopefully Microsoft will fix it in the next update.

Camera: issues with retaining settings
Reported here: http://en.community.dell.com/dell-bl...venue-pro.aspx
Diagnosis: software bug
Solution: unknown

Originally Posted by KilZone

This is an Windows Phone 7 bug, all devices suffer from this. So while this is an issue nonetheless, you should not decide not to get the Dell Venue Pro based on this 'bug' alone. If you want a Windows Phone 7 device, you will have this problem, hopefully Microsoft will fix it in the next update.

Thanks for the correction; I was under the impression that each OEM made their own customized Camera app. Curious if they all suffer from the same problem - hopefully that means it will be fixed in the January update.