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8795
February 11th, 2014 13:00
Venue 8 MESS! ;
complaints ; (NOTE BEFORE CRAPING ON ME, i AM AWARE TO SQUEEZE & SPREAD FINGERS TO CHANGE DISPLAY - This is so cumbersome & slow as to cause a death wish toward the idiot designer)) Bought a new Dell 8-inch tablet yesterday at staples. Find that the default resolution makes text so tiny at is very difficult to read and virtually impossible to touch/tap selections. So adjust resolution to 800x600, hoping a reasonable compromise. Now find that all Windows Apps instantly report that they can't run as this low resolution is inadequate (example = Kindle eBook reader), so go to Amazon's website and download PROGRAM direct = install & runs Ok! Then attempt install "Classic Shell" and install messages/pop-ups disappear.
Finally decide to connect a USB mouse & see if that helps. Find that the device does not recognize or even indicate mouse is there. Next try both a Wi-Fi and BlueTooth wireless mouse's = same results! Just as further experiment I attempt connecting a USB DVD reader = same result (yes, i know the tablet would have trouble consistently supplying power).
So far today have been on-the-phone over two hours total with various tech-support (all with difficult Indian accents to speech and have been to Radio-Shack, Staples and Best-Buy trying to find a Dell recommended "OTG" cable allegedly required and assured available in all the places above mentioned, only to have a sales clerk finally describe the cable - and discover it is exactly the cable initially attempted with the first mouse mess - which do not resolve the issue!
All the time wasted on the phone w/ Dell occurred while also attempting to initiate a CHAT, as find that easier for me. Conclude that Dell only offers chat while attempting sales >> further, multiple searching their web-site for links to tech-support seldom produces results, so finally resort to Google. Twice informed that Dell does not offer any tech-support on this tablet >>> ?
SO, IF ANY READER HERE HAS DISCOVERED SOLUTIONS TO MY VARIOUS COMPLAINTS THEN P-L-E-A-S-E REPLY HERE, ELSE WITHIN A VERY FEW DAYS THIS TABLET WILL BE BACK IN THE HANDS OF THE VENDOR = RECLAIMING MY MONEY TO BUY ANOTHER BRAND!
42oldman
2 Posts
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February 12th, 2014 11:00
Thanks Jeff for your reply and info, the included graphic helped lots in understanding the type cable needed. Having already unsuccessfully been to all 5 local stores in town who sell various computer cables and on your assurance that a mouse would work with this cable, I finally ordered a cable from Amazon, so hoping that will resolve my problem. Also bought a stylus which also might help.
I should have for-seen this problem before buying the Venue-8 pro as long back I had both an Asus and HP netbooks with tiny display and resultant difficulties. But both those units ran Win-Xp so was hoping that with Windows-8 Microsoft and/or Dell had made a realistic effort to accommodate these small displays, in that not everyone has 20-20 vision - even corrected, but no!
Jeff Leites
2 Intern
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480 Posts
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February 11th, 2014 17:00
Maybe those clerks don't know an OTG cable from a regular A to B cable. The OTG cable has a grounded "sense" pin in the B connector.
I didn't notice if you said you have an Android Venue 8 or a Windows Venue 8 Pro. I have the pro, and I can definitely tell you that the mouse and keyboard work with the OTG cable, and do not work with a standard cable.
As for the size, if you have the Pro, there is someplace in the setup that lets you change the scaling. I have mine set for 125%. When I run into an area that is too small for my normal size fingers to touch, I use a run of the mill stylus. They are the biggest rip off around, but I found some for 99 cents that work fine.
Jeff Leites
2 Intern
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480 Posts
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February 12th, 2014 19:00
Another thing... be sure you plug the cable into the tablet correctly. They put an an A/B micro USB port on the tablet instead of a plan B micro USB port. Some of the people on this forum have plugged the cable in backwards, which apparently can be done with just a little more force than plugging it in correctly. It definitively won't work or charge if it's plugged in backwards, and will probably break the socket.