The iPad made waves in the business world years ago, its rivals have spent countless hours and dollars on sprucing up their slates to make them worthy of companies' BYOD, or Bring Your Own Device, plans. Dell is one of those companies meeting Apple on the frontlines, and it's latest weapon is its sharpest tablet yet: the Dell Venue 10 7000.
Upon first glance at this 10.5-inch Android slate, I had to ask the representative showing it off: what's up with the name? (Especially given the recently released Venue 8 7000.) I was told that the "7000" in the name denotes Dell's most premium, cutting edge line of products. (Note the "7140" in the name of Dell's Venue 11 Pro.)
Whether its a laptop or a tablet, the "7000" series of business-focused devices is where Dell tries out the latest technologies and designs. If they prove successful, those features will trickle down into the company's "5000" and "3000" lines. The name is still goofy, but at least we know what it means.
Permeating through everything about this device – from its design to the features and software – is Dell's desire to, well, sex up work life. For instance, the company has brought Intel's RealSense 3D depth cameras to the Venue 10 7000.
As we've noted before, the technology is cool, but it's use cases are rather niche at the moment. The Dell representative showing off the device offered an anecdote about a grocery store owner using the RealSense cameras to measure out end caps. Super cool, but I'm sure most grocery stores have a tape measure handy, too.
Another example is the choice of Android as the operating system – one that people don't immediately associate with productivity. In 5.0 Lollipop, Android for Work launched, which Dell uses here in the Venue 10 7000 to a great extent. Essentially, the technology allows for IT departments to manage app access and use on Android devices on their network and create custom app stores for their teams.
