Dell Venue Pro: What’s in the box?

Dell’s new Windows Phone 7 handset, the  Venue Pro, has arrived in Recombu’s postbox. What are we expecting? A bright AMOLED touchscreen phone, with a slide-out keyboard, sliding out from the bottom of the screen.

The slightly curved screen is a huge 4.1-inch capacitive touchscreen, reinforced with Gorilla Glass. Underneath that, you’ll find a meaty 1GHz processor, with either 8 or 16GB of storage- the box says we’ve got the 16GB model. There’s also a five-megapixel camera with LED flash on the back.

Like with the rest of the Windows Phone 7 range, you’ll be able to connect to XBox Live, download more apps and games from Windows Market, and tie together your phone contacts and Facebook friends to populate your contact list with pictures of your friends and family.

We opened the box, to find the Venue Pro, and yet another box. There was also some literature and the 1400 mAh battery. What’s in that box?

Ah, everything else. With the Dell Venue Pro, you’ll get in-ear buds, with replaceable buds depending on what size fits. We’re liking this trend for smartphones to come with these softer in-ear headphones.

There’s also a microUSB connector , and power adapter, with a european plug bundled alongside the UK one. The shiny lump at the end connects between the plug adapter and USB cable.

Here’s the slide-out keyboard. Unlike the HTC Pro, the keyboard slides down from the phone in portrait mode.  Pressing the blue function key in the bottom left corner means you can type the numbers and symbols on each key; also displayed in blue.

Here’s the Venue Pro camera. It’s capable of five-megapixel stills, and 720p HD video. On the right, spot the LED flash.

There’s a refined, textured finish to the back of the phone which makes it ever so slightly easier to grip. It does seem to be a finger smudge magnet, though.

We’ve lined up the the Venue Pro against the Samsung Omnia 7, right, and the iPhone 3Gs, left.

Size-wise, it’s very similar to the Omnia 7, with the same size of screen, and the Venue Pro feeling slightly heavier, and a little chunkier in the hand- most probably due to that slide-out keyboard.

We’ll be closely inspecting the Dell Venue Pro over the next few days, and expect to see our review next week.