For those with the Dell Venue 8 Pro (and there seems to be a huge number of you out there) you’ll want to take note of two news items came to my attention in the last few days. Firstly, the new digitizer pen has been shown and tested. Secondly, you can use the Dell VP8 microUSB port to charge and connect devices at the same time.
For information on the pen we go to TabletPC.it who already have one and are about to test it. Comments on the German tabtech.de blog indicate it’s turned up in Germany too and the users report a good improvement over the original digitizer experience. I believe that those with the original digitizer pen will get a swap-out (via registration on the support page?) For those people that didn’t get a pen at all (like me) I don’t know what will happen.
On the subject of powering the unit while using the USB port I have good news. A huge, huge thread of nearly 500 posts confirms that it works. No modding is required although quite a selection of cables is needed to get it working. It’s probably something you’ll only use in a static scenario.
The thread is over at TabletPCReview and it’s probably best to dive in at the most recent post.
The Dell Venue 8 Pro is already the most comfortable 8-inch Windows 8.1 tablet so for those looking for a good pen experience it might rise to the top of their list, as long as they’re happy with a non-stowable pen. If that’s an issue then there’s still only one option….
One more comment on the community activity around the Dell Venue 8 Pro – there are 672 customer reviews up at Amazon.com. It’s the 27th best-selling tablet and the best selling Windows tablet. Congratulations Dell.
Thanks @Chritian_Wobig
Interesting! one of the major flaws with these devices. Why on earth aren’t the OEMs making the charger also a USB hub?
Will this work on all devices??
It seems like it should;
>there is an additional 5th, ID/Sense pin on micro USB. This can be either shorted to GND, or connected at 124k, 68k, or 36.5k Ohms for different features. Basically 124k is what we want, that signals the device to take power but also connect data.
Using the ID pin would be the ideal solution. However, Dell doesn’t officially say this is supported. That means such functionality may not even be implemented on the tablet. People could try it but even if it works there could be potential problems due to Dell not officially implementing and testing such a feature.
The current solution that forum thread suggests is definitely dangerous and not part of the USB spec. Even if the tablet doesn’t initially put out a voltage on its power pin even after plugging in a USB peripheral and the DIY charge/host adapter is switched to data, the peripheral could send an SRP request to the tablet to tell it to start providing power and not accept it for charging. Since we’re not talking about ideal circuits in an engineering classroom, it’s possible that the simultaneously applied voltage are different enough where reverse current occurs and damage to either or both the tablet and charger could occur. The damage could be gradual and you may wonder why your tablet or peripheral device stops working in a few months, few years, etc.
The USB Battery Charging specification that allows the ID pin to tell the tablet to accept power but still act as a host require that both the charger and tablet must be able to tolerate simultaneously applied voltages (greater than 0 V through less than Vchg) on the power line during the overlap of when the tablet is turning off its power output and letting the charger provide power. Since the Dell tablet doesn’t support this operation officially then it’s safer to assume it can’t handle such a case.
I remember reading that thread a month or so ago about the Dell charging and working as a host simultaneously. It seems they’re relying on the fact Dell didn’t properly implement the USB spec properly. Had Dell properly implemented the USB standard, this setup could very well damage their devices by applying voltages in the wrong direction.
I have the Dell V8 Pro, I ordered and got it before Xmas and it has been an interesting experience so far (my first Win8 device). I also ordered the pen at the same time and it has so far been MIA but I just got an email from Dell saying it will be delivered shortly so looking forward to finally getting it.
I have 3 Venue Pro 8s and have tried both the cable and modded hub usb+charging solutions and found both work well. Modded hub is definitely the most convenient and its necessary in some situations like a full restore from Macrium Reflect where you need to boot from external USB *and* have an external USB mouse connected at the same time. The Anker 40w 8a 5-port USB charger is a great companion and can charge all 3 of my tablets along will 2 other devices simultaneously. Really enjoying my Venue Pro 8 experience but there are some shortcomings, for instance the front webcam can only be used properly with Metro Skype – desktop Skype, Google Hangouts, and other apps cannot adjust the zoom so its basically unusable. Metro Skype requires that you permanently bind your Microsoft Live ID to your Skype ID which would cause all sorts of problems for people like me who use the same Skype account on multiple devices. External webcam connected via OTG using desktop Skype is the only workable solution right now but its very unweildy. Hopefully someone will find a software solution soon.
I wonder if we’re going to see many people in the future complaining about how they won’t buy Dell anymore because their old Dell stopped working “out of nowhere.” Of course, they’ll leave out the part about them using this simultaneous charge and host device.
They advertise it as a productivity tool and with video duplicated on a huge monitor. There should be a way to charge while using the USB port. It’s a shortcoming of this product in my opinion. I’m glad I did my research before purchasing a product where there will probably be some downtime for charging and not doing much else.
This device will let you charge and use the USB at the same time. It will work with other Windows devices that only have 1 micro USB port too. Hopefully they get funded. I want one. http://kck.st/1fIi06H