ALAS! Dell Venue Pro Where Art Thou?

With every passing day my loathing for those that embrace “the phone that must not be named” wanes. I no longer shake my head and chuckle sadly under my breath when one of my friends or family members embrace the evil one. While I will never understand how they are able to shackle themselves to the forbidden fruit, I understand perfectly the comfort and warmth they long for.

I too long for a stunningly beautiful device that fulfills my every communication/entertainment need. I too dream of sliding my fingers effortlessly across smooth glass and precision cut metal (note: not cheap molded plastic … ahem, Focus). That’s why when I first caught wind of Dell’s Phones more than a year ago, I  was enamored. I was caught in the web of promise and self-spun desire. With every new leak involving the Windows Phones my hopes soared.

For a brief moment (several months) I allowed myself to believe the rumors stating AT&T (gasp!) would be hosting the source of my longing (then dubbed “Lightning”). I grew giddy and started spreading the word. Like a foolish little school girl I giggled and sang of the coming Windows Phone savior.

I waited. I waited still more. I’m still waiting. I draw no comfort from knowing the release name of the phone I so passionately desire. With no release date in sight it might as well be named “My Precious”. I challenge all of you to obtain an in-depth review of the Venue Pro. Trust me, none exist because no one has been given a review unit. There are plenty of previews out there but none of them are from people who have unlimited access to the device.

I know because I have quested countless sites filled with useless bits of information, annoying advertisements and plenty of free spy-ware. This is what I do know. T-Mobile is supposed to be supporting the device on their bandwidth. Which translates to “It’ll work on our network but we ain’t selling in our stores”. Which makes zero sense to me. How is it that the premier WP isn’t officially on a carrier yet?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still holding out hope a deal will be made to bring the Venue to AT&T. There are plenty of sites still reporting as recently as last week that it will. The only “official” word I’ve personally read was from Lionel Menchaca on Dell’s Venue Pro site (which really blows by the way). He states, “All we said yesterday is that it will be available to customers in the United States from T-Mobile. When there are more details to share, I will do it here on Direct2Dell and on Twitter using the #DellVenuePro hashtag.”

I’m beginning to get that sinking feeling that delays are the root cause of the Venue’s current no show. Every other WP device has been reviewed all ready and it really doesn’t look like Dell is pushing this thing hard at all. We are talking about one of the very first (if not the first) announced WP device here and it has yet to be acquired  for an in-depth study.

There is some good news. The phone is on pre-sale at expansys and at clove.co.uk. Interestingly enough the HSDPA frequencies are 850, 9100 and 2100. Sound familiar? Frustrated yet? I know I am. Dell throw us a bone!