Will the new Dell Venue 8.1 Windows Tablets run Logos?

Well, I've been interested in a small Windows 8 tablet that would allow me to run Logos 5 and be very portable, so that when I wanted to simply sit in my favorite chair, I could do reading and light study in side-by-side windows. I didn't need a larger, more expensive tablet. I have my laptop for serious work. Last year, I bought the Asus VivoTab Smart, 10 inch and relatively cheap. It could run Logos 5, but whenever I did a search, I had the time to take a couple of very contemplative sips of coffee or practice the Jesus Prayer several times (better than taking the Lord's name in vain!) before the results came up. I then had issues with it, and Asus customer assistance is pretty rudimentary. Then, when I heard of the Dell Venue 8 Pro, with the newer Bay Trail processor, I was intrigued.  Then, Dell was offering the 64 GB model for the price of  32 GB one. 

So I drank the Kool-Aid. I bought one, along with a Targus case and the Dell stylus, for $350 all told. The Dell tablet arrived on Thursday, and the stylus came yesterday. 

Yes, the Dell is definitely usable with Logos 5. Logos loads and completes searches and other functions in less than half the time of my old VivoTabSmart, showing how much of a jump the BayTrail is over the CloverTrail.  If you are willing to make a few adjustments, Logos 5 can serve you well on the little Dell. 

Firstly, I'll say the obvious. You need to run Logos 5 in landscape mode. It isn't designed for a tablet in portrait mode. If you don't like holding a tablet in landscape mode, be warned! You can install the Logos Windows app and read resources in portrait mode with that. For reading purposes, that app is fine.

Secondly, in Logos program settings, I set the program scaling to 120%, and the default resource text size to 140%. Be aware that changing your tablet Logos settings may affect your settings on your desktop or laptop! These settings were a good compromise for me.

Thirdly, layouts are your friend. Customize your favorite layouts to work better with the more limited real estate. Save your changes with new names so you can have specific layouts for your tablet and your desktop/laptop.

Fourthly, some non-Logos-specific recommendations: If you prefer a cleaner start screen and Windows 7 start button, get Stardock's Start 8 and Modern Mix. You can boot to the desktop with Windows 8.1 as it is, but Start 8 allows you to set up a Windows 7-like start menu to access both legacy and Metro apps. ModernMix allows you to run Metro apps in a window on the desktop. Also, the text in the Mail app is pretty small on the little Dell. I mean, small. If you have Gmail, pin the site to your start window or to the desktop. If you have Outlook, you may be able to do the same with Outlook Web App. Worth it! You can also pin other sites like Instapaper, so you need not miss their absence in the Windows App Store. As for the screen, I like the brightness low. I leave on adaptive brightness or, if I disable it, I manually turn the brightness down, to under 40%.

Finally, the dreaded stylus. I heard that Dell had improved it, so I took a chance. When I had a chance to test it out, it was as bad as advertised. However, I discovered that the latest update for the Synaptics firmware hadn't been installed on my tablet. Once I finally coaxed the firmware out of the Dell support site (that site is painfully slow and inconsistent) and installed it, the problems were solved. I had a chance to use the first Surface Pro and its stylus for a brief time last year. This updated Dell one comes pretty close. Good enough for my purposes. 

Moral of the story? What are you looking for? If you want a nice, pleasant portable sidekick that can surprise you with its abilities, the Dell might work. If you want something that will be all things to all apps and programs, then at this price point you need a standard laptop or desktop. If you want all that in a tablet, you can find it - but it will cost you!  

Hi, Peter,

From the reviews I read, the stylus had a number of issues. The main ones were a delay in registering when you had stopped writing with it (if you were using One Note or something like that), which would cause tails to appear after the letters you wrote, and basic inconsistency. Sometimes it would work, sometimes not. I had the tails appear when I initially tested mine out. And using it as a mouse was hit-or-miss. The firmware update, so far, has eliminated those issues. I've only had it 36 hours, though, but it's working well.  

I don't know the answer yet about indexing, because I used one of the methods to install Logos on multiple computers. I copied my resources onto a microSD card from my laptop, and then copied them into the proper folders on the Dell's ssd. (If you search this forum and find the methods, I used method 2.) That eliminated the need to do an initial download of 8 gigs of resources and then the ensuing indexing. I'll only know that answer once Logos updates some resources I have or I buy something new. Sorry, but I can't be of help (yet) there. Other people on this forum have said that indexing was not unusually slow.