Dell gives its Venue 7, Venue 8 Android tablets a beefy boost

Dell has announced a slew of devices during Computex 2014, namely updates to its line of commute-friendly Android tablets, the Venue 7 and Venue 8. While much hasn't changed about these budget tablets' design, their insides gained some big boosts for 2014.

The Venue 7 now comes packing a 7-inch, 1280 x 800 WXGA, IPS touchscreen and a dual-core Intel Atom Z3460 processor that can reach 1.6GHz. In the graphics department, the Venue 7 sports an Imagination PowerVR G64000 chip.

Backing that up are 1GB of DDR3 RAM and a 16GB eMMC flash storage drive, along with 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0. You can also go for LTE connectivity if you so choose.

Finally, in addition to a 1MP shooter up front and a 5MP lens around back, the Venue 7 houses one micro USB port, a microSD card reader, a headphone/mic jack and, naturally, a micro SIM slot for optional LTE.

All of this comes in that 0.35-inch, 0.64-pound soft-touch black plastic frame that you can have starting July 1 on Dell.com. The starting price is a cool $159.99 (about £95.54, AU$173.07).

Turning it up to 8

The Venue 8, on the other hand, looks no different other than its larger size and weight (0.74 pounds) – yet it manages to maintain the same 0.35-inch thinness. Of course, it's the guts that get a boost for that Nexus 7-beating $199.99 (around £119.43, AU$216.35) asking price.

That gets you an 8-inch, 1920 x 1200 WXGA, IPS touchscreen with a slightly beefier dual-core Intel Atom Z3480 at up to 2.1GHz with the same GPU inside. Oddly enough, however, both the RAM and storage solutions remain the same for that extra 40 bucks. Though, the Venue 8 does have a slightly superior 2MP front-facing camera.

Of course, you still get all of those new, shiny wireless (and hardware) connectivity options, and both of these tablets come running a 4550mAh battery. For both tablets, these components power the latest Android 4.4 KitKat operating system.

And to try to keep you in the Dell family given the breadth of Android options out there, the company offers its PocketCloud software and a free 20GB worth of space on Dropbox for a year. You'll also get to pick up a Dell Venue 8 in red when it hits Dell.com on July 1.