Tuesday, at the Intel Developer Forum 2014 in San Francisco, the main focus of the opening keynote was around innovation. With new technology, new ways of working become open to us, and we change how we work, how we create, and how we stay connected.
During that opening keynote, Michael Dell previewed the upcoming Venue 8 7000 Series tablet.
As tablets offer businesses and consumers exceptional mobility and freedom from wires, the opportunities for creating or engaging with content anytime, anywhere are virtually limitless. While 7-inch and 8-inch screens are providing more on-the-go versatility than ever before, we sometimes still need to have full work productivity with a large display, keyboard and mouse, or want to view content on a big screen.
Dell Cast is a productivity and screen mirroring solution exclusively for Dell Venue Android tablets, consisting of an HDMI adapter and the Dell Cast application. The media adaptor is a small HDMI adaptor that plugs into the USB port of most monitors and TVs. Customers can then easily navigate the pre-loaded software to launch Dell Cast and work in two modes: entertainment mode or productivity mode. Entertainment mode easily mirrors the tablet’s content onto a larger display – watch movies on a big screen or move a presentation onto a larger monitor while controlling the content and slides from the tablet.
Dell Cast productivity mode extends the concept of the media adaptor and provides true flexibility in how people work and interact with their tablet. In productivity mode, the adaptor and software application acts as a ‘wireless dock’, and turns a larger display into a desktop with a wireless or USB-connected keyboard and mouse. With the Dell Venue Android-based tablets, the Dell Cast adaptor and software transforms the Android interface into an elastic user interface that resembles a traditional desktop, with the ability to organize tiles, open multiple browser windows and edit and create documents. Here is a video that demonstrates how it works:
So what makes Dell Cast different from other media adaptors? This article provides a helpful overview of how the use cases and technologies differ.
The Dell Cast application is available today on the current Dell Venue 7 and 8 Android tablets, and will be pre-loaded on future Venue Android tablets, including the Venue 8 7000 Series shown today at IDF. The adaptor is available on Dell.com for $79.99 in the U.S.
