Intel and Dell have unveiled the world’s thinnest tablet

You don’t usually think of Dell as a major player in the Android tablet market, but the newly announced Dell Venue 8 7000 Series has several features that will make other tablets jealous. It’s the thinnest tablet in the world right now at just 6mm, and it’s powered by a powerful Intel Atom processor. The design is a little unusual, though. Most tablets have fairly even bezels all the way around the device, which makes it easier to hold in a variety of orientations. The Dell Venue 8 7000 has extremely narrow bezels on three sides, then one larger inch-wide bezel on one of the sides (in landscape, it’s the bottom in portrait). This space houses some internal hardware, sensors, and the front-facing speaker. This might be a bit awkward to hold in landscape mode. The choice of an Intel processor makes sense for Dell, which has a close relationship with Intel. The Atom part used in the new Dell tablet is, of course, x86 rather than ARM. Android supports that just fine these days, and Intel’s chips have improved markedly. They’re actually quite fast now when they’ve been optimized properly.