The Venue Pro is the new Dell phone that uses Windows 7, and is coming to a store near you. It has had a lot of media coverage over the past week or so as it’s Dell’s new flagship phone. Despite that, it actually seems to be quite good. Considering the state of the previous Dell Aero and the Android phone they produced for AT&T, it’s going to have to be.

The Venue Pro smacks of being primarily a phone for business users. It’s solid, weighty and has a reassuring bulk about it that hints at longevity. It has a raised area on the back, and tough, scratch resistant glass on for the screen. It’s the same material Dell uses on the Streak, so we know it works quite well.

The Venue Pro just feels more like a corporate mobile than a sleek, shiny consumer unit. There isn’t anything in there especially for businesses users, not as far as we could see, but much like the Blackberry, even though consumers can still use them, they lack the appeal of the iPhone or others.

That said, the new Dell phone packs quite a punch, whoever uses it. There’s a large 4.1” screen, which is ideal for the Windows 7 interface. While the screen size does make the phone a little bulky, it’s much easier to see what’s going on, and to use the applications effectively. It’s a little larger than an HTC or LG Optimus, but not so much that it becomes unwieldy.

The phone comes with a QWERTY keyboard, with rounded raised buttons. Even pudgy fingers like mine could tap out a text message in a few seconds, and had no problem navigation my way round. Dell phones are relatively new, so we don’t know how hardy these guys are, but the solid construction gives us a feeling of confidence. Let’s just hope the electronics are up to the job.

The Venue Pro is a slider phone, which keeps the orientation vertical, which neatly circumvents the Windows 7 screen issue where it prefers portrait mode to landscape.

Hardware wise, it has a 1-GHz Qualcomm QSD8250 processor, a 5-megapixel camera, and 16GB of storage. This seems pretty standard for Windows phones right now, and so far has been more than capable of running the OS and applications.

With the phone comes some Dell phone goodies, such as a year’s subscription to Pageonce Personal Finance. If you get it through T-Mobile you also get Netflix, T-Mobile TV, Slacker, Telenav and other apps. To get the phone through T-Mobile you’re going to have to order direct from Dell, as these aren’t going retail. No T-Mobile store will have these in stock, so it’s mail order only I’m afraid.

From our brief test, the Venue Pro looks like a significant step forward for Dell phones. It’s slick, quick, and seems perfectly capable of handling anything you can throw at it.

Yesterday, we saw Dell’s Slate concept for the first time. Today, we got to actually play with it. And it’s called the Mini 5.

Dell Mini 5 Hands-ON from Gizmodo on Vimeo.

(Btw, if you want to read yesterday’s stories on the slate, check here.)

Specs that we know: custom Android, SIM (it makes calls), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth. And the 5-inch screen supports full multitouch.

In your hand, it’s very light and comfortable to use. The screen is responsive, and Dell’s icon interface makes for intuitive presentation of Android.

It feels a bit more like plastic than, say, the iPod touch. But it was perfectly solid from what we could tell. Making a phone call turns the Mini 5 into a gigantic phone, almost like a handset out of a Carrot Top routine, but Dell expects most consumers will opt to use a headset.

The unexpectedly awesome feature? The 5MP camera. The Dell Mini 5 has a 5-inch screen, and your subject fills the entire frame. It’s an oddly satisfying implementation of a camera, in a super sizing kind of way.

My model wasn’t connected to the web, so I didn’t get to test the browser. And my hands-on time was more than limited (and frankly, a bit frantic), so I can’t really speak sincerely on much else.

But let me say this: I like the Mini 5. And I dare say that Dell’s software—their version of Android onboard—may be equally or more impressive than the hardware itself. I’m not sure I have a need for this or any 5-inch tablet, but you know what? I’m going to give em a shot all the same.