Dell to Unleash Slew of New Handsets

After Dell’s announcement last year in November to enter the mobile phone segment with their Dell Mini 3i, Android handset things died down a bit, until now. It seems like Dell merely gave us an Hors d'œuvre as they’re gearing up to unleash a slew of news handsets into the market.

To start off with, it’s their range of Android powered smartphones –
The Dell Thunder is the company flagship model and will feature Dell’s home-brewed UI, SWYPE text functionality, Activesync capabilities and full Flash 10 support. Its form is said to be what they’re calling a proprietary curved glass design.

Other features include -

• a 4.1-inch OLED Touchscreen display with a 480 x 800 pixel resolution
• 3G support
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB
• an 8 megapixel autofocus camera
• MicroSD card support for memory

The next Android handset is the Dell Smoke which is designed with a rather unusual form. It’s seemingly a very long narrow handset with a display on top and a QWERTY keypad beneath. Though it doesn’t seem very clear, the Smoke is supposed to have a Touchpad for navigation according to the specs. Unlike the BlackBerry’s that employ a landscape display this one is apparently sticking to being unconventional and gone with a standard portrait form. Dell calls it a "non-conforming style,”, I’m inclined to agree with them. It will also feature Qualcomm's next-gen MSM7230 processor at 800MHz which is quite impressive and enlists the use of dual microphones for noise cancellation. All of this in a 12mm thin device.

The Smoke, being slotted as a business class handset will also come equipped with -

• a 2.8-inch display with a 240 x 320 pixel resolution
• 3G support
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, USB
• a 5 megapixel autofocus camera
• MicroSD card support for memory

Up next is the Dell Flash. This Android handset is what the reports are saying will be the company’s mainstream handset for 2011. It will also feature the Qualcomm MSM7230 core processor. It’ll have quite a few of the goodies that the Thunder and Smoke will have like Flash 10 support, a custom UI and much more.

Other notable features are -

• a 3.5-inch Touchscreen LCD with a 240 x 320 pixel resolution
• 3G support
• Wi-Fi with DLNA support, Bluetooth 3.0, USB
• a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with an LED flash – Image stabilization, Smile/Blink detection
• 3.5mm handsfree socket with TV Out
• MicroSD card support for memory

The last in the Android range of handset is the upgraded version of the Mini 3i which is being called the Aero. It comes with a 624MHz Marvell processor and a capacitive touchscreen that can also be used with a stylus for handwriting recognition.

This one will also feature -

• a 3.5-inch Touchscreen LCD with a 340 x 660 pixel resolution with multi-touch
• 3G support
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB
• an 5 megapixel autofocus camera 3.5mm handsfree socket with TV Out
• MicroSD card support for memory

The Thunder, Smoke and Flash Android handset will be running on an Android Froyo OS i.e version 2.2 while the Dell Aero will be given an upgrade to 1.5. There’s no word on their pricing or official release date, however, it’s possible that the first three make it our early next year while the Aero may just make in 2010 Q3 or Q4 if not sooner.

There’s more on the Dell Mobile front on the next page.