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While we expected that Dell’s offer to make smartphones for U.S. carriers would be nicely lapped up, it turned out that no U.S. carrier was interested and China Mobile got the Dell Mini 3i. The Wall Street Journal on the other hand has come out with a news piece claiming that AT&T has put Dell to work designing an Android handset for the carrier. Specifications about the handset are not known as yet, but it’s going to have a touchscreen in place of a keypad and a tiny little camera, just like the Mini 3i. Now let’s see how soon this baby materializes.

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And finally we have much the awaited official word on Dell’s first Android handset. The Mini 3i is now officially in China, staying with China Mobile and had a coming out party at Beijing. The Mini 3i bears some pretty decent specs, even though it is EDGE only and stripped of all Wi-Fi.  Who wouldn’t say yes to;

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE class 12
• Size: 68.6cc
• 103g grams weight
• Dimensions: 58 x 122 x 11.7mm
• Display: 3.5″ nHD 640×360 LCD, 18-bit, 262K colors
• OTA capable
• Microsoft Exchange support
• Google, AIM, Yahoo and MSN IM support
• 3 megapixel auto-focus, flash, 8x digital zoom camera with 30fps video shooting mode, built in photo editor
• USB 2.0, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
• A-GPS
• On-screen QWERTY keyboard, handwriting recognition, multi touch UI
• MicroSD slot

Not to mention it looks purty too.

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Yes we all know that Dell is planning an Android phone, yes we know it may be coming soon, but what exactly is in that phone? No idea. Till now that is. The folks at BGR have uncovered the detailed specs of the Dell Android smartphone, and here they are;

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE class 12
• Size: 68.6cc
• 103g grams weight
• Dimensions: 58 x 122 x 11.7mm
• Display: 3.5″ nHD 640×360 LCD, 18-bit, 262K colors
• OTA capable
• Microsoft Exchange support
• Google, AIM, Yahoo and MSN IM support
• 3 megapixel auto-focus, flash, 8x digital zoom camera with 30fps video shooting mode, built in photo editor
• USB 2.0, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
• A-GPS
• On-screen QWERTY keyboard, handwriting recognition, multi touch UI
• MicroSD slot

Yay! There’s also word that the Motorola Android handset Shules or SHOLES (I’m frankly don’t care anymore) is a 13.7 mm slider and the Motorola Morrison for T-Mobile may come out late September.

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Ok more info on Dell and its smartphones; rumor has it that Dell is getting ready to bring out a for-China-only ‘mini 3i’ smartphone. The smartphone will purportedly be announced to the Chinese market through China Mobile. The mini 3i smartphone is said to be part of the Android-driven Ophone Open Mobile Systems (OMS) platform. The Dell mini 3i is slated (so far) for an August/September release along with two other Ophones, the Lenovo O1 and the Dopod A6188. The Lenovo O1 on the other hand is allegedly the only 3G enabled phone in the lineup that will have support for the TD-SCDMA network. The other Dell and Dopod offerings will only rock the 2G GSM network. Now this may all turn out to be one of those Chinese rumors, but since TechCrunch has reported it we’ll give it credibility.

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Ah the smartphone from Dell…when ever shall it come? Dell’s mythical Android smartphone has been on and off the hot gossip topic list and we’d dearly love confirmation of some kind. Even now all I have to report is a rumor that Dell’s Android phone may be announced within this month in China. The source also goes on to say that the handset will feature a full touchscreen and not be endowed with a physical keypad. As for Android itself, it’s still the suspected OS for the phone, but no word on whether Dell went HTC-style and spruced it up a bit.

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Last year Dell announced that it would be making Android phones and it even showcased some of its stuff at one of the major world phone events. But after that there has been little or no word from Dell, leaked or otherwise. But Dell once again ready to make waves or create ripples. The Wall Street Journal has “confirmed” that Dell will go on to sell several Android handsets later this year. Perhaps something that fits a nice size 2G and 3G. even more interesting as Dell gets back in the news is that it is rumored to be working on an MID device that is will run on Android love and may be looking to take the place of Apple’s iPod touch and perhaps give Apple something other than Palm to hiss about. However, even the Wall Street Journal has cautioned that the MID might not be a deal done in the near future. It is prone to both delay and/or cancellation. The Phones though are something you can look forward to.

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Mug shots again and this time the culprit is the Dell Android Smartphone. Expected to be out later this year, these are multiple, as in more than one, android devices expected from Dell. Although widely rumored, official confirmation can now be made that Dell is looking to launch both 3g and 2G devices in what will be the not too distant future. No specs to quote as of yet or even a name tag but we can say that the UI is bad like Wild West bad. A definite notch below the Samsung UI. Dell, quality not quantity.

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I report this as a matter of integrity which in no means a recommendation. You must have heard of the Nokia E63, you may have also heard (and if you haven’t let us enlighten you) that the phone is a tragedy for anyone who expected a Nokia answer to the RIM BlackBerrys. The E63 is basically the E71 on a starvation diet. It has a 2 MP camera, a stub of a button for a space bar and a nerdy plastic body. The only good thing about the E63 is that now you can get the handset unlocked for $198.39 from Dell. Why the generosity, trust us, it’s probably desperation to clear the stock. But hey, if you need an entry-level smartphone, it can’t get more entry-level than this. Of course, if you’re really smart, you’ll wait for AT&T to release the E71x for $99. THAT would be smart and sweet!

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We love Dell as a computer manufacturer who has helped deliver highly customized Laptops and well other computer stuff. And rumor abound id that dell might be looking to make a new home in the Smartphone industry. And why not, after all it has had immense success both in dollars and in customer retention with prior mobile devices so it looks like the next big step.

Rumors of this had been abound for as far back as last year and now an article has surfaced in the wall street journal and SAI simultaneously saying the new Dell smartphone might just be available by September 9^th 2009 and going by the name MePhone, (hopefully just the Code name).

Well the rumors have a good chance at being true since Dell has been reportedly in contact with Asian suppliers and manufacturers for the past year and has even gotten hold of Ron Garriques the mind behind the success of the Motorola RAZR and has given him the title of “President of Consumer Business”. Everybody please join me in saying, “ooooooo”. Also there is the fact that after Dell purchased Zing in 2008, it didn’t really use that as a real asset and this could just be that opportunity. What’s more is perhaps the phone will also be free of windows mobile and may feature Android OS. As Homer Simpson would say, “wohoo”. Let’s hope all this does come true at a nice competitive price and good carrier. And then Palm can have a go at Dell too.

Just when you thought the smartphone market had all the rivalry and competition it could stand, here comes another big shot. Dell is rumored to be planning an entry onto the smartphone market as early as this year. Now this is as speculative as speculation gets, since the theory was put forward by Kaufman Bros. analyst, and they base this assumption on Dell’s 2007 hiring of Ron Garriques. If you remember, Ron Garriques was the mastermind behind Motorola’s RAZR.

Admittedly it’s not a lot to go on, but it wouldn’t be the world’s biggest surprise if Dell did jump into the shark pool, it looks very lucrative on the outside, but the competition is a killer on the inside. If Dell were to make a smartphone, it would be rocking winmo, the chances of an Android are slim to none. A possible point of release could be the 3GSM conference that’s coming up, you know, give everybody a real surprise/shock.

We all love Dell for their computers, just not so sure about their smarts when it comes to smartphones.