Today Wireless carrier China Mobile officially announced the launch of Dell Mini 3i, a new touchscreen mobile phone that comes to the market with the operator's OPhone and Mobile Market platforms. According to the company, the new handset is set to become available for purchase in the country in Red Passion and Oiled Bronze, and should hit the shelves through China Mobile’s nation-wide channels before the end of the ongoing month.

The OPhone open source platform that runs on the Mini 3i is packed with a wide range of entertainment features, including 139Mail e-mail, Fetion chat and digital maps for navigation, all of which are already pre-loaded on the device. Moreover, the new mobile phone is compatible with various other applications, e-mail platforms, and office productivity software, and also boasts a 3.5-inch widescreen for an enhanced user experience.

“People today want to carry their lives with them – they want to discover, capture and share new content as they roam around the world,” said Michael Yang, vice president and general manager for Greater China Consumer of Dell. “We believe Dell’s year-long development collaboration with China Mobile will amplify those experiences better than anyone else in the industry.”

The Mini 3i comes to the market through the long term partnership between China Mobile and Dell, which also resulted in the embedding of 3G technology in the Dell Mini 10 netbook. The handset will offer features like access to China Mobile’s Mobile Market suite of services and content, a series of personalization features, GPS navigation, search through contacts, email and appointments directly from the home screen, a 3-megapixel photo snapper with auto-focus, flash and video recording capabilities, as well as support for e-mail, IM, MMS and SMS.

The specs list of Dell Mini 3i also includes a 640 x 360 pixel resolution for the display, Quad band GSM/EDGE capabilities, Bluetooth connectivity, Mini USB connector, and a microSD memory card slot with support for up to 23GB of additional storage space, all within a device that measures 58.35 x 122 x 11.7 mm and weighs 105g.

“This signals an important milestone in the long term partnership between China Mobile and Dell,” said a China Mobile spokesperson. “We are excited for Dell to be among the first manufacturers to introduce new technology based on the OPhone platform. We look forward to working with Dell as it brings innovative new products and services to add value to our customers’ lives.”