Dell Hits the Market with Mini 3i Smartphone

Following the rumors from last week, Dell has recently revealed its brand-new smartphone, Mini 3i, especially developed to work on China's GSM networks. Some of the technical specifications of the device point to the fact that Mini 3i won't be available outside the country's borders, but the producer might think of another version for other continents. Dell's Mini 3i has been seen and photoed recently by the Chinese site NetEase, at an event where China Mobile presented its new online mobile store, which offers games and applications for mobile phone users.

The spec sheet of the smartphone doesn't look impressive, with one exception, the nice 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen with 360 x 640 pixel resolution. Otherwise, the handset doesn't even feature 3G compatibility and will only run on the 2G (EDGE) networks. Still, the real deal comes in the form of the operating system that runs on Mini 3i, the so-called Open Mobile System 1.0.

The OS is based on Android system, but by looking at the phone's design one can see that there are no keys, which are mostly required for controlling an Android device. It seems that the new operating system is a mix between Android and iPhone's OS, which probably is a good idea, as presently they're selling most of the smartphones on the market.

Other features of Dell's Mini 3i include a 3.2 Megapixel camera with LED flash, microSD slot, microUSB port for PC synchronization, built-in GPS receiver and Bluetooth connectivity. Unfortunately, there's no Wi-Fi or WAPI (Chinese equivalent of Wi-Fi), so users will be stuck with Bluetooth or 2G connectivity for data transfers. While there is no information about the price or date of launch, Dell Mini 3i isn't meant to be seen outside of China, but it may be available on the worldwide markets depending on the success it will have after the official launch.