Alright, you know how Dells seemingly been going through hell and high water for years now to try to bring a smartphone or two to market? Chinas been a special focus of this clandestine effort, and weve got some new information here -- possibly. Chinese site NetEase is reporting on an email supposedly received by developers on China Mobiles Mobile Market mailing list, discussing a handful of S60, WinMo, and Android-based Open Mobile System (OMS) devices that the carrier would really love devs to concentrate on as Mobile Market goes live and tries to gain some footing. Most of the content is mundane, but theres a section for an OMS device called the Dell "mini 3i," a name that would certainly fall right in line with Dells branding -- but there are a couple issues here. First, the phone is said to operate on China Mobiles legacy GSM network, not the homegrown TD-SCDMA 3G tech that the carrier is working diligently to deploy right now; it seems illogical at best for Dell to get into the game with a phone thats immediately walloped by Lenovo with its 3G-capable O1 as the first volley of OMS phones comes to market over the coming weeks. Secondly theres absolutely zero discussion about the supposed email on OMS official forums, which seems odd if the emails real. To its credit, the claimed 640 x 360 -- thats a perfect 16:9, if you cant be bothered to get out your graphing calculator -- sounds about right to match the rumored shot weve seen floating around lately, but were still staying guarded on this one until we hear something official from the folks in Austin or Hong Kong.Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Dells China-bound smartphone possibly called mini 3i, but questions abound
Alright, you know how Dells seemingly been going through hell and high water for years now to try to bring a smartphone or two to market? Chinas been a special focus of this clandestine effort, and weve got some new information here -- possibly. Chinese site NetEase is reporting on an email supposedly received by developers on China Mobiles Mobile Market mailing list, discussing a handful of S60, WinMo, and Android-based Open Mobile System (OMS) devices that the carrier would really love devs to concentrate on as Mobile Market goes live and tries to gain some footing. Most of the content is mundane, but theres a section for an OMS device called the Dell "mini 3i," a name that would certainly fall right in line with Dells branding -- but there are a couple issues here. First, the phone is said to operate on China Mobiles legacy GSM network, not the homegrown TD-SCDMA 3G tech that the carrier is working diligently to deploy right now; it seems illogical at best for Dell to get into the game with a phone thats immediately walloped by Lenovo with its 3G-capable O1 as the first volley of OMS phones comes to market over the coming weeks. Secondly theres absolutely zero discussion about the supposed email on OMS official forums, which seems odd if the emails real. To its credit, the claimed 640 x 360 -- thats a perfect 16:9, if you cant be bothered to get out your graphing calculator -- sounds about right to match the rumored shot weve seen floating around lately, but were still staying guarded on this one until we hear something official from the folks in Austin or Hong Kong.