mini3i 2

The word on the Wi-Fi is that Dell plan to release an upgraded version of the Dell Mini 3i which was previously designated as a Chinese only device. Presumably this new tact comes as a defensive manoeuvre combating the slew of new devices that seem to get announced every month by other manufactures such as Motorola and HTC .

CrunchGear are the first I have seen publish on this, and according to their tipster, the Chinese model feels a little “cheap and plasticky, like the Pre.” Being based in the UK, I haven’t touched the Pre, so I cannot comment. Apparently the Dell device is very thin though, thinner than the iPhone for sure. Furthermore, the 3-MP camera is expected to receive a face-lift and hit the more common 5-MP sensor that most new smart-phones seem to get these days. It is hard to see from this picture whether Dell’s Android has its own custom UI, or whether the Android draw is just open. Either way, CrunchGear made the statement that “the interface mimics, as seen from this photo, the iPhone’s icon-based launcher UI.”

We got very concerned when we heard that Dell is “splintering the Android stack and shipping the phone with modified or missing Android libraries, making it a bit harder to program”. It is therefore possible that some applications will not work on this device. We hope that this is not true, as it would be a woeful move on Dell’s part.