Dell's New Android Based Cell Phone?Dell's New Android Based Cell Phone?

Based on a very blurry picture, Engadget thinks this may be a shot of a new cell phone by Dell running Android.The picture doesn't have a lot of detail, though the Dell logo at the bottom is obvious. It has a very rounded off shape, much like the Palm Pre. It is difficult to discern much else though that might give hint to its features. I was looking for a line down the side that would indicate the screen slides either down or to the left or right revealing a QWERTY keyboard, but the image quality is too low.

There have been a lot of rumors of Dell reentering the market with a phone. Android is what this phone appears to be running, but Dell has had a long relationship with Microsoft, so a Windows Mobile powered device still isn't out of the question.

Chances are, this is a China or Asia only model. Two months ago I blogged about the rumors of Dell partnering up with China Mobile. This phone may be the fruits of that partnership. If that is the case, this phone may be more stylus driven than finger driven as a stylus makes it easier to enter the Chinese characters. Most smartphones in the rest of the world are moving away from the stylus, but not so in Asia.

I'd still like more information on Dell's intentions for the North American and European markets where they had a strong presence with their Axim line of PDAs. You remember PDAs, right? Those largely disconnected devices that weighed enough to make your pants pocket shift down and required you to set up a partnership with your PC to get any data on or off of it?

I still question whether Dell can pull this off. They haven't worked with carriers in the past and that is critical, especially in North America where almost all phones are sold by the carrier rather than the manufacturer. This is part of why rumors have swirled lately of Dell buying Palm since Palm has relationships with most major carriers around the world.