It would appear those leaked and unintentional early peeks at Dell's first foray into smartphones did not happen in Brazil and China by accident. Hans Erickson of Dell Latin America has announced the decision to "give priority" to those two countries, who will be first to experience the Mini 3i's Android glory, with China receiving devices "in the coming days" and Brazil getting 'em later this year. Interestingly, China Mobile will be making do without 3G, while Brazil's Claro will be offering a 3G-enabled handset. Dell remains mum on pricing and the rest of the spec, though all the information so far indicates that Brazilians will be able to buy the same WiFi-packing FCC-certified 3iX handset that's heading to the US. Either way, we've got another heavyweight's presence in the smartphone market, and we'll be even happier once we know what Dell's value-add will be.

Update: Official Dell press release is out making it clear that this is just the "initial" smartphone from Dell.

[Via Yahoo! Brazil, thanks Marcos R.]

Having already witnessed the case and UI of Dell's incoming Android invader, we can now pretty much complete the picture with the latest info from the FCC. Reassuringly, WiFi and 3G -- the two big modifications from the China-bound Mini 3i -- both make it onto US soil, leaving us with only the timeless questions of when and how much. The Chinese version of the phone runs a 360 x 640 resolution on a 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen, which makes for a nice base to get all that wireless communication (Bluetooth included) flowing. We can expect the Mini 3iX to find its way onto AT&T's awesome networks some time in 2010, joining a growing army of Android devices vying for your cash, love and understanding.

[Via Unwired View]

You know what's ridiculous? Modern smartphones without WiFi (why hello there, Pixi and Tour). Looks like Dell's getting the message with the supposed Brazil-bound Mini 3iX, which as far as we can tell is the Mini 3i as it should've been -- same specs, plus WiFi and 3G connectivity. The OPhone-esque user interface also seems to have gone through some changes, at least cosmetically, and Cellular Cafe has the vivid imagery -- so might this be the little guy rumored to be coming to AT&T, or will we get the 2G variant instead? How about we just skip this one altogether and get the Streak?

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together? Or better yet, when a leaked roadmap doesn't get delayed in the slightest? After months upon months of waiting, broadband-lovin' citizens in the North Carolina Triangle and Triad will be celebrating alongside DFW residents and Chicago natives as Sprint's 4G WiMAX service rolls into town. As of right now (that's today, junior), consumers in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High Point and Charlotte, NC; Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas and Chicago, Illinois can roll into a Sprint store and snag a U300 3G / 4G WWAN modem on a $69.99 monthly data plan. We're told that San Antonio and Austin will get lit up later this month, while Honolulu and Maui, Hawaii; Salem, Oregon and Seattle, Washington will join the fray before 2010. Oh, and did we mention that Palm's favorite carrier finally snagged itself a WWAN-equipped netbook? 'Cause the Dell Mini 10 is available starting today for $199.99 at select Sprint stores in the metropolitan Baltimore area.

Update: Looks like Sprint changed "Baltimore" to "Bay Area." Odd.

Read - Sprint WiMAX in the Triangle
Read - Sprint WiMAX in the Triad
Read - Sprint WiMAX in Charlotte, NC
Read - Sprint WiMAX in Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX
Read - Sprint WiMAX in Chicago, IL
Read - Sprint's first netbook is Dell Mini 10

Well, hello there! Those Dell MID rumors we've been hearing have finally received vindication in the form of a nice, picture-heavy leak courtesy of some industrious folks in Vietnam. What we know as of now is that there's an 800 x 480 capacitive touchscreen display (with multitouch zooming), WiFi, Bluetooth and 3G WWAN connectivity, all riding atop an Android 2.0 (aka, Donut Eclair) install. A dual-LED flash 5 megapixel camera adorns the back, and there's a 1,300mAh battery to power all that goodness. See pics below and a video awaits after the break, where an old friend of ours plays with the jumbo smartphone.

[Via SlashGear; Thanks, Nicky N.]

Dell, Android, and AT&T have been mentioned in an awful lot of whispered sentences over the past few months, so today's Wall Street Journal report on a Round Rock-sourced Android set for Ma Bell isn't exactly a huge surprise. Apparently Dell's making some tweaks to the Chinese-market Mini 3i in preparation for a 2010 Stateside launch -- obviously the China Mobile-specific OPhone build would have to go away in favor of full-flavored Android, and we'd bet that WiFi and a nicer camera make their way into the casing as well. That's really all we know for now, but we're sure Dell's soon to hold an 8AM event where some random exec will pull it out of his pocket for 10 seconds before putting it away and announcing Inspiron laptops can now be ordered with giant Affliction dragon logos painted on them. You just keep doing what you do, Dell.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Oh, how we love PR people and their eternal clarifications on things. Apparently, the Dell Mini 3i's apperance at a China Mobile event on Monday was merely a proof of concept, and -- wait for it -- "it wasn't officially, formally introduced so much as it was waved around." Thank you, Dell, for our quote of the week. Unwilling to yet commit to the handset and specs on display, Dell is saying that it was there to support China Mobile in its role as a development partner rather than to promote any retail products. We wouldn't read too much into this supposed refutation -- if the phone were indeed a concept, that'd have been made clear at the show (and it wasn't based on the original report), and what we're experiencing now feels very much like post-event spin.

[Via Mobile Review]

At last, the much rumored Dell cellphone has made its first official appearance. The 3.5-inch 360 x 640 pixel device with capacitive touchscreen was on display in China running the Android-based Open Mobile System (OMS). The Mini 3i was on-hand as part of the launch of China Mobile's new Application Platform that offers music, video, and app downloads to mobile phones from Nokia, Samsung, LG, and apparently, Dell. The candybar device lacks WiFi (or Chinese WAPI) and is strictly 2G GSM (no 3G) but does come with a 3 megapixel camera, microSD slot, Bluetooth, and 950mAh battery. Guess now we know why the early prototypes were met by a collective meh by mobile carriers earlier this year. No idea when this will ship but it looks China-bound for at least the near future. A few more pics after the break.

[Via Cloned In China]

Read -- China Mobile's Application Platform
Read -- Dell cooperating with China Mobile
Read -- Dell Mini 3i unveil

Well, it's looking increasingly like those very first shots of a rumored Dell smartphone that cropped up way back in June were indeed the real deal, as two separate sets of purported spy pics have now turned up showing an identical-looking phone. Better still, they also show the device powered on, offering us our first look at Dell and China Mobile's customized Android interface for the thing. The Boy Genius Report also goes one step further with a complete list of the phone's purported specs, which includes quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE connectivity, a 3.5-inch 640 x 360 display, a 3-megapixel camera with a flash (and support for 30 fps video), Bluetooth, A-GPS, and a microSD card slot for expansion, to name a few features. Head on past the break for one more, equally blurry shot, and dive into the links below for a few pics and details.

Read - Cloned in China, "Dell Mini 3i spy shots"
Read - Boy Genius Report, "Dell's smartphone pictured again, spec'd, other Android details"

[Thanks, xleung]

Alright, you know how Dell's seemingly been going through hell and high water for years now to try to bring a smartphone or two to market? China's been a special focus of this clandestine effort, and we've got some new information here -- possibly. Chinese site NetEase is reporting on an email supposedly received by developers on China Mobile's 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 there's a section for an OMS device called the Dell "mini 3i," a name that would certainly fall right in line with Dell's branding -- but there are a couple issues here. First, the phone is said to operate on China Mobile's 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 that's immediately walloped by Lenovo with its 3G-capable O1 as the first volley of OMS phones comes to market over the coming weeks. Secondly there's absolutely zero discussion about the supposed email on OMS' official forums, which seems odd if the email's real. To its credit, the claimed 640 x 360 -- that's a perfect 16:9, if you can't be bothered to get out your graphing calculator -- sounds about right to match the rumored shot we've seen floating around lately, but we're still staying guarded on this one until we hear something official from the folks in Austin or Hong Kong.

[Via Cloned In China]

We haven't heard a peep about this from anywhere else, but the inimitable Michael Arrington at TechCrunch says Dell's gearing up to launch that long-rumored smartphone in China "within days." Don't get too excited, though: even Mike says the evidence is "thin," and we doubt anything Dell eventually brings out in China will have much bearing on the rest of the world, since the Chinese government requires quite a bit of product customization for the domestic market. Still, we'll see what happens -- and if Dell manages to produce something a little more interesting than its previous efforts.

[Via TrustedReviews]

At this point we're not sure why Dell won't just come out and say it's working on a smartphone, but for whatever reason the company's executives keep hinting around it. Case in point: Dell consumer division VP Ron Garriques, who told analysts yesterday that the company would "work with the top three to four" carriers "and see what their needs are." That's only slightly more concrete that what we've been hearing Michael Dell say for a while now, but apparently Ron got a little more specific: reports from the event also say he indicated that plans are being drawn up to launch products in the US, Asia, and Europe. We'd love a full transcript to figure out exactly what went down, but remember that Mr. Garriques here is the ex-head of Motorola's mobile devices unit, so he's got some experience cranking out handsets for every market. Just a note, though, Ron: if you ever pull an Adamo on us and reveal a product without specs, you are so not invited to sit at our table for lunch anymore.

Mr. BlurryCam, meet Dell's first cellphone. At least that's what the forum jockey's are claiming on Chinese site PDAFans. We have no way to authenticate the claim but whatever we've got here is sporting a Dell logo on a Pre-esque handset running Android somewhere in China where the handset is rumored to be launching by the end of the year. A scenario that matches the Dell smartphone rumors to a tee.

[Thanks, LesterW]