Dell Aero smartphone hits the US market but unlikely to be a hit

Dell, which earlier launched Streak, a 5-inch Android-based tablet, teamed up with the nation’s No.2 wireless carrier AT&T to launch its new smartphone Aero earlier this week.

The Aero boasts of impressive specifications – it has a 3.5-inch capacitive multi-touch display (with 640×360 pixel resolution), a 5-megapixel camera with 8x digital zoom and LED flash, full HTML browser, virtual Qwerty keyboard, email support, Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth, GPS, and a microSD card slot that allows you to bump up the memory to 32GB (the Aero ships with 2GB card to help you get started).

The device ships with a capacitive stylus and comes preloaded with a nifty tool – Microsoft’s QuickOffice – that allows editing and management of documents on the go.

Dell has also tweaked the user interface to include social networking integration features and handwriting recognition.

To top it all, the Aero is one of the lightest and slimmest Android-based smartphones around – it weighs only 3.67 oz. and measures 46″x4.8″x 2.28″.

However, Dell Aero disappoints on a few counts:

Outdated OS: The biggest letdown is that the Aero runs on the outdated Android 1.5 (Cupcake) OS. Compared to the latest Android 2.2 (Froyo), Android 1.5 is generations behind in terms of features and capability.

Moreover, as Aero features an outdated software, many applications from the Android Market will not be able to run on the device. Some Android features, such as Google’s new Voice Actions voice-command system will also not function on anything less than Android 2.2. In other words, running the Aero on Android 1.5 is like running a new laptop with Windows 98 and until Dell does something to upgrade it to at least Android 2.0, you’re stuck with very limited choices and options.

However, it is unlikely that Dell will be offering a software upgrade soon as it has heavily customized the user interface on the Aero by adding bells and whistles such as a handwriting recognition utility and a “Flash Lite-enhanced” version of the Android browser.

Weak processor: Aero also appears underpowered as it features 624MHz processor at a time when the latest smartphones, including iPhone 4 and Motorola Droid X feature 1GHz processor and some smartphone makers even boast of launching handsets with 1.2GHz processor.

Not surprisingly, the device doesn’t respond fast enough when you tap or swipe on the touchscreen.

Low resolution display: Aero’s 3.5-inch display has a resolution of 640×360 pixels and supports 262K colors. In comparison, iPhone 4, which also has a 3.5-inch display boasts of 960×640 pixels resolution. And, Droid X from Motorola has a 4.3-inch display with 480×854 pixels resolution. And, both the devices boast of supporting 16 million colors.

In other words, if you try viewing high resolution images and videos on the Aero, you are likely to encounter distortion or pixilation.

Uninspiring camera: The Aero has a 5-megapixel camera with 8x digital zoom and LED flash but it cannot record HD video, unlike the iPhone 4 or Droid X. The Aero also does not feature any secondary camera for video calls.

AT&T network: People are also wondering why Dell chose AT&T, known for its spotty network, over other wireless carriers.

Of course, selling the Aero is a plus for AT&T, which is trying to wean away from the iPhone before the exclusivity agreement with Apple Inc. runs out in 2011.

But AT&T has suffered data outages in the past and in spite of spending billions of dollars on improving its network, its subscribers still complain of weak receptions and slow data speed.

Dell Aero comes in a snazzy graphite color and is available from www.Dell.com for a full price of $ 299.99. If that’s too expensive for you, you can sign on the dotted lines of a 2-year contract with AT&T and the device is yours for $ 99.99.

But if you ask me, I’d rather pay $ 100 more and get myself an iPhone 4 or Droid X or BlackBerry Torch 9800.

But then again, Dell isn’t trying to compete with Apple Inc., Motorola or Research In Motion (RIM).

“With Dell’s established relationships to small businesses through its laptop and PC business, the Dell brand, and Android’s consumer appeal, this device may help AT&T capture new customers in [the] underserved [small and medium business] segment,” ABI Research analyst Michael Morgan said in an August 25 research note.

Customers who’ll be interested in Aero, Morgan continued, are those “who want a capable smartphone without the high price of an iPhone or the additional enterprise fees of a BlackBerry device.”

In other words, Dell is not targeting fans of iPhones, BlackBerrys or Droids. Dell knows that it’s a newbie in the smartphone market and, hence, it has positioned the Aero as an entry-level smartphone that offers most, if not all the functionalities of a high-end smartphone, but comes with a lower price tag.

According to some reports, Dell has also intentionally launched the Aero with plain vanilla Android 1.5 because it plans to equip its next smartphone Dell Thunder with Android 2.1, if not Android 2.2. According to market rumors, Dell Thunder boasts of 4.1-inch display (with at least 800×480 pixels resolution), 8-megapixel camera with LED flash and 720p (HD quality) video-capture capabilities. The device is expected to launch later this year.

Most importantly, the launch of Aero marks a new chapter in Dell’s history as it is the first smartphone from the PC maker to launch in the US. Last year, Dell’s smartphone foray in the US market was rebuffed by US carriers, forcing it to sell Mini 3 smartphone in China and Brazil.

According to industry tracker iSuppli, the smartphone market is expected to grow by 36 percent to 247 million units in 2010 from 182 million in 2009. If that’s true, Dell’s arrival in the smartphone market couldn’t have been better timed.

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