Dell Aero Coming To AT&T [AT&T Getting Dell Android Phone With 3.5-inch Touchscreen, EDGE, 3-megapixel Camera]

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AT&T’s first Android phone might not of been so well received, but they’re pressing on with what appears to be their next one, the Dell Aero. The Aero was released in China last year under the name Dell Mini 3i and it appears to be a decent (but not without fault) smartphone.

The Dell Mini 3i, when released in China last year, had a 3.5-inch touchscreen. It also had a 3-megapixel camera with 8x digital zoom and 30fps video recording. It shipped running Android 1.6. While AT&T or Dell haven’t said anything, the press shot of the “Aero” showed off a crisper UI than was seen in the Chinese model, so it’s possible it got/will get a Android 2.1 update.

Another possible change – the Chinese version only shipped with 2G/EDGE mobile internet speeds. Granted, it came out last year, but come on, no 3G? Fully expect this phone to get 3G before arrive in the United States with AT&T, or else it’ll get eaten alive.

Nothing yet if this device will carry the same crippled Android experience that shipped on the Motorola Backflip from AT&T. Apple and AT&T are close with the iPhone, of course, and when the Dell Mini 3i was released in China, it was hailed as the “Android iPhone”. Now, the Nexus One would probably be considered the “Android iPhone” in terms of mindshare and product design, but it will be interesting to see how AT&T handles marketing a very iPhone-like device (in terms of screen size, form factor, general design, camera) that’s running Android.

AT&T has confirmed the existence of the device to MobileCrunch. Expect more info to come out at the CTIA trade show this week. AT&T said they wanted Android phones on their network, so I’d expect a few more of these over the year.