MacDailyNews Take: Why does Dell have a “love affair” with Android? Because Dell can’t get access to the world’s best mobile OS, Apple’s Mac OS X-based iOS, that’s why. Dell settles before their poor customers have to.
Smith reports, “The biggest letdown is that the Aero runs on the outdated Android 1.5 (Cupcake) OS.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 Moreover, as Aero features an outdated software, many applications from the Android Market will not be able to run on the device… It is unlikely that Dell will be offering a software upgrade soon as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.”
MacDailyNews Take: Ooh, “Flash Lite-enhanced.” Sounds like a fork in the eye.
Smith reports, “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.”
MacDailyNews Take: GHz speed comparisons between chips of differing architectures is meaningless. Only Apple has the “A4.” Apple doesn’t have to settle for off-the-shelf processors that are less efficient than A4. In other words, a Droid X’s Droid X 1Ghz TI OMAP processor most certainly does not equal a 1GHz A4 and anyone who claims otherwise is lying and/or ignorant. Dell’s 624MHz Marvell processor is a joke.
Smith reports, “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… If you try viewing high resolution images and videos on the Aero, you are likely to encounter distortion or pixilation.”
Advertisement: Scratch Proof your iPhone 4 with invisibleSHIELD. Full Body Maximum Coverage for $24.99. Front and Back Coverage for $14.99 each!
“The Aero has a 5-megapixel camera with 8x digital zoom and LED flash but it cannot record HD video, unlike the iPhone 4… The Aero also does not feature any secondary camera for video calls,” Smith reports. “If you ask me, I’d rather pay $100 more and get myself an iPhone 4…”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Beleaguered Dell. Bandleader of the crap parade. Shit sandwich-maker to the non-stars.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “NixoN” for the heads up.]
Dell designs around a free OS, yet picks an obsoleted version of it. They build around obsoleted, “close-out” components. Unless they are planning to donate these to homeless people, Dell should be too embarrassed to let this phone see the light of day.
man you guys sure are bitter so being so superior.
“Cupcake.” “Froyo.” “Flash Lite-Enhanced”? Oh, great!
It is devices like this new Dell that make up Android’s market share, and cause this rapid growth for the platform. If you look at any independent mobile reseller (for example, http://www.letstalk.com), you’ll see that there are some twenty Android phones on the market right now, across four major carriers (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile). Vast majority are exclusive to their respective carrier, but no other carrier cares about the exclusivity (unless we’re talking iPhone).
It is just amazing to look at the ‘diversity’ of these Android devices. You’d have a hard time recognising that they are all actually running the same OS. These phones are so heavily customised by their carriers, I can’t imagine that someone who buys any of these Android phones could subsequently transition to another Android phone (on a different carrier) without having to re-learn everything.
We still have to wait and see how this game develops, but somehow, I have a feeling Apple’s not going to lose its dominant position anytime soon, regardless of current onslaught of all these Androids.
What??
Proofread before you post, man. Proofread!
A video of Dell’s R&D dept:
Yummy!!
“Unlikely” is a vast understatement.
sorry. man you guys sure are bitter FOR being so superior. my mistake.
@diggitydog
It’s just Newton’s third law of motion, considering the hateful scorn launched against Apple by Mr Dell in the 90s and early 00s.
Wonder what Dell lied about with this product…
@m159 – no doubt, and i don’t even disagree. it’s just that i grow a little weary of the MDN vitriol, when it starts to seem a little pathetic. kinda like the nerd who grew up from high school, became an MD and makes more money than all of the old football team combined but still feels obligated to go overboard to show how much better he has done.
man you guys sure are bitter so being so superior. —diggitydog
It does appear that way, but here’s another possible explanation:
The tech press is full to overflowing of articles based on little more than personal bias against Apple and “reviews” that do little more than slavishly repeat the manufacturer’s press releases. Even David Pogue does this alot. In order to restore balance in the Universe, somebody needs to step up and say “Bullshit!”. This is the job that MDN seems to have taken on its shoulders.
@diggitydog
You would think that we long-abused Mac users would have purged ourselves of that bitterness by now… But like a cow chewing its cud, it continues to fester within many of us, nurtured by the repeated prods of Enderle and his ilk, renewed by the typically inept copies of Apple devices released by HTC, Dell, Microsoft, and others, and encouraged by a long series of unbalanced FUD promoted by the media and, very possibly, instigated by distraught would-be competitors and has-beens.
Nope, we chew on that bitter goodness day after day because, like coffee, you eventually develop a taste for it.
Oh, FLASH-lite. I thought you said Flesh-Lite. My Bad.
@diggitydog
The site you visited is MacDailyNews. It is biased for reason; no fair and balanced here!
I’m confused, is that Aero from Microsoft???
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”tongue wink” style=”border:0;” />
Who wants to buy a mobile phone that says “Dell” on the case? I’d be embarrassed…
It is unclear why a company such as Dell would even attempt to compete in the smartphone market with such an obviously inferior product. Perhaps it is to placate those consumers who’re devoted followers of the aforementioned brand name (not me, by the way). They should seriously reconsider their entry!!