A Smartphone from Dell Could be Announced Next Month

Analysts are reporting that PC manufacturer Dell could be revving up its message machine to announce, not a new netbook, but the company’s first-ever smart phone.

The news, which might drop at the Mobile World Congress (a.k.a. 3GSM) in Barcelona just weeks from now according to Gadget Lab, is a bit of a shocker considering the competitiveness of the smart phone market right now.

Buzz from last week’s preview of Palm’s Pre handset, a long-awaited evolution to the Treo, and that device’s innovative (even dreamy) operating system, has hardly faded and most of the major cell manufacturers spent 2008 designing and executing touch-capable handsets to cut down Apple’s iPhone success.  So far, none have managed the feat, but industry folk (including us) believe the Pre could come the closest to coup’ing Apple’s touchphone throne.

The question for the  Dell phone, if indeed the company is seeking to join the smartphone fray, is whether or not its device will be on the cutting edge of what consumers want? Namely, a web-and-WiFi-wielding touchscreen phone with performance strong enough for  multitasking and multimedia.

Gadget Lab’s Priya Ganapati predicts that the Dell phone will extend an ages-old relationship with Microsoft by eschewing Android and including Windows Mobile as the device’s operating system.

Hate to say it, but that could be a step in the wrong direction as most smart phone consumers consider Windows Mobile to be an extension of their desktop and not a fluid mobile OS in its own right.

Ganapati also points out that until recently Dell’s computers were known for being  gray “fugly” machines with more emphasis on function rather than form. Just years ago the company did some head hunting for designers who could rejuvenate the aesthetics of their machines and if the Adamo and the new XPS Studio line–both previewed at CES last week–are any indication, Dell succeed in giving their notebook lines a makeover in status-symbol appeal.

The big question is: have they used all this time to build a smart phone as well? And, have they used the time wisely?  The answer will have to wait.

Hat Tip: Gadget Lab