Announced back in March around the time of CES, the Dell Aero has finally gone on sale.  For $99 and a two-year service agreement, customers can pick up the handset which features a 3.5-inch display, 5-megapixel camera, and removable 2GB MicroSD card.  Although it’s powered by a 624Mhz Marvell processor, the Aero sadly runs Android 1.5 (Cupcake).  Dell touts the potential 40,000 applications available, yet those of us with Android 2.1 or 2.2 know there are closer to 100,000 out there.  Having said that, this guy isn’t the worst you could do with your money – It’s still better than any feature phone.  The problem really lies in the fact that it hurts Android as a whole when phones are released in August of 2010 that have a May 2009 version under the hood.

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7 COMMENTS

  1. This doesnt hurt Android as a whole. Dell could of spent the money to get 2.1, or even 2.2 on this device but the fact is they wanted to keep this low end phone at a low cost. This phone will be free with upgrade/activation in no time. The reason this helps Android is it gets Android devices in the hands of consumers who wouldnt of normally of spent the money on the higher end phones that run the newer versions of Android. You forget that you know of the difference in the versions of Android because you are around it every day, you write for an Android blog and constantly look for new information about Android. For someone coming from a crappy flip phone to this they will absolutely love it, and Android. The fact is many end users of these devices have no clue that a newer version of Android is out, let alone use/know half of the features Android 1.5 has to offer. A lot will use it for web, email, sms, phone calls and a few games. This device is at a great price for this kind of an end user. In the end, if the purchaser of this phone takes the time to learn about Android even a little they will see that there is a newer version and will have the option to either purchase one of these higher end devices, or stay on their low end device.

    Just because this isnt a Nexus/Samsung Galaxy S/Droid X .etc doesnt make this a bad device, nor does it “hurt Android”.

    • They will know the difference the first time they launch Android Market and find that many of the apps they want to install simply won’t work on 1.5.

  3. Yeah Dell isn’t off to a good start in the cell phone industry. I don’t understand why you would release something that far behind the curve.

  4. Interesting, Android 1.5 is the last version that doesn’t support Google Maps Navigation, I’m sure you can pay a monthly fee for crappy AT&T navigator though.

    Not sure why Dell is bothering trying to get into the Android/Mobile market if they are just going to sabotage themselves.

  5. Dell are having a laugh releasing this with 1.5. Would anybody buy a PC with Windows 2000, 3 upgrades back from 7? Of course not. This is a joke and Dell are being tight fisted.

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