One of the announcements coming out of CITA was the news of Dell Aero being picked up by AT&T; let the underwhelming commence.  Alright, this isn’t definite, but given AT&T’s history with Android and what we’ve seen of the Aero, don’t be surprised. Though the Aero, aka Mini 3, was on display at CITA this week, Dell reps wouldn’t allow spectators to actually test the device, they were limited to only holding the device powered off. The reason for this? AT&T didn’t want the public to see pre-final software.
So what do we know? Again, not much (emphasis ours):
- Aero will have a “thoroughly customized” interface with a permanent bar of icons at the top
- 3.5″ nHD display
- 5MP camera
- Flash Lite® support for streaming audio and video content
- It’s lightweight, but exact size isn’t being released yet
- Oh, and Aero will be prohibited from running unsigned Android applications
To Google’s credit, the chief developer of Android wants no part of these restrictions, and is refusing to put the “with Google†branding on Backflip or Aero. Still, legal questions remain for manufacturers willing to consent to these hindrances. As Android touts a universe of open application development, these changes make it questionable if users should be notified pre-purchase about said hindrances.
AT&T now has a teaser page up with more not really useful information. Is it just me, or does Aero look more like an iPhone knock-off than any other Android on the market?
