On Tuesday, Dell introduced the entry-level Dell Aero on AT&T’s network. With a two-year contract, you can have this phone for $99. It’s clear that Dell wants to appeal to people on a budget, but when considering the specs of the phone, you might want to think twice about getting it. According to PCWorld, there are 3 reasons to avoid the Dell Aero.
1-Hardware
Nowadays, most the of the new smartphones coming out have been packing a punch with their hardware features, such as, 1GHz processor and camera/video-camera shooting in HD. The Dell, however, has a mere 624MHz processor, much slower than those phones that came out right before the GHz processors started appearing. The 5-megapixel has flash with geotagging capabilities but is not able to record video. The 3.5″ display has a resolution of 360 by 640 pixels, in comparison to the Motorola Droid 2, that has about the same screen size with a resolution of 480 by 854. In the hardware department, the Dell Aero does not provide any additional features that make it stand out from its competition.
2-Software
Currently, Android phones with 2.x have reached 64% of users and most new phones coming out, have at least 2.0, while a select few come out with the new 2.2 (Froyo). The Aero is coming out with 1.5 (cupcake), which does not allow compatibility with the majority of apps found in the market. Not only do you lose out on all the new and “cool” apps available, you lose the new features provided by the new Android versions, such as Voice Search, free turn-by-turn driving directions, and live wallpapers. No word from Dell whether the Aero will be updated.
3-AT&T
The last reason for avoiding the Dell Aero is that it is on the already-crippled AT&T network. AT&T has also done away with their unlimited data plan so do not expect to use this phone for any heavy Internet usage. Also, AT&T has a tendency to strip down the phone of everything that makes it android in order not to outshine the iPhone.
There are, of course, alternates to the Aero. Even if you need to spend a little more to get the true Android experience, it is well worth it. All networks have reasonably priced phones that provide so much more, if the Dell is not what you are looking for.