Dell's smartphone pictured again, spec'd, other Android details
One of our trusty ninjas just blessed us with the following information: first up, real pictures of Dell's Chinese market smartphone code-named Benzine. Just as TechCrunch reported, we've been told the handset is “launch ready.”
Context & Ripple Effects
The leak confirms and extends TechCrunch's report three days earlier that Dell would launch or announce a phone in China within days — Boy Genius Report now has real photographs of the handset, code-named Benzine, and a source calling it "launch ready," moving the story from rumor to near-certainty.
It also closes a long loop for Dell: leaked pictures of an Alienware-branded Android phone circulated as far back as February 2008, and this is the first time since then that a concrete, spec'd Dell handset has surfaced. The choice of China as the launch market matters — Dell enters phones where carrier distribution dominates, rather than through its established US retail channels.
First-order effects
- Dell's entry into smartphones moves from speculation to imminence: with photos and specs out and the device described as launch ready, the company faces pressure to make the official announcement before the leak cycle defines the product for it.
Second-order effects
- Other PC makers watching the launch get a live test of whether a desktop-and-laptop brand can win shelf space in China's carrier-driven handset market, where Dell has no existing phone relationships to lean on.
Third-order effects
- If the Benzine ships as reported, Android's role as an off-the-shelf OS becomes the structural enabler: hardware vendors like Dell can enter handsets without building a mobile platform, lowering the barrier that kept PC makers out of the market through the 2000s.
The trend: Android is turning PC manufacturers into smartphone entrants, with China's carrier market serving as the low-risk proving ground before any Western launch.