Dell have finally announced details of its Android-based Mini 3 Smartphone today, saying that it will be available in both China and Brazil very soon. This is a strange departure for Dell who has made their business in the computer and server market. Dell has been losing ground in this market and knows that they need to enter new markets to stay competitive.

According to PC World, rumors have been circulating since the beginning of the year about Dell launching a Smartphone, but many assumed that this was just the latest in a long line of far-fetched rumors. Dell are entering a rough market, you only have to look at Verizon and AT&T to know this.

Dell are taking a big risk, they have been losing ground in the computer market to both HP and now Acer and they will also face tough competition in the Smartphone market. The new Android-Based Mini 3 Smartphone will go head to head with the Apple iPhone, and we all know how the likes of Blackberry have failed in its endeavors so far.

Dell are no stranger to entering new markets, they have done so with Printers, TVs, PDA’s, cameras and much more, so Smartphone’s was the obvious next step. Dell is playing a risky game by launching its new handset in the Chinese market and not in the U.S., but many see this as genius.

Read what PC World has to say on the matter.

AT&T have filed a second lawsuit against Verizon Wireless, claiming “irreparable harm,” they have asked a District Court Judge to force Verizon to pull its latest TV ad. The ad in question is where Verizon have placed the iPhone on the “island of misfit toys,” something that has not gone down well with the network carrier.

The main issue with the ad is to do with the AT&T’s network coverage, Verizon makes some claims that AT&T say are in fact false. According to Fortune Brainstorm Tech, AT&T have decided to put the record straight and let their customers know that it is only them and not Verizon who offer the most popular smartphone, the iPhone.

AT&T went on to ad that Verizon do not offer a handset with access to more than 100,000 applications. AT&T also showed a new map, one that they feel Verizon should show instead of the misleading one. So why is AT&T taking things so badly, we aim to explain it as simple as possible below.

The map that Verizon came up with showed that AT&T coverage had a huge amount of white space, this could be misleading as customers would think that AT&T did not have any coverage in that area, this is untrue.

Although AT&T may not have any 3G coverage in that area, customers would still have access to the 2G networks, allowing customers to still gain access to the Internet. For more details on this, visit Fortune Brainstorm Tech.

Following the first ‘Rick Astley’ iPhone virus last week, it has been reported that a new one has surfaced, only this one appears to be much more dangerous than the previous one.

According to this article from BGR, the new virus is thought to be a ‘modified’ version of the Ikee worm which has been spreading around like wildfire recently.

The new one has been dubbed “iPhone/Privacy.A” and has the capability to attack pretty much all of your data on your iPhone. By this we mean things like: email and SMS messages, contacts, photos, music files, calendar appointments and much more.

However, BGR states that the threat of this new worm affecting your iPhone is ‘low’, but users with jailbroken iPhones are advised to change root passwords.

We will keep you updated on the situation when we hear more details. Let us know if you have anything to share on this matter.

We mentioned in a recent post that the Palm Pixi was on display at a Walmart store and had a price of $400. We know that the handset is not due for release until Sunday November 22, 2009, but we have learned through Engadget that Walmart are to offer the Pixi through partner LetsTalk for just $30.

We know that the Palm Pixi does not look and perform as good as the Pre, but this will not stop it becoming very popular over the holiday season. The reason for this is simple, value for money and you do not get better value than $30.

The handset was rumored to be selling for $100 once the rebates were out of the way, so $70 cheaper does not sound a lot when talking about a cell phone that is until you tell someone that the handset had just cost you $30.

That is such a good price, Engadget says that a decent meal will cost you more than that, but you will not have a handset running on the ever popular webOS. LetsTalk have had some problem with their rebates system in the past, but consumers thinking of getting the Palm Pixi through them need not worry, as this is an instant discount.

The release of the Motorola Droid in the U.S. was a huge deal, many of us assumed that the new Google Android handset would make the Apple iPhone sweat, but things did not work out that way. In China they have just announced the Motorola MT710 OPhone; this smartphone has a much better chance of taking the fight to the iPhone there.

Motorola are in a much better position now than they was the same time last year, they have the Motorola Droid, yes it is not as good as the iPhone, but it shows that they are back with a fight. Motorola have also launched the Droid in other countries, but have called it the Milestone.

Motorola know that China is an important market for them, and the decision for them to get behind OPhone is a great move. Lenovo phones were the first to use the OPhone OS, PMP Today were never that interested in OPhone, that is until now, things may have just got more interesting.

The Motorola MT710 has a 3.7-inch touchscreen and it is thought that the handset will come with multi-touch features as well, unlike the Droid then. The handset will also come with WiFi and will offer support for China’s local TD-SCDMA network. There are not pricing details or a release date just yet.

It has been reported that the Palm Pre is now available to buy from Carphone Warehouse stores throughout the UK. The handset was previously tied down to O2 stores, but has now expanded and will remain an O2 exclusive for the time being.

As reported from Pocket-Lint, customers will now be able to head down to a Carphone Warehouse store and pick up the phone for free on a 2-year, £35 a month contract.

What does this mean exactly? Well for consumers, not a lot - it just means that it will be a lot easier for you to grab a Pre if you are still looking for one.

It will be better news for Palm as they look to boost sales before the end of the year. More over at Pocket-Lint.

There have been so many reviews all over the Internet where the Motorola Droid and the iPhone are put side by side in a battle to the death, well that is how they describe it. In reality things are a little different, it is clear that the launch of the Droid was a bit of a letdown and it is certainly clear that the iPhone is still king.

Other handsets have tried in the past to take on the mighty Apple iPhone, but they have not succeeded. However, there is a difference with those previous smartphones and the Motorola Droid, they did not make any claims that they could kill off the iPhone as Verizon did with the Droid.

All the ad campaigns had Motorola and Verizon Wireless vs. Apple and AT&T, and no guesses for who won the battle. We covered in a recent post the poor sales figures compared to how much Verizon had spent on its AT&T campaign to win customers back.

There was so much hype surrounding the Motorola Droid that almost a week later, it all seems a bit of a letdown. Computer World explains that the Droid does not do that much, such as the lack of a multitouch screen and a horrible keyboard.

All these shortcomings are not good for the Droid, but it does bode well for the next Android powered cell phone.

It has been reported that Apple has issued an update to their Developer Center which will (finally) allow developers to view the current approval status for submitted Apps.

As reported from AppleInsider, developers are now able to keep track of how the approval process of apps is going - a feature which will be greatly appreciated no doubt.

According to AppleInsider, there are apparently nine types of statuses and they include ones such as ‘In Review’, ‘Ready for sale’ and ‘Rejected’.

Head over to AI to view a couple of sample shots of the new look Development Center. Let us know what you think of the update. There must be a lot of happy developers out there surely?

Are you still waiting for your Nokia N900 to arrive? Well in the meantime, Nokia has released a brand new video in which they give you an idea of some concept designs that they are planning to release in 2015.

As reported from Pocket-Lint, Nokia look to be jumping aboard the ‘augmented reality’ bandwagon by offering customers something which will be totally unique by the time 2015 lands.

The video, which has come out of Nokia’s recent future vision conference in Helsinki, shows a Nokia N900 tablet-like device displaying all sorts of future capabilities such as live on-demand sports coverage with friends on-screen, to being able to share your friends music content from his/her phone.

All looks pretty interesting and rather impressive we have to say. Check out the video for yourself below and let us know what you think of it.

Precentral.net had one of their eagle eyed readers send them an image of a Palm Pixi handset already on display at a Walmart store in Tennessee. Looking at the display it shows that the new handset will have a retail price of $400, sadly the Pixi is still unavailable to purchase.

We do not have that long to wait though as Palm are launching the Pixi on their favorite release day, Sunday. However, we as well as Precentral are certain that this will be made available a little sooner, but only by a day or two. Look out for Sprint telesales, as they often allow the release of new handsets a little earlier than retail stores.

There are even rumors that Sprint’s telesales will release the Palm Pixi today, but there are still no facts to back that up. Please do not ring up your Sprint reps and start hassling them about questions about the release of the Palm Pixi, just sit back and we will keep you fully informed.

You can always count on Palm to release a great commercial, this latest ad that we discussed in a recent post is impressive. The ad does not last for long, but we can clearly see that the new handset is aimed at the younger market.

Earlier we posted an article which introduced you to Motorola’s latest rugged phone which they are calling the Quantico, this handset is pretty much unimpressive in-terms of entertainment related features, however the handset is very durable.

At the time of out last article we speculated that the handset will be coming to either Sprint or Verizon, however both of our predictions were wrong (for the time being at least), we are now hearing that the handset will be coming to MetroPCS.

We have not heard anything regarding a release date or pricing, however when we find out more we will keep you informed.

If you check out IntoMobile’s article you can find out more about the handset then our earlier post included.

Yesterday we posted an article regarding Samsung dropping the Symbian OS and deciding to develop their own OS which they are calling Bada, if you missed this article check out this link.

A render of what is being called the first Samsung Bada handset has recently shown up on SlashGear, obviously as this is just a render there is no guarantee that this handset will actually be developed.

The handset looks to feature a full touchscreen display, which may use an AMOLED panel, apart from this the rest is a mystery, there is speculation as to whether the handset will feature a virtual keyboard or a slide-out keyboard I guess time will tell.

As we find out more definite information we will keep you posted, check out SlashGear for more.

Do you like the look of the handset?

With the Palm Pixi handset expected to land on Sprint this Sunday, we have the brand new launch trailer to show you, which does a good job in convincing you that the Pixi is actually a force to be reckoned with.

As reported from Crunchgear, the Palm Pixi will be the next addition to Palm’s lineup of WebOS-enabled handsets, following on from the Palm Pre of course.

As for the commercial, it’s pretty brief but you kind of get the feeling that Palm / Sprint are aiming the Pixi towards the younger generation, especially considering the heavy integration of social networking features such as Facebook and Twitter.

You may think there are much better handsets available on the market at the moment, but we think that this commercial has done Palm no harm at all.

Check it out below and let us know what you think of it.

It has been reported that Vodafone are planning to release an announcement soon, in which they will confirm that the upcoming HTC HD2 will land on the UK network first, before the likes of T-Mobile and Orange.

As Pocket-Lint reports, an announcement from Vodafone is expected within the next 24 hours. No pricing details have been confirmed yet, although Pocket-Lint states that O2 are planning to offer the device as well, for £40 on a two-year contract.

The HD2 is certainly a handset that has caught the eye of many, especially with decent specs such as a 4.3-inch multi touch display, 5 megapixel camera, HSDPA, Snapdragon Processor, WiFi and GPS.

We’ll let you know once Vodafone release their statement.

Palm Pre’s webOS still does not have Flash and there is no sign that it will be included in webOS 1.3.1. However, we know that the groundwork is being laid but there are no details on an exact date. The most recent reports say that Flash 10.1 will be made available for webOS in the first half of 2010.

There are those who wonder what takes the software so long to make it to the end users, but this is something that has been happening for years, manufacturers always get to use the new software long before the end user.

Precentral.net have said that the reason how they know that Flash 10.1 is coming to Palm’s webOS is because of the message that you see here is shown when users click on a link for a flash video. They also see the message when they visit Adobe’s Flash website.

Users of the most popular handset, the iPhone also see a message when they visit the website, but it is not a message that they want to read. iPhone users have to face the fact that they will never get Flash; well this is what all the rumors say anyway.

Owners of the Garmin Nuvifone M20 listen up, as Garmin has just announced that all future devices of the M20 will ship with Windows 6.5, while current owners of the M20 will receive a free upgrade from WinMo 6.1 to 6.5.

However, BGR reports that the 6.5-equipped Nuvifone M20 will only be available in Asian Countries, Russia, Poland, Czech, Ukraine and Turkey - meaning that Western Europe and the U.S may miss out.

Still though, any free update is good news and we’re sure that there are plenty of you with a Garmin Nuvifone who are delighted with the news.

We’ll try and clarify the situation soon with regards to a Windows 6.5 upgrade in W.Europe and the U.S. Let us know your thoughts on the news.

Motorola will soon begin to roll out another rugged handset, this handset is called the Quantico and uses a clamshell design.

The handset features built-in GPS and Bluetooth 2.0, the rest of the specifications are pretty average, these other specifications are hardly worth a mention and include a 1.3 megapixel camera and speakerphone.

The main features that Motorola have concentrated on is the handsets durability, the handset features a casing which is made of a combination of glass, rubber and chrome.

The handset can withstand some harsh surroundings too, it can withstand being in up to 1 meter of water for 30 minutes, it is also designed to not be affected by dust, shock, vibration, temperature and extreme pressure.

It is thought that the handset will be available on either Sprint or Verizon, however nothing has been officially announced yet, check out Cnet for more information.

These days so much emphasis is put on the money being made by handset manufacturers and application for handsets, many forget that there are huge amounts of money to be made in mobile accessories.

A recent study carried out by ABIresearch suggests that during 2009 mobile accessories will turn over around $55 billion, this is slightly less then last years figure, however still impressive.

It is thought that more turn over could have been accomplished, however memory cards are said to have been oversupplied, this has resulted in outlets selling the memory cards at just over cost.

The future for mobile accessories is still pretty good, however experts believe that the levels reached in 2008 will not be surpassed, check out IntoMobile for more information.

It was obvious to everyone that Windows Marketplace for Mobile was in need of a much needed upgrade, thankfully this has now happened. These highly anticipated upgrades went live yesterday and hopefully have gone down well with its developers.

Windows Market Place was only launched on October, but from the start we knew that Microsoft had a lot of work to do to make its users happy. The wave of new features that was promised include improved developer portal for registered ISVs and advanced anti-piracy protection.

There is also another much anticipated new feature allowing for PC based shopping as well as account management for those with a Windows cell phone. Making things much easier for developers as well as adding more security are both great features, but this is something that is very boring to the user, they want much more, these will come in time.

However, developers will now be much happier with the new features; these are subtle but very important. Developers will now find it much easier to upload images as well as have more detailed access to their account status.

Marketplace is still in its infant stages and is growing all the time, but as Windows Mobile OS is falling out of favor with phone makers, we have to wonder how much life there is in this latest app store. For more information, visit Windows Mobile Blog.

We have some good news if you are planning to pick up the Palm Pixi handset from Sprint, as we have a collection of hands-on unboxing photos for you to browse through and enjoy.

The photos come to us courtesy of BGR, who have managed to obtain the phone a few days early ahead of it’s release on 15th November.

A quick refresh of specs if you need it: The Pixi will come equipped with a 2.63-inch capacitive touchscreen, 2 megapixel with LED flash, GPS, 3G EVDO Rev A, Bluetooth 2.1, 3.5mm audio jack and 8GB of internal memory.

For all those that are looking to pick one up, it will be priced at $99 from Sprint. Let us know if you will be picking one up, or if you have seen a better handset.

Full unboxing pictures over at BGR.