Dell’s Android-Running Mini 3i coming Stateside?

CrunchGear reports that according to a tipster, Dell’s first mobile phone The Mini 3i, will be coming to the United States. The mini 3i was originally China only, but apparently Dell wants to bring the Mini 3i stateside to compete with Android offerings from HTC, Motorola and Samsung.

The tipster also stated that the phone was “cheap and plasticky, like the Pre.” It will purportedly carry a 5 megapixel camera instead of the 3 megapixel unit found in its Chinese brother and run a modified version of Android that may not support all applications.

All this Android news these days is exciting; but will Dell actually be a serious competitor? Their last portables like the Axim PDA and the Jukebox MP3 player were utter failures. I think they need to find the spirit that makes their Mini series of netbooks so successful and build a cell phone that embodies that spirit.