Did it get hot in here all of a sudden or is it just this extremely sexy prototype we're looking at? Yes, the Dell Thunder that boomed onto your internet screens
back in April is back, and this time we've got video of it too. Our tipster reports an 8 megapixel camera with LED flash on the back -- which includes 720p video capture capabilities -- along with a
removable 1,400mAh battery. His prototype's running vanilla Android 2.1 at present, though the final units can probably be expected to ship with Dell's custom skin on top. Screen resolution is purportedly 800 x 480, though judging by that 7 x 4 icon grid up there and our tipster's own experience, it could be even higher; the 4.1-inch display looks to indeed be of the OLED variety, as our earlier leak had indicated. All that and it has the looks of a pocket-sized supercar. Enough teasing, skip past the break for the video.
P.S. With Thunder now confirmed as an honest to goodness device (and not just renders), the rest of the April leak would seem to be validated including the Windows Phone 7
Lightning handset, the 7-inch
Looking Glass Android tablet, and the two mid-range
Flash and
Smoke Android devices.
[Thanks, Fahad]
posted August 12th 2010 4:23AM
@slonehermit LOL! 1200 bucks, no thanks. Keep on hustlin'
Hot damn!
@MastaQ Yeah, I've been waiting for this since it was first 'leaked' with the Lightning a few months ago.
But by now, I can't bring myself to care about it. I want a device with a physical keyboard, damn it!
@MastaQ I completely agree.
This is the phone I have been watching and waiting for.
I'm currently stuck with an LG Vu, very sick of how out of date it is, being a heavy tech user and a programmer myself.
For god sakes the touch screen is resistive!
This Dell Thunder is exactly what I want in a phone and I've been in love with it since I saw the teaser shots all that time ago.
I just hope I can upgrade to it when my 2 year is up early next year.
This is my first comment on Engadget by the way. :D
@Phantasm X Keep 'em coming. :)
@Phantasm X
You said the touch screen is resistive? It's not -- I'm the tipster here and I've been using it. It's a capacitive touch screen.
@Phantasm X
dont get turned off by resistive , a good resistive screen is just as good as capacitive , problem just not enough good resistive screens
@408wikkidclown
never mind. I'm an idiot. I just realized you were talking about your VU. haha.
@IMarius I know Resistive can be good, but honestly from the phones of friends I've used and such, they just never seem to match up to the good Capacitive screens out there. For example, I'm quite the opposite of an Apple fanboy, but the touch screen on the iPhone 4 does work extremely well, and same with the Droid in my experience.
@408wikkidclown No worries, I actually thought the wording might end up being confusing, was too lazy to change it, glad you caught it in the end.
Man I want this phone. XD
@MastaQ This is almost as sexy as Lambo Gallardo!
You are the thunder and I am the lightning. :D
Dell has to use this Selena Gomez song for their TV commercials, it's too perfect...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_YR4dKArgo
@408wikkidclown
That has to be higher res than 800x480. I have a Vibrant and the icons aren't small enough to get that many on the screen at once at this resolution, and even the notification bar has more space. It honestly looks more like the iPhone resolution of 960x640, or something in that range, which would be epic.
@4004 Dude! Nothing is as sexy as a Lambo! But yeah, this device is pretty sexy. You know what would be cool? If Lambo came up with their own smartphone. That'd be sick! And it wouldn't suck as much as the Puma phone as we all know how awesome and high-quality their cars are.
Anywho, back to the topic, I think this device might just do well.................even better if it releases with Froyo or 2.3/3.0 (if it's released by then)
@homestar1217
honestly, using it -- it looks like the resolution is up in the thousands. Never seen a phone with a resolution this big.
Even used the iPhone 4 and the resolution on this is much larger.
@408wikkidclown
Would you still have the device lying around? You think you could make some screen grabs (instructions here: http://www.sizzledcore.com/2009/02/06/take-screenshots-on-android-phone/) so we can confirm what the resolution of the screen is?
@MastaQ
Wow, excelent device!!
@tijptjik
i tried but it didn't work. it IS a developer version of the phone. so error messages galore. it wouldn't take a screen capture.
stilll out of luck, sorry.
@408wikkidclown COUNT! ^_^
@408wikkidclown
Thanks for trying! Let's be a bit more cheeky then :) what happens if you surf to http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Vector_Video_Standards2.svg
and view it with 1:1 pixel ratio?
@tijptjik
The image I linked to isn't 1:1. :S
Try this grid instead: http://www.amitbhawani.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/LCD-Monitor-Resolution.gif
@tijptjik I second this!! Well.........................................
@MastaQ
I have to admit it is actually a nice phone but nothing to go crazy about. Which features are exactly above Xperia X10, which is not much praised here? OK: 0,1" of screen more, Android 2.1 and 720p capability. Two of the above will be fixed in X10 within month or two with system upgrade.
OLED vs. TFT is debatable and I bet Dell's res is 854x480 because higher would have more cons then pros (incompatibillity with apps for example). And you get smaller capacity accu (1400 vs. 1500 mAh). I am not trying to say that X10 is a top notch smartphone but come one - it is on sale for months and Dell is not yet. What is there to admire?
@statickeith Ah, I suppose it would be made in China then by one of the KIRFers so it can retain it's unique feature of spontaneously bursting into flames. Though... not so unique anymore, the Ferrari 458 has a habit of doing that too.
@MastaQ
Wow...this looks better than the Streak...now Dell...make this hit the $200 price point and you've got a real winner on your hands.
@MastaQ Took the words right out of my mouth. Looks a little like the Captivate to me. Nice.
@MastaQ
After the Dell Streak saga, I'm VERY wary of any of Dell's offerings...
Most definitely it won't ship with stock Android and serious, it better not ship with 2.1 or FroYo better be ready for OTA update once turned on... ugh, forget. Dell dun goofed up too many times.
@MastaQ
Confused.
Do we have any idea what carrier this is landing on? Any chance of Verizon?
Why does it have a button layout like WinPhone7 instead of Android.
@Why should I have all the fun
I think because it is very closely related to the Lightning, which runs WP7.
The Lightning leaked with a spec. sheet, so you might be able to infer some of the Thunder's specs from that:
http://www.engadget.com/photos/dell-lightning-the-ultimate-windows-phone-7-device-leaks/#2915881
@Phantasm X
Eagerly waiting for Lightning to force hit me.
What a specs of lightning.
4.1 ince HIGH Resolution OLED display
512mb DDR SD RAM
1400mah battery
totally a pocket computer....
I was in doubt since leek of mockups but after this video i am settled and happy that Dell lghtning is going to be released sooner or later.
I just put some money aside for this, eagerly waiting for the lightning leek and official release.
I never thought in my life that Dell makes me this happy. WELL DELL
@IMarius Sure, but no matter how good resistive screen is, you still need to push it. There's a reason why resistives are called pushscreens. I mean it's not a big deal, but once you go with touchscreen, you can't go back to pushscreens. I'm just saying.
@homestar1217 Not necessarily. Android allows you to change the setting to MDPI and the launcher will compensate like this, so this isn't necessarily a higher resolution screen. Why do you think the icons are physically about the same size on a Nexus One (much higher pixel density) and on a G1 (much lower pixel density)? The icons on the G1 are 48x48, while the icons on the Nexus One (and most other 800x480 phones) are 72x72. If you used 48x48 icons on the higher resolution screen (as well as the lower resolution notification bar and other assets), it would appear exactly like this.
@MastaQ if it ships with Android Gingerbread then im sold!!! HOTTT Damn!!!
@408wikkidclown You idiot you don't even know what's the difference.
@MastaQ
And it comes with Snow Leopard! (see the first photo in the gallery ;-))
@MastaQ
If this is coming at the end of the year, won't it be overshadowed by the new Android devices that will be released at the same time?
I can't help but wonder if this is a "too little, too late" scenario.
@IMarius Your kidding right?
@homestar1217
I'm going to throw a guess out there:
1280x720. The screen looks 16x9, so if it isn't 800x480, hopefully they stuck to another standard resolution (hence my 720p suggestion) rather than pull a nonstandard res for appcompat reasons like Apple did with the iPhone
This would be gold if it turns out to actually have a 720p screen.
@homestar1217 I don't know you can easily do it download launcherpro or adw launcher and set the setting you can easily set that many icons especially if it had a 4.3 inch screen. I am willing to bet its 480x800 they put the same res on the 5 inch streak. If its OLED I can almost bet its of the pentile variety as well. Guess we will have to wait and see
@Phantasm X
FYI if the LG Vu is NOT a smart phone they will let you upgrade into a smart phone for contract price mid contract, this is because they make little to no money on selling the handset but rather on the Data plan you have to buy
@cool8man
i was going to do +1 then i heard selena gomez...
@tijptjik
Does this work?
http://www.whatismyscreenresolution.com/
@Abe
worked on my zune hd , so it should work there :P
@lukaszkii
I hardly think AMOLED vs TFT is debatable. I will try not to sound harsh here, but when you hold one next to the other, regardless of the resolution, AMOLED is WORLDS better than an LCD of any kind (Retina included). The colors and brightness are infinitely superior, black pixels take up ZERO battery making the Kindle app's color reversal (black background/white text) brilliant, not to mention it's a true black rather then a rendered black. I mean seriously, I sell phones and when I show someone my Vibrant's screen compared to a co-worker's iPhone 4 screen people are seriously astounded by how good it is. People complain about how it's still a lower resolution than the Retina, but hold an 800/854x480 screen and an iPhone 4 at normal distance away and that complaint goes away entirely. As I said I don't mean to insult you or anyone else, but I have both an HD2 and a Vibrant (both excellent screens I would say), and the the Vibrant takes the cake. And Samsung's Super AMOLED is much, much easier to read in direct sunlight.
@408wikkidclown
That's awesome
@coolbho3000
I suggest it's higher res because of the taskbar at the top, and also the google search bar having much more space than they do on any other android phone I've seen.
@Bryant
I have to agree it looks very much like a widescreen resolution. But I haven't heard of any news that a 4.1" 720p screen is out there, and you would think a company would be awfully proud of that, and I hope you're right because it would be very cool. I think it's more likely to be a slightly smaller resolution like 1024x576 or something near that. 720p would just be epic though I seriously hope it is!
@408wikkidclown: Agreed. Guessing 1280x720. Look at the size of the icons in the notification bar. Wow.
DROOL
@koolerz1569 I am looking forward for that slider qwerty Windows Phone 7 one. Looks darn right sexed up!
@shreyas
Omg if the lightning were to come to Verizon I would be a wp7 user. And thats alot coming from me because I'm a die hard android/Ios fan
Oooh that is pretty nice looking, even from Dell.
wheres LIGHTNING!?!?!?! doesnt light travel faster than sound