Review: Dell Aero
Bluetooth
Bluetooth on the Dell Aero worked as it should. The phone had no trouble pairing with my Bluetooth headset and a set of stereo Bluetooth speakers. Sound quality on the headset suffered a bit. I heard lots of crackling and the sound would cut out if I handled the phone less than delicately. But music sounded fine on my portable speakers. I had some trouble transferring an image file over Bluetooth to my Mac OS X machine; the phone was not able to complete the transfer. But I had no such trouble sending a Bluetooth file to my Windows 7 computer.
Clock
There's a medium-sized clock on the lock screen, and the same clock remains on the first homescreen panel when you unlock the phone. There's a tiny little digital clock in the notification bar, and this remains through almost all of the phone's apps. Unlike on other Android phones, there is no clock widget included with the phone to place where you like, and no customization option for the homescreen clock, though you can download different clock widgets from the App Market. There is an alarm clock and a world clock app, but no stopwatch or countdown timer.
GPS
GPS on the Dell Aero found me very quickly and tracked me with no trouble. The phone comes with Google Maps, but the Aero uses Android 1.5, and it was not until Android 1.6 that Google started offering free turn-by-turn navigation. If you need a real navigation service, you can pay the monthly fee for AT&T Navigator. Navigator is a fine app from TeleNav, and it's worth the monthly fee if you need nav features. Still, I'd prefer a more recent Android system with the free nav option, instead of being forced to pay.
Other Extras
The Dell Aero comes with video editing software. At first glance it seems to be an iMovie competitor, with plenty of automated features to create a movie using the music, photos and videos you have stored on the phone. On closer inspection, I found the interface to be counter-intuitive and confusing, and the editor was somewhat difficult to use. It has potential, though, and I'm sure with some practice it could provide some fun. Too bad the camera takes such lousy pictures and video. Still, if you want to create your own movies while on the go, it's a unique option to have on this phone.
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Dell Aero
