Dell has been on the offensive lately with a deep desire to make a mobile device that, well, let’s just say, is competitive. After Michael Dell, CEO, Dell, starting taking the Mini 5 everywhere, we paid attention. And now, thanks to Engadget, we have a good idea about what the Mini 5 will have when it hits retail shelves later this year.

“Dell may not be the first to forage into the scene of oversized smartphones, but it looks like the combination of Android, Snapdragon, 3G affordability and resurrection of the tablet trend may give the Mini 5 a great potential. We found the five-inch form factor to be neither too big nor too small, perfect for browsing the web, watching videos (watch out, Archos 5!), car navigation and reading ebooks on the go. Even the battery life matches most current 3G phones, despite the larger screen and faster CPU.

So, would we get one? Absolutely. Would we buy one? Depends — Dell’s been pretty tight-lipped about pricing, and some of you have even expressed concerns about the possibility of this WCDMA phone heading to AT&T. As mentioned before, the firmware on the actual phone will definitely be different when it comes out at some point this year, so hopefully between now and then Dell can work in some social networking integration, a podcast subscriber, a prettier dialer app, a better keyboard and Google Maps with pinch to zoom. As for hardware, all we ask for is a better camera and larger internal storage. Cheers for now, Michael!” [Engadget]