Dell, as in Michael Dell, confirmed yesterday that the Mini 5 is coming to the United States “in a few months”. A MobileCrunch editor bumped into Mr. Dell at the World Economic Forum, and was granted a hands-on.

As we’ve already reported, this device  has been purportedly headed for AT&T, way back when it was codenamed the Streak. It is definitely GSM (see sim cart slot here), and Dell has already committed to release it’s Mini3 on AT&T. It stands to reason that this will find its way onto the nations most beleaguered 3G network in the coming months.

We also got confirmation of a few specs, some good, some puzzling. On the upside: the Mini 5 packs a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and the screen has been confirmed at 800×480 resolution. However, Mr. Dell said it would be running Android 1.6. This contradicts both logic and the previous rumors from Slashgear which actually SAW it running Android 2.0. It seems odd that Dell would move backwards to 1.6, unless they have some heavy software customizations that haven’t yet been ported to 2.0/2.1.

One other piece of disturbing news is the unsubsidized price. Dell said that it’s price before carrier subsidy would be $1098, which seems sky-high, given the 9.7″, 1GHz, 3G-toting Apple iPad goes for $630 unlocked. A closer competitor to the Mini 5, the Archos 5 Tablet is currently selling at Radioshack for $249, and while it lacks 3G, it’s completely unsubsidized.

Pricing concerns aside, one thing is certain: the Mini 5 is one sexy device. Sure, it’s big, but it’s got an undeniable minimalistic panache about it. Check out this picture (comparing the size and styling to the iPhone), courtesy  PC Online:

Related posts:

1. Dell Mini 5 Clears FCC, Packin’ AT&T 3G
2. Dell Mini 5 – Android 2.0+ at Launch
3. Dell Mini 5 Prototype Hands-On

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