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TechCrunch reports that Dell may announce, if not launch, its much-rumored entry into smartphones in China within a few days. This follows reports that Dell's entry into the handset market would start in the world's largest wireless market and with world's biggest carrier, China Mobile.

The name of the Dell smartphone for China is reportedly the Ophone mini3i. It is said to be a Google Android model that supports Chinese-only standard 3G networking.

Dell—once a top tier Windows Mobile PDA vendor—is also supposedly working on a delivering smartphones built on Microsoft mobile-device platforms as well.

A couple of months ago, we may have gotten a first look at a Dell Android-run model, as an image (via Brighthand) of a handset (one that looks a lot like Palm's Pre model, at least in shape) was making the rounds through the Internet rumor mill. The picture included a Dell logo right on the front of a device running Google's Android platform.

The company's founder and CEO, Michael Dell, all but confirmed Dell's smartphone plans a few months ago.

"Well, if [Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo] says that the telephone is the future of computing, then, you know, we're in the computer business, so I guess we must be in the phone business," according to Dell, in an interview with Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, at a luncheon hosted by the Northern Virginia Technology Council in February.

Back in March, an analyst reported that Dell's smartphone plans hit a snag. According to Shaw Wu, a research analyst at Kaufman Bros., both Windows Mobile and Android-run smartphone prototypes failed to wow carriers.

To learn more about Dell's rumored Android-run Ophone plans for China Mobile, see here.