The Dell Venue (sans Pro) keyboard-less Android smartphone has been launched in Hong Kong. Rumored to hit Korea this year, it recently passed FCC at the end of October, being basically the same handset as the Venue Pro Windows Phone 7, but running Android without the slide-down QWERTY.

Engadget had a brief hands-on with the device in Hong Kong, where Dell has launched the smartphone globally. The HK$3,999 (roughly $515) worth device sports a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU, 512MB of RAM, Wi-Fi b/g/n, aGPS, Bluetooth 2.3 EDR, FM Radio and an eight-megapixel camera with autofocus and flash. It runs Android 2.2 Froyo (hopefully upgradeable to 2.3 Gingerbread soon) improved by Dell’s Stage UI and feature packed with Swype keyboard. The curved glass covered 4.1 AMOLED screen offers great colors and visibility and the overall build quality is good, as you’d expect, minus the squeaking battery door Engadget mentions as a downside. Take a look at the video below:

On the same note, both the Windows Phone 7 powered Dell Venue Pro and the Dell Venue Android smartphone were approved by the Global Certification Forum (GCF) with the exact same specifications. The Android version might be lacking the hardware keyboard but, opposed to the Venue Pro, features “secure user plane location” protocol needed for aGPS.

Source: Engadget, the:unwired