Gossip around the industry's virtual water cooler says Dell may bring out a pocket-sized Android-based touch-screen MID this half if it doesn't kill or delay the thing first.

The widget is supposed to play music and video and may or may not have a cell phone.

Dell's reportedly developing dedicated Android-based cell phones too that could see the light of day this year.

The Wall Street Journal found a couple of people who claimed to have seen the MID and said it's a little bigger than an Apple iPod Touch.

The paper also said the widget could take an ARM chip. Dell's never used ARM before.

Given the competition and the chilly market it'd probably have to be a lollapalooza to score and Dell has no history of lollapaloozas.

Three or four months ago the company admitted it was "exploring smaller-screen devices" and put Ain McKendrick in charge of mobile Internet devices.