Tag Archives | Smartphones

The forty-eight hour period that begins on the morning of June 6th promises to be one of the most eventful in the history of smartphones to date. That’s when Sprint will begin selling the much-anticipated Palm Pre. And on June 8th, Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference will kick off with a keynote which most smart folks think will involve the announcement of the next-generation iPhone. Chances seem good that by late afternoon, the tech world’s biggest question will be this: Who has the hotter phone, Palm or Apple?

So it seemed like a good time to put together my first T-Grid in a while–and the first one that compares a product about which we know quite a lot (the Pre) against one that’s nothing more than a chimera of speculation so far (the next iPhone). The specs for the iPhone are based on rumors and informed guesswork, and almost certainly include both stuff that’s dead-on and stuff that will turn out to be sheer fantasy.

As usual with these T-Grids, I’m not claiming that you can use this one to determine which phone is superior. Actually, I think the most interesting differences between the two phones will relate to their software and user interfaces, and there’s no way to summarize most of that in a chart–especially when nobody’s had a chance to review the Pre, and the next iPhone remains shrouded in mystery. Still, it’s fun to start to think about how the two superphones may compare in terms of specs.

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An Apple enthusiast blog may have gotten its hands on the holy grail of gadget news: the specs and final ship date for the next iPhone. Apple iPhone Apps reports that the next generation smart phone will ship on July 17 with an assortment of new hardware features.

Before I comment about the veracity of the report, and all of the cool alleged features, it has to be said that this news breaking today is unfortunate for Palm, which announced that the Pre would be shipping on Jun. 6 for US$199.99 (after rebate) earlier today.

If this unconfirmed report is true, the iPhone 3.0’s feature set easily eclipses the Pre.  Here’s the breakdown:

* 32GB and 16GB to replace current capacities
* $199 and $299 pricebpoints to be maintained
* 3.2 megapixel camera
* Video recording and editing capabilities
* Ability to send a picture and video via MMS
* Discontinuation of the metal band surrounding the edge of the device
* OLED screen
* 150% more battery life
* Double the RAM and processing power
* Built-in FM transmitter
* Apple logo on the back to light up
* Rubber-tread backing
* Sleeker design
* Built-in compass
* Use of the camera, GPS, compass, and Google maps to identify photo and inform about photo locations.
* Turn by turn directions

That is a compelling list of features, and logical enough that I have to suspend my skepticism. Everything makes sense for a next generation iPhone–except for the costly OLED screen. However, economies of scale may solve that problem.

It is also high time that OLEDs are being used in more devices. They eliminate the back it glare of LCDs screens, and use far less energy. If Apple is serious about making gaming one of the iPhone’s selling points, this is the way to go.

Indeed, many features solve problems or offer a natural progression from today’s iPhone, and this is a feasible feature set. My biggest gripes are the current phone’s battery life, camera, and storage capacity.

Removing the metal band could improve reception, and firming up its grip is also a good idea that I’m certain many customers have asked for. The iPhone is slippery without a case, and dropping mine would mean a costly $500 mistake.

Couple these specs with the new firmware and rumored cheaper data plans, and we  would have a winner. I can’t imagine that Apple won’t continue to outshine the competition–unless one of them pulls a rabbit out of its hat.

Until now, I’ve held off–sorry for this metaphor!–regurgitating the river of rumors about the release date for Palm’s Pre phone. For one thing, I’m far more interested in whether the Pre lives up to its considerable potential than the precise day on which it will be released. (This we know: Unless Palm unexpectedly blows its deadline, the Pre will ship some time between today and June 30th.) For another thing, Pre-related rumors are so unreliable that you’d think they were about an Apple product–if they were reliable, we’d have been able to buy the phone the day after Valentine’s Day.

But I’ve got to break down and say something at some point, and Engadget is reporting that an upcoming Sprint ad sets the release date as Saturday, June 6th. InfoSync is going further, stating that ads setting the date as June 6th are already appearing on the Web. (I haven’t seen any of these myself, but if they’re out there, they clinch it.)

If the Pre shows up for sale on June 6th, it’ll make its debut forty-eight hours before the keynote at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference, where chances are good-to-great that Apple will announce one or more new iPhones. Commenting on an earlier rumor that the Pre would arrive on June 7th, All Things Digital’s John Paczkowski said it would be “sheer lunacy” for Palm to release its phone with such a narrow window of glory before a new iPhone hogged the spotlight. I presume that John would deem it only slightly less nutty if the Pre showed up on the 6th. But I dunno: If there is a new iPhone at WWDC and Palm does get the Pre out the door by the end of June, the two phones are going to be competing for the world’s attention no matter what. It’s possible that being the most interesting new phone that isn’t the new iPhone would actually be healthy for the Pre’s PR campaign. And you know what? The Pre is the only upcoming phone I know of that stands a real chance of being more interesting than the new iPhone.

One way or another, I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the Pre. It makes for a sensational demo, and we won’t have to wait much longer before we learn just how it fares in the real world.