Rumor: AT&T distributes anti-Pre cheat sheet
Like soldiers before a battle, AT&T and others are preparing to meet Palm's Pre. According to Pre Central, AT&T has begun distributing a memo to employees that points out key differences between the iPhone and the forthcoming Pre. The memo lists talking points and key comparisons for employees to keep handy when talking to customers. While some of the comparisons are noteworthy, like the iPhone's metal and glass body vs. the plastic Pre, others just aren't. For instance, the Pre's 3.1-inch display vs. the iPhone's 3.5 inch screen. I don't know who's going to be dissuaded by 4-tenths of an inch. Plus, the Pre is a whole two grams heavier that the iPhone. Yowsa!
Of course, these stats are based on the current iPhone model. Rumors suggest that a new one will be introduced this summer. In any case, prepare for a fight.
[Via Macworld]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jason mark said 1:58PM on 4-23-2009
the 3.1 vs 3.5 inches are DIAGONAL, so it adds up quickly. If I'm doing my math correctly that comes out to:
4.8 square inches vs. 6.125 inches square, which is about 25% larger, which is pretty significant.
Jason
http://www.gravityswitch.com
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Josh said 2:40PM on 4-23-2009
But, the iPhone (currently) is glass and plastic- will June herald the return of the Aluminum iPhone? That would be sweet...
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jbelkin said 3:03PM on 4-23-2009
Keep in mind that they have to issue something because if people ask, they have to sound reasonably intelligent - after all, at an AT&T store, you have 50 phones to pick from ... of course, 99% of actual Palm buyers won't bother - they know it's at Sprint - since the only people willing to switch to Sprint will be 99% current users. Palm will basically be selling the Pre to Palm users who didn't mind waiting 9 years for an OS upgrade ... and the other 1%, who think the Iphone is all hype and they loathe Apple so they'll use anything else ... and of course, touting the whole two apps thing - I have a SPREADSHEET and a FAX APP open! WooHoo! Sorry Palm, you had 9 years headstart to own the smartphone market - remember the quote about not being worried about Apple because making a smartphone is 'hard' ... well, to some ...
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Greenscreen said 4:01PM on 4-23-2009
lol @ 9 years.
Honestly though, who would loathe Apple?? People are wacked.
q said 2:29AM on 4-24-2009
And your post is significant because....?
Adam said 5:23PM on 4-23-2009
ONE thing the Palm Pre will have that will blow away AT&T/Apple.
Sprint's $99/Everything plan. As much as I like the iPhone, I can't justify paying AT&T over $150.00/mo for something that current will never cost me more than $99/mo.
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flyingfreak said 10:19PM on 4-23-2009
pre = multi-task.... enough said
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Rajje said 5:50AM on 4-24-2009
The Pre actually seems like a really nice product. I have always compared the Palm's taste with Apple's - they are both very innovative and make products that focuses on actually being useful, rather than having as many features as possible in theory. The old Palm Calendar app is still today to be beaten (iPhone's counterpart is nowhere near).
But what I have noticed is that it doesn't matter whether we're comparing quality Apple-stuff with crap-products or with actual reasonable alternatives - people always, always focus on the wrong things. Either it's the "haha Macs have only ONE button"-argument, when comparing Mac OS X and Windows, or it's "haha the Pre's front is made of PLASTIC"-argument or the "haha a physical keyboard is so 90's"-argument when comparing iPhone and Pre.
Please, AT&T and everyone else, accept that the Pre is not a joke, like the other so called "iPhone killers" (haha, a really stupid phrase - that's like calling every new beverage "beer killer") and start making interesting comparisons between the two OS.
For example: The Pre's multitasking really seems like a killer, but will the battery life hold?
The Pre also has a really innovative "gesture area" witch eliminates the need for back-buttons, etc. But will it not because of that freighten beginners?
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teiresias said 6:39AM on 4-24-2009
I don't really think the screen size differential means much in the end when comparing the two devices. On most iPhone applications there's generally some kind of immovable bottom or top bar taking up screen real estate that stays stationary as you scroll, notably in Safari. In contrast, on the Pre, it seems the browser has a very clean look with no on-screen buttons that take up the entire bottom portion of the renderable area. It sort of evens out in the end, particularly since you don't suddenly lose half of your viewable area to a touchscreen keyboard every time you want to type something.
I love my iPhone, but I'm going to have to move on because AT&T's coverage is simply not adequate in my area for my needs. Will I move on to the Pre? Not sure yet, though it certainly is in the running and looks to have made both some usability and design improvements that I haven't even come to light in the iPhone 3.0 software.
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Kiteless said 10:38AM on 4-24-2009
I am looking forward to the Pre. I have an iPhone 1st Gen I got the day it dropped to $400 and over all I have been very happy with it. No phone is perfect and they ALL have their down sides. I have never been 100 percent happy with a phone. I don't know anyone with a smart phone that is.
The only people that I know that are totally happy with their phones are the folks that bust out their free (with 2 year contract), or $20 Go Phone, when they see your iPhone and say "Mine makes phone calls", and as popular as the iPhone/G1 and hopefully Pre will be, that is still a vast majority of the market, folks that just want a reliable phone that makes calls.
What I think is funny about this is if AT&T is going to be poopoo'ing the Pre, something I guess they HAVE to do, since they want to tell iPhones. What will they say that that consumer who walks in after that start selling the Pre (if they ever do) and the guy was like, "Hey 6 months ago you said the Pre sucked!".
Lastly, I really am hopeful for Palm. They are the scrappy underdog in my eyes. "You can doo ieeet!"
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