Rivals: Palm Pre versus iPhone 3G
Palm announced its new Palm Pre handset running Web OS at this year's CES. Based on initial specifications, here's how it stacks up against the iPhone 3G.
Look & Feel
The Palm Pre measures 100.5 (H) x 59.5 (W) x 16.95mm (D) compared to the Phone 3G's 115.5 (H) x 62.1 (W) x 12.3mm (D); the Palm Pre weighs 135g compared to the iPhone 3G's 133g. The iPhone 3G's about a centimetre-and-a-half taller, with the units weighing about the same.
The Palm Pre has a slide out QWERTY keyboard for easing text entry.
Screen
The Palm Pre has a 3.1-inch touchscreen with 24-bit colour 320x480 resolution display - the same resolution as the iPhone 3G.
Camera
The Palm Pre's built-in camera eclipses the iPhones at 3 megapixels compared to just 2 megapixels, and also has a LED flash and extended depth of field.
Multimedia
The Palm Pre supports a range of audio and video formats including MP3, AAC, AAC+, AMR, QCELP, WAV, MPEG-4, H.263, H.264, while the iPhone 3G handles MP3, AAC, MPEG4.
Navigation
Both phones have a built-in GPS unit. The iPhone 3G makes use of this via Google Maps and third-party applications. It's not immediately clear what's available on the Pre via Palm's Web OS, though there is a "Maps" application
Communications
Both phones operate on 3G networks and have built in Wi-Fi. The Palm Pre has full Bluetooth 2.1 and A2DP support, and it can also use Bluetooth for modem tethering.
The Palm Pre has integrated instant messaging, SMS and MMS, while the iPhone lacks MMS and requires third party applications for IM.
Web Browsing
Both devices offer a full web browser as standard. The iPhone's is based on Safari. It's not immediately clear what the browser is Web OS is based on.
Operating System
The iPhone 3G runs a version of OS X while the Palm Pre runs the company's brand new Web OS.
There are a number of similarities between the two operating systems, not least because they both work on touchscreen phones.
Storage
The Palm Pre comes with 8GB of internal memory and support for USB devices, while the iPhone 3G comes with either 8GB or 16GB of internal memory.
Sensors
Both phones feature ambient light, accelerometer, and proximity sensors.
Applications
The iPhone allows a range of Apple-approved third-party applications to run. It's not immediately clear how extendable Palm's Web OS is, though hopefully if it does more than a hat tip to previous Palm OS incarnations, it'll be pretty easily expandable.
Pricing & Networks
The Palm Pre will operate on the Sprint network in the US. Pricing and contract length to be confirmed. No news on worldwide deals or pricing yet.
Conclusion
The Palm Pre looks like a pretty nifty phone with some nice features. Whether it will turn around the fortunes of the ailing company remains to be seen. It certainly has potential, but it's up against not only the iPhone but a huge number of multimedia handsets.
It's going to be interesting to see how Web OS performs compared to OS X, and we won't really know that until we get hands-on.
Too many unknowns at present, unfortunately.
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