The folks at ABC News present a comparison of the iPhone and the Palm Pre in a video segment. The comparison lasts about 10 seconds and basically indicates that they like both phones, but the iPhone’s app store gives it a big advantage over the Pre. The Pre’s app store contains very little right now, compare to the iPhone’s 30,000+ apps. The segment on ABC News features USA Today’s Ed Baig, who penned a comparison of the two devices on that paper’s web site. Here are a few of the highlights from the comparison:
- “I’ve been testing the Pre for more than two weeks and like it a lot. Pre is easy on the eyes. I can’t think of a more comfortable cellphone in my hand. It has a lovely screen for taking in YouTube videos or browsing the web. The ‘always-connected’ software foundation at its code, which Palm designed from scratch and calls WebOS, is slick and rife with possibilities.”
- The Pre allows you to bring in phone numbers, calendar entries, and email accounts from Google, Facebook, and Microsoft Exchange (Outlook) and consolidate them in one place.
- The Pre allows you to keep multiple applications open at one time and switch between them with a swipe of the finger.
- “…I encountered occasional sluggishness and bugs…I also longed for the visual voice mail feature of the iPhone… And I wish the Pre had more third-party applications at launch.” (Bear in mind that the first iPhone was buggy at launch and had no third-party applications until much later.)
- Sprint’s voice and data plans are priced aggressively. A monthly voice/data plan with 450 “anytime” minutes goes for $69.99. An unlimited voice and data plan goes for $99.99 a month. Plans include unlimited text, picture, and video messaging, plus Sprint GPS navigation and Sprint TV.
- “Pre is 3.9 inches high by 2.3 inches wide and two-thirds of an inch thick – shorter but thicker than the iPhone. The compact, slightly curvy design results in a screen that’s a tad smaller than the iPhone’s.”
- “As with the iPhone, the Pre has sensors that change the orientation of the screen when you turn it to its side. Another sensor makes the screen go dark when you hold the phone to your ear during a call.” (In other words, two of the same features found in the iPhone.)
- “You can sync Pre with iTunes, just as if it were an iPhone or iPod. Well, there’s at least one difference. You can’t sync music or video saddled with digital copy restrictions. Nor can you buy iTunes music directly from the pre.” (You can, however, buy MP3s directly from the Amazon MP3 store on the Pre… though for some reason you need to be on wi-fi to download it.)
- The Pre’s web browser, like the Safari browser in the iPhone, doesn’t support Flash video.
- “The Pre has a better camera than the iPhone, though that’s not saying much.”
- “…the Pre, unlike the iPhone, comes with an easily removable battery.”
- “Though a splurge at $70, Palm has come up with a nifty accessory called Touchstone that lets you charge the Pre without a cable, by putting it on top of the dock.”
As I said in my own commentary, the iPhone still has advantages over the Pre. It’s more recognizable (largely due to Apple’s seemingly 24×7 ad campaign), there are more apps for it (though that is likely to change over time), and it’s a more mature device than the Pre. On the other hand, the Pre has advantages as well. It’s got a hardware keyboard, a better camera, a swappable battery, a potentially cheaper service contract, and (based on the “anti-AT&T buzz” at the recent WWDC) it’s not tied to AT&T (though I know there are many people not fond of Sprint, either).