Apple's latest update for the iPhone drew the mandatory whoops and cheers for the crowd that seemed to not care that Steve Jobs was being replaced by Phil Schiller, and the iPhone 3GS seemed to satisfy their thirst for ever new iPhone innovation.
The main thing that Apple surely wanted to do was send a message to the world that the Palm Pre, which launched in the US at the weekend, was not going to be the best device on the market. However, it seems that while the iPhone 3GS is good, it's just not good enough to beat the Palm Pre.
The first thing that disappointed was the lack of real innovation. While the iPhone 3.0 OS update was a good move, we saw that months ago. We cooed over the application integration with add-on devices. We aahed at the in-app micro-payments. We gasped (well, sort of were mildly amused) by the MMS and copy and paste.
But today, there wasn't anything that made us feel that we've moved into a new age of mobile phone innovation the way we did with the Palm.
Most people will be placing the devices side by side and ticking things off a list to see which has the best features. Well, in terms of the things it can do, the iPhone is currently light years ahead with an App store of 50,000 choices, and one that will only get bigger.
Pre does more
But the Palm Pre brings more than that, something that a lot of people think is more important. Its touchscreen is more responsive, and there's no murmurings that the iPhone 3GS has improved on that front.
And in terms of functionality on the business front, the Palm Pre Synergy system is one of the best out there, with the ability to sync so much into one contact base.
We certainly expected there to be some kind of chat integration like the Palm Pre has in the new iPhone, and we thought that background running would be made into a bigger deal after the Palm Pre made it look so easy.
The processor on the new iPhone must be better, as the whole system is apparently more powerful and faster. But we doubt it's better than the Palm Pre's 600MHz Texas Instruments OMAP3 processor, or else surely Schiller would have made more of a song and dance about it.
Multi-touch is still arguably better on the Palm, and once again, it seems Apple hasn't changed anything there on the hardware side.
And even the camera upgrade: both the Palm Pre and the Apple iPhone 3GS have a similar 3MP camera with auto-focus and multiple focal points. The iPhone might have a few more features in terms of video recording, video editing and features like Auto macro, but is this enough to draw people away who are looking seriously at the Pre with its array of functionality?
Dual success
In the real world, the Palm Pre and the iPhone will both end up being successful. The iPhone will be the winner in terms of sales simply because of the head start and legions of loyal followers it has built up, and also the sheer weight of people that will be entranced by the depth of the App Store and the new add-ons.
However, those that pick up both the Palm Pre and the Apple iPhone 3GS, weigh them up for a few minutes and choose one must surely be likely to stick with the Pre, with its physical keyboard, Synergy system, responsive touchscreen, depth of contact integration and simple pleasing feel in the hand.
Your comments (6) Click to add a new comment
healeydave
June 10th
6. It is much mooted that if the Pre doesn't do well (and by well its has to not only cover its development costs but make up for years of lack luster performance from the company), then Palm is seriously likely to be finished.
I don't really want to see that happen to Palm, but I wouldn't put any money on it!!
I think Apple got it right with the keyboard less phone, I certainly won't be going back to those fiddly plastic dirt catching things ever!
Lastly, Apple did such a great job with the iPhone and yes 3.0 is a great free addition, why is it these idiots that write these pieces expect Apple to come up with something amazing every time they get up on stage and if they don't criticise them for it!?!?!?!?
They can't keep revolutionising software & hardware, give them a break and some time, I know they will "wow" the editor again in the future, you just need to be patient and give them some time!!
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pablopop
June 9th
5. Funny how he highlights the 'Synergy' system as this seems to be what causes the cpu to run full pelt and wipe the battery out in under 3 hours. Apparently its a pretty good hand warmer when the CPU is flat out. LOL
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pablopop
June 9th
4. Yeah, can't wait for the Pre. You should check out the forums on the palm support site. 3 hour batter life. Overheating. Faulty displays. Its incredible. Considering they only sold 50-100,000 units. I wonder if the factory that they used for manufacture was the same one microsoft uses for the 360's.
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fbriatto
June 9th
3. Agree with you. I still use my TREO 650 ! and bought a 680 as a
backup...But now i decided to move to iphone thanks to multiple
enhancements and improved performance of the 3G S (speed)...
Palm has been too long to understand it's user base and i never
liked the wndows pocket thing. Very un-user friendly i feel.
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mbb
June 9th
2. From what I hear, the Pre's keyboard isn't too nice to use. And these rumblings about iPhone touchscreens being not responsive enough seem to have suddenly cropped up in the last week or so. I've never had any problem with it at all. Just play Zen Bound and see how well it copes with complex inputs.
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craiggrannell
June 8th
1. "The iPhone does have one vital trick up its sleeve"
Well, that an all the apps. And I don't know anyone with an iPhone that cares about the keyboard. The Pre in that regard seems more like a threat to RIM than Apple.
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