Palm responds to iTunes / Pre statement, defiant and unfazed

We're still not 100 percent clear what Apple's next move is, but we do know they're a little more than nonplussed about Pre's ad hoc iTunes syncing methods. Despite Cupertino's update to its support site last night, Palm seems unconcerned, as relayed by a spokesperson to Digital Daily. In a statement, the company said disabling the sync "will be a direct blow to their users who will be deprived of a seamless synchronization experience" and that "there are other third-party applications we could consider." In other word, it'd be Apple's loss. We're not quite sure we agree there, nor would we really think "stay with the iTunes version that works to sync their music on their Pre" method is really the best suggestion, but hey, we're not the multimillion dollar phone manufacturer here. We anxiously await to see if and when this cold war is turned up a few notches.

It's official - iTunes support coming on the Palm Pre

Now hardly anyone will be totally shocked about that but when it gets official, it can still make it in the news. The hotly anticipated Palm Pre smartphone will sport iTunes support, once it appears on the market. This provides a simple and easy way (if you are using a Mac or you're just dependent on your iPhone/iPod infatuation) to transfer DRM-free music, photos and videos to your Palm Pre.

According to the company iTunes will have no trouble recognizing the Palm Pre, once you connect it to a computer through USB and choose the "media sync" option on the handset. From then on you can choose which media files to interchange as long as they are DRM-free.

The other good news is that the Palm Pre will also be able to act as a mass storage drive providing the easiest available way for loading content. Once connected to a computer using the USB cable, Pre will appear as a drive on the computer desktop. You can drag and drop music, photos or video files onto your Pre, or drag files from your Pre to the computer.

[Originally posted at gsmarena.com]

O2 follows iPhone success with deal for next must-have gadget

Britain's largest mobile phone operator sees off Vodafone and Orange in fight to stock Palm Pre

O2 is set to follow up its success with the iPhone in the UK by grabbing an exclusive deal to stock the device that gadget fans reckon is the closest thing to a real competitor to the Apple device, the Palm Pre.

The UK's largest mobile phone operator, with more than 20 million customers, is understood to have seen off fierce competition for the new handset from Vodafone and Orange, and it will be available in the UK in time for the crucial Christmas period.

Palm, which popularised handheld computers called personal digital assistants (PDAs) such as the Palm Pilot in the 1990s, is hoping that the Pre will get it back into the lucrative market for smartphones, having lost out to rivals including Nokia and RIM, maker of the BlackBerry. Though the recession has brought overall growth in mobile phone sales to a spluttering halt, demand for high-end devices that can access the internet, send emails and play music, as well as allow calling and texting, has proved more resilient.

Last week, Palm announced that the Pre will be available in the US from next month under an exclusive deal with mobile network Sprint, for $199.99 (£129) on a two-year contract. Stocks of the device are limited, however, which is why gadget fans outside the US will have to wait several months before it becomes available.

As well as a touchscreen that reviewers have compared favourably with that found on the iPhone, the Pre has a slide-out full qwerty keyboard, making emails easier to type than on the Apple device. It also has an eye-catching way of recharging: rather than being plugged in, it has to be placed on what Palm calls its Touchstone and charges through magnetic induction.

For O2, who refused to comment, getting the Palm Pre will add another must-have gadget at a time when Apple is expected to open up the iPhone to other operators in the original four markets – the US, UK, France and Germany – where it initially opted for exclusive deals.

Expanding the number of operators able to stock the iPhone comes as a new model is unleashed on the market. Apple is also expected to unveil a new version of the handset within the next few months, possibly as early as early June, at its worldwide developers conference in San Francisco next month. That event is also expected to provide the first sight of Apple's latest device, a tablet computer that would bridge the gap between the iPhone and iPod Touch and its laptops.

The iPhone has already sparked a host of copycat touchscreen devices – from the Nokia 5800 and X-Series Walkman to the HTC Magic and G1, both of which run Google's new Android operating system – and more are expected as the year progresses. RIM is understood to have developed a new version of its BlackBerry Storm touchscreen device that its US partner Verizon Wireless, part-owned by Vodafone, is expected to launch next month. Though the original Storm, which Vodafone and Verizon had under an exclusive deal, has sold well, it received a poor critical reception.

The new version does away with one of the original device's most annoying features – SurePress, which required the user to press down the screen in order to type or select icons – and opts instead for a traditional touchscreen feel.

Thanks Richard Wray.

[Originally posted at guardian.co.uk]

Brits will buy Palm Pre over iPhone and HD Zune in the UK

Electricpig.co.uk, the UK tech news website that powers the technology section on Mirror.co.uk has conducted a poll on which gadget the readers would buy this summer.



Surprisingly for me Palm Pre came out on top with a staggering 83% leaving the new iPhone and Zune HD so far behind that they are now little dots compared to the Pre! Why was I surprised (because Pre is awesome, you will say!)? WELL, I am in the UK and Palm has not even began its marketing campaign here. We are yet to find out which network operator will sell the Pre and, most notably, I am still getting the same answer to my questions in all mobile shops “Errmmm… Palm what? We don’t stock WinMo devices”. *Sigh*

PAAAAALM! Can you give us some more UK news? Look how much we want the Pre!


[Originally posted at palmwebosblog.com]

Porting iPhone Web Apps to the Palm Pre WebOS is EASY!

Well folks, there you have it! Mitch Allen with Palm webOS, 1st Edition published by O'Reilly Media, Inc., explains that most iPhone apps can be easily ported over to the Palm WebOS. As Mitch states: while you can take a native app designed for the iPhone and build an app with a similar design for webOS, the language differences (Objective C vs. JavaScript) and the API differences between iPhone OS X and webOS make it difficult to port an iPhone native app to webOS, BUT if you have an iPhone web app, it is easy to port to webOS.



This meaning, there will be several apps both Web and Native that will eventually hit the App Catalog in a short time. The Palm aficionados can look forward to full featured Web applications designed for the iPhone but now ported over for the Palm Pre.

The question is: How many Web apps are currently available for the iPhone that could potentially spill over to the Palm Pre? I am sure Apple won't let us know for sure BUT let's find out here (about 3955 total).

[Originally posted at prethinking.com]

Palm Pre VS New iPhone Specs

We thought it would interesting to compare the confirmed Palm Pre specs to the rumored next generation iPhone specs that were recently leaked on the Chinese forum Chinese forum Weiphone.
Although the next-gen iPhone specs that were leaked haven’t been confirmed, they do seem very plausible so we have no reason at the moment at least to believe they aren’t true. Not all specs were leaked but we’ve compared what we know so far.




Palm Pre VS New iPhone

	Palm Pre	New iPhone
Operating System:	Palm® webOS™	iPhone OS 3.0
Network specs:	3G EVDO Rev A	3G / Edge
Display:	3.1-inch touch screen, 320×480 resolution.	3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen touch screen, 480 x 320 resolution.
Keyboard	Physical QWERTY keyboard	No physical keyboard
Memory:	8GB	32GB
Camera:	3 megapixel camera with LED flash	3.2 megapixel camera with no flash
Sensors	Ambient light accelerometer proximity	Ambient light accelerometer proximity
Tethering?:	Yes	Not Announced

As you can see above the rumored new iPhone appears to have more memory and a larger display, but at the same time the device is larger than the Pre so that’s to be expected. The Pre is on par with the iPhone in most other areas. In the end however, I have a feeling that the physical keyboard and tethering offered by the Pre is going to seal the deal for a lot of people.

[Originally posted at palmpreblog.com]

AT&T and iPhone: lower price plan, Palm Pre pressure

We have more details now on AT&T’s apparant plans to introduce a $10 price cut to their current price plan for the Apple iPhone, in preparation for the new iPhone device launching this Summer.

According to Cnet, analyst Michael Cote of Cote Collaborative said: ‘There is a “strong possibility” that AT&T will drop the entry-level price of its service plan to $59 from $69.’

Cnet also point out that AT&T declined to comment on this, while Michael Cote did not respond to emails for further clarification.

Apple are expected to unveil the new iPhone on June 8th at the WWD event in San Francisco. If the price cut rumors are true, how will Palm respond? Do you think they will be under pressure if the cut goes into effect?

[Originally posted at product-reviews.net]

Beta Tester "Confirms" Palm Pre Launch Price and Release Date

We're all getting pretty excited about the prospects offered by the Palm Pre and what it may bring to the cell phone market, but when will it finally be released to the public? A beta tester has leaked that info.

Naturally, you'll want to take this report with a huge grain of salt, but it apparently comes from one of the beta testers for the Palm Pre. The beta tester happens to be on Twitter and he recently said that he spoke to the account manager regarding launch info for the Palm Pre.

In his tweets, this Sprint beta tester says that the Palm Pre will be launching on April 30th and that's the "line in the sand, according to my acct mgr there...he's usually right on #Palm Pre." An April 30th launch date puts the phone slightly ahead of schedule, which is good news for fans of the touchy-QWERTY phone.

But how much will it cost? The same beta tester reports that he has a source (not Sprint) marking the Palm Pre's price tag at $299 with a two-year contract. That's the same price as a 16GB iPhone 3G from AT&T, so while it sounds pricey, it seems competitive. That said, the beta tester bets that it will be "$100 or so after all the hype wears off."

Ah, the price of being an early adopter.

[Originally posted at mobilemag.com]

Palm Pre Still Beats iPhone in Multitasking

webOS comes with backgrounding, iPhone OS 3.0 doesn't

As soon as Palm unveiled Pre, its new high-end mobile phone, most of the market watchers and industry analysts considered the device a great competitor against Apple's iPhone. The handset looks good, has a lot of capabilities, and also includes a brand new operating system, webOS, which is reportedly capable of doing a wide range of things.

Since the Palm Pre was so acclaimed, it was certain that Apple would come up with some ideas to compensate for the popularity the still unavailable handset enjoyed, and the newly announced iPhone OS 3.0 seems to be one of the steps the company took in this direction.

Enthusiasts from both sides have certainly jumped on the news right away, so as to make sure that things are indeed as reported, namely that the iPhone is back with more power and that the Palm Pre won't be able to outpace it after all. And we already saw that the new OS 3.0 for iPhone comes around with a lot of improvements and new features, around 100 of them, as Scot Forstall, senior vice president, iPhone Software, said recently.


When announcing Pre and its OS, Palm said that it offered “a rich open development environment that's familiar to tens of millions of web developers,” and about the same thing is what Apple says about its new iPhone OS, “iPhone SDK for iPhone OS 3.0 beta provides you with an amazing range of technologies to enhance the functionality of your iPhone and iPod touch applications.”

Among the new capabilities brought by the iPhone OS 3.0, we can also see cut/copy/paste, MMS, and push notifications, which is a service that should run in the background to alert the user whenever he/she receives a message on a third-party application such as IM. This new feature is meant to offer the device some sort of multitasking capabilities, something that other devices, including the upcoming Palm Pre, already have.


According to Apple, it chose to add the Push Notification Service to iPhone so as to offer an extended battery life. Compared to other smartphones and operating systems, says the company, this approach won't drain as much power from the battery as expected. On the other hand, undoubtedly, this solution does not solve all the problems the iPhone has with notifications.

At the same time, it seems that it is not exactly the solution that users were expecting to see for applications that require multitasking. And we already know that Palm's Pre is able to run more applications at the same time, allowing users to change the focus between them, and send apps like the IM to the background.

Furthermore, the new Push Notification Service could see some problems when having to notify users about several things at the same time. Not to mention that it would rely heavily on the third-party apps that it would notify about, and they should also be able to provide enough power efficiency to back Apple's statements about the battery life.

When it comes to Pre's webOS, the multitasking capabilities, as well as backgrounding functionality are all there, and it seems that they are a little more advanced than what was already available on the Palm OS until now. And that card-based UI that would allow us to shift between applications looks more than appealing as well.

For the time being, Apple hasn't released the new iPhone OS 3.0 to users, and it won't do so for the next couple of months either, at least not before Palm Pre is already available on the market. And while this time we can only talk about what the two will offer, in the summer we should also be able to see both of them at work. Yet, considering the current state of facts, Pre might still prove itself an iPhone killer.

As for backgrounding capabilities, Apple is aware of the fact that other mobile platforms include the feature. And given the fact that Microsoft's Windows Mobile, Google's Android and Palm's webOS have it, it might after all reconsider its position on the matter and offer its users a solution able to meet their needs.
[Originally posted at softpedia.com]

Top 7 touchscreen phones to look in 2009

There was a time not all that long ago when simply owning a mobile phone was enough to give you street cred.

These days though, it's all about which phone has the best camera, which screen is brighter, which one has more built-in memory, and which one can kill a deer at thirty paces.

But while the Apple iPhone has dominated the headlines for the last two years, 2009 looks to be the year when the best-of-the-rest give Apple a run for its money.

We saw a slew of fantastic new touchscreen phones announced at Mobile World Conference in February, and you can expect to see many of them causing a stir as the year progresses.

Here's our run down of the ones to look out for, with a little expert analysis from our resident mobile guru Gareth Beavis:

HTC Magic

Originally known in the rumour mill as the G2, the HTC Magic is the follow up to the T-Mobile G1. This time it's destined for Vodafone exclusivity in most European countries, and the Magic comes packing a 3.2-inch QVGA touchscreen, 3.2 megapixel camera and WiFi and HDSPA connectivity.

The HTC Magic features an updated Android OS - codenamed 'cupcake', which fixes a whole host of bugs that were found in the original G1, and has the added bonus of faster web browsing.

Our expert says: "We had a really good hands-on with this at MWC, and we were certainly impressed with what we saw. The touchscreen response is easily among the best out there, and when the Android Cupcake release hits, this is going to be a seriously good handset.

"Texting may be a little bit of a problem, as the default portrait keyboard was a little fiddly, and getting the thing into landscape QWERTY was a bit of a palaver. Still one of the handsets to watch in 2009 though."

Read our hands-on HTC Magic review

LG Arena KM900

Like the HTC Magic above, the LG Arena was officially unmasked at the Mobile World Congress expo in Barcelona last month.

The 3-inch touchscreen handset comes with LG's new 3D S-Class interface, which basically turns menus into rotating cubes. Going by LG's description, it's a cube-based layout which provides four customisable home screens for direct access to all features.

LG was also very eager to promote the prowess of the Arena's "rich 3D graphics".

The phone features an HSDPA connection, 800 x 480 3-inch touchscreen display, a 5MP camera to boot. Also included are aGPS, WiFi and FM radio, as well as a fairly hefty 1000mAh battery good for 300 hours' standby time.

Our expert says: "The S-Class interface is a revelation for LG, as the inclusion of two chipsets means the whole thing operates very, very smoothly. The touch feedback is nice and responsive, and little quirks like a scrollable radio tuner make this a very decent handset.

"However, the text input keys are a little small for the screen and inspire similar frustration to the Viewty, with too much inaccuracy. That said, the Arena is already breaking LG's pre-order records so it looks like this phone is almost certain to be a smash."

Read more about the LG Arena KM900

Samsung OmniaHD

The original Omnia was launched less than a year ago, but we're already being treated to a fairly exciting update.

The Omnia HD sports a whopping 3.7-inch touchscreen (bigger than the original) and comes with a TouchWiz interface instead of Windows Mobile like the first Omnia.

The HD name comes from the fact that the handset as an 8 megapixel sensor, which can competently record video in high definition (720p).

Our expert says: "The screen on this phone can't help but make you say 'Wow'! Or 'Wowsers' if that's your word of choice. The OLED screen is nothing short of phenomenal, with super-clear and crisp colours, and the 720p playback is mind-boggling.

Many of the failings of the original Omnia have been eradicated by removing Windows Mobile, and while the OmniaHD may not be as powerful as the original as a PMP it's probably the best phone out there given the 3.7-inch screen and Samsung surround sound."

Read our hands-on Samsung OmniaHD review

Sony Ericsson Idou

The Sony Ericsson Idou is currently just in prototype stage so there's no guarantee that it'll be available before the end of the year. However, given how far the development has come already, it seems likely that we'll see it launch at some point in the coming months.

The most impressive feature of the Idou is its 12.1 megapixel camera. The phone also has a snazzy 3.5-inch 640x360 screen and a brand new interface.

The Idou will also make use of the recent additions to the Sony Ericsson feature set, namely the PlayNow Arena and the MediaGo software which will allow users to easily sync between devices on a home server. Sony Ericsson is extolling the virtues of the system with the likes of Bravia TVs and PS3s, but it should also work on any DLNA-enabled server.

Our expert says: "We were one of the few to get a sneak preview of this device, and it made us feel excited about Sony Ericsson again. The new UI is tailor-made for touchscreens, with easy swiping of functions and an infinitely customisable home page.

The 12MP camera sadly wasn't on show at MWC due to it not being ready, but we'd have to assume considering this is the first phone to merge both the Walkman and Cyber-Shot brands it's going to be a powerhouse of convergence."

Read our hands-on Sony Ericsson Idou review

Nokia N97

Hot on the heels of the N96 comes Nokia's even newer flagship model, the N97.

Like the Sony Ericsson Idou, the N97's screen will be a 3.5in, 640x360, 16:9 affair, and the phone will also feature a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, HSDPA, Wi-Fi, 32GB of onboard memory with microSD expansion and a battery life of 36 hours for audio playback.

Nokia has also put a far-better-than-the-iPhone 5MP camera into the mixer, with Carl Zeiss lens and 'DVD quality' video capture.

Our expert says: "Nokia knows how to make a decent mobile phone, and while the 5800 failed to impress on a number of levels, the N97 has picked up the slack to be the powerful touch-based smartphone we were all waiting for.

"Most manufacturers have cottoned on to the fact that those message hungry consumers aren't happy with just a touchscreen, so the QWERTY addition is great.

"The on-board storage on the N97 is a first for a mobile phone, and one that hints this is not only going to be good for messaging, but great for media too. Our hands on at CES showed that this is certainly a decent phone, but the S60 interface is still a bit dated for our liking."

12 things you should know about the Nokia N97

Palm Pre

Possibly the most exciting phone in this list, the Pre is being hailed as the saviour of Palm as a company and a brand.

A smartphone with multi-touch screen and a slide-out keyboard, it is seen as one of the first true competitors to the Apple iPhone.

The Palm Pre has a 3 megapixel camera, a 3.1-inch multi-touch screen, 8GB of storage, full connectivity including 3G and Wi-Fi as well as a removable, rechargeable battery.

It's also one of the first smartphones to feature electromagnetic induction charging - a method of charging a battery without the need to plug the device into anything.

Our expert says: "It's hard to find something not to love on the Palm Pre; it's a really, really good effort from a company that needs a big win to reboot its fortunes.

"The multi-touch screen feels better than Apple's (something the rumoured lawsuit between the two shows) and the multi-window interface makes sorting out your business a breeze.

"The integration with Google, Outlook, Yahoo etc is fantastic too, and the QWERTY keyboard is just the right size to bang out a few e-mails and texts.

"If we're being picky, then the lack of on-board expansion is a bit of a shame, but that's nothing compared to how much we want Palm to hurry up and announce this for the UK."

Palm Pre vs Apple iPhone - the verdict

iPhone nano

Okay, so the iPhone nano has not been officially announced yet. But it seems one thing's for sure - Apple will release a new iPhone on the world this year, whether it's called the nano or not (not seems more likely).

So what can we expect to see in the new iPhone? It's pretty hard to second-guess an out-of-the-box company like Apple, but it's safe to say that we'll see a much improved camera and a raft of incidental updates too - it'll be lighter, thinner, better etc.

Our expert says: "Obviously this is just a rumour, and Apple could come out with something completely different or nothing at all come June, but it's safe to say that whatever happens, it will be a decent upgrade.

"The world still expects Apple to come out with a better camera on its phones, as well as changing the form factor: the iPhone nano easily makes the most sense as many have complained the iPhone is too big.

"That said, the constant rumours about the Apple netbook could mean the iPhone gets an increase in size, forming the basis of a tablet PC... either way, we're pretty sure Apple is planning a big surprise for 2009."

Read our Apple iPhone 3G review[Originally posted at  techradar.com]

Palm Pre Browser 4x Faster than iPhone !!!

I’m slightly bummed by the webcast presented by Palm and Sprint. There wasn’t much earth-shattering news here; it was a walkthough of the UI, a discussion about Synergy and info on the Sprint services that the Palm Pre will support. No updated news on pricing or availability at this point. There was one interesting tidbit in the demo when Matt Crowley, product line manager at Palm, did a Universal Search demo.

It was nice to see the Bluetooth app appear when he typed the letter “B.” Adding an “I” showed two of his contacts that had a “BI” in their name. Matt went the full monty by searching Google for Big12. That’s when it got interesting. He went to www.big12sports.com to check out the conference basketball site. It’s a pretty intensive site (shown) that’s best suited for a powerful desktop browser. I’m assuming that he was using Wi-Fi. I searched for and then hit the same site over Wi-Fi on my iPhone, and here’s where it got very interesting.

The Pre had fully rendered the complex site in around 8 seconds. Same site on my iPhone? About 30 seconds. Obviously, I don’t know if the Palm Pre Webkit browser caches web pages from prior usage. I know my iPhone doesn’t, so even if this page load speed was based on cache, it’s still a function not offered on my iPhone. Again, I saw this in real-time. Hit the Big12 site on your device and see how long it takes to render and use. Heck, why not leave a comment with the platform you used as well as the browser?

We already knew that Palm went with a high-end TI OMAP3 processor, while Apple opted for a different ARM solution from Samsung. I’m not losing sight of the fact that my iPhone hardware is nearly 2 years old, but the performance that I saw when browsing on the Pre was staggering. Bear in mind: nobody from Palm nor from Sprint mentioned any performance numbers. They didn’t make any comparisons to other devices. This is simply what I observed from the webcast, timing the performance and sharing the observation.

Watch the video here

[Originally posted at jkontherun.com]

Palm Pre Vs iPhone Vs G1

CES 2009 brought us a new player in the smartphone upper-echelon. Let's drill down and see how the Palm Pre compares with the iPhone and Android's G1.

1. Multitouch touchscreen/gesture control:
All three are capacitive, only the Pre and iPhone have multitouch. The Pre's glowy little "gesture area" has dropped the touchable real estate all the way down tto the bottom of the phone, which is great for being able to navigate with one hand and not interfere with the screen at all. The wavey dock you bring up from the bottom looks awesome, but can you use it out of the box without a second thought or page through the manual? That's my question. Advantage: iPhone/Pre tossup.

2. Multitasking:
One of the beefiest of our beefs with the iPhone SDK is its insistence on Apps running one at a time. The G1's notifications drawer was definitely a step in the right direction, but the Pre's interface is the first smartphone OS that was built with multitasking as a core design element. Resembling the Xbox's old Blades, or a less-jarring OS X Expose even, the Pre's "Cards" interface always places you in the context of every app running for fast switching, and notifications from other apps don't pull you away completely from the task at hand. Multitasking is hugely important on a phone, and it's a good sign that Palm recognizes. Advantage: Pre

3. Hardware:
Adrian says:

While the hardware is definitely high quality, I'm not entirely blown away by the design. It looks really nice, and original, but it's a little too cutesy in shape and kind of reminds me of an oversized pebble. A slightly larger screen could have definitely been put to good use, and I really don't like the black space on the sides of the screen.

A phone with a built-in QWERTY still hasn't touched the iPhone in terms of sleekness and pure sex. And it might still be a while. Advantage: iPhone

4. Development platform:
The Pre's "Web OS" sure sounds nice—all developers need to know is JavaScript, HTML and CSS? Sounds good in theory, but building a mobile app will never be as easy as cranking out a new theme for your Tumblr. Palm's stressing ease of development, though, so it will be interesting to see how it stacks up against Apple's solid, familiar-to-devs OS X-based SDK and Android's fully open source approach. Advantage: Pre? If it's straight-up JavaScript, that's a lot of programmers ready to go. Note: we had iPhone here before, but we've switched with a qualification. Developer community still goes to iPhone for volume.

5. Web Integration:
The Pre subtly integrates the internet into the phone at every opportunity, and it's awesome. Contacts get pulled in from Facebook, Gmail, IM and and scanned for dupes; the messaging app shows your last several emails, IMs and SMS with that contact in a single window. Really, really smart stuff. Advantage: Pre

6. App Store/developer community:
A smartphone is only as good as the software it runs. On the Pre, Palm is still keeping application delivery details like pricing behind the curtain, but they did say the app delivery will be entirely handled by the phone (without a desktop app), which is a shame. They're saying that they're not going to duplicate Apple's Hobbesian app approval black box mistake, which Android has also hasn't fallen for, but there will be an approval process based on "security and stability." But as we know with Android, a dev community needs enough devices in the hands of consumers to reach critical mass, which the Pre will have to match. Advantage: iPhone, even with the black box, but Android and Pre's more open stances are reassuring.

7. Wireless charger:
We've seen wireless charger tech for years at CES, but it's taken this long for a major consumer gadget to come bundled with its own wireless charger in the box. Whoops, it's not in the box, sold separately for unknown $$. But still: Bravo. Advantage: Pre

8. The Network:
Dan Hesse, Sprint's CEO, gave our coast-to-coast 3G test a shout out in his press conference. Of course he did: Sprint won (in download speeds). Sprint was the only major carrier without a powerful, hype-catching smartphone choice, and now they have one. The Pre is a data-centric phone with a network we've proven to be strong in a large swatch of the country—that's a good combo. But would you switch to Sprint for the Pre? Ugh. Advantage: Not cut and dry for everyone, but we stand by our numbers: Sprint is the best 3G network in our tests.

9. Physical keyboard:
It's preference, but one held by a large swathe of the gadget buying public: physical QWERTY keypads are still the mainstream input of choice. Touch is getting better all the time, but a lot of people still want physical keyboards. But better yet is the ability to choose; unfortunately, the Pre doesn't have a soft onscreen keyboard, and its slide-out is the same meh QWERTY from the Treo Pro. Advantage: It's preference, but on me, the iPhone's soft keyboard can't be beat.

10. Camera:
The Pre has an LED Flash for its 3MP camera, something both the iPhone and G1 lack. Flash cellphone photos are ugly, but for a lot of people, they're good enough. So credit for throwing it in. Advantage: Pre

11. Battery:
Apple's still an outlier with their non-removable battery; like the G1's, the Pre's comes out for a spare swap too. We've heard Apple's reasons for this a million times, we know the drill, but removable batteries will never stop being handy. Advantage: Pre

12. Copy & Paste:
Yep, Pre's got it. iPhone still doesn't. Advantage: Pre/G1

13. Browser:
All three use a browser based on WebKit, which has become the standard for the mobile web. We couldn't put it through our Mobile Browser Battlemodo ringer obviously, but what we saw looked great, and it's the only other mobile browser besides the iPhone that supports multitouch zooming. Advantage: iPhone/Pre

So there you have it. We're excited. Are you?



[originally posted at gizmodo.com]