iPhone 3G S vs. Palm Pre: A video shootout

They're the two hottest smartphones of the year. The iPhone 3G S and the Palm Pre emphasize multimedia capabilities and are centered on versatile touchscreens that are among the best we've ever tested. Both even cost the same: $199 with a two-year contract (though there's a more capacious iPhone that costs $299.)

Both are also fine performers that we expect to formally recommend next week, once we've fully completed our tests and added them to our smart phone Ratings. (Both Consumer Reports Ratings and Recommendations are available to subscribers.)

Meantime, here's a Western-themed video shootout, in which phone-slingers Mike Gikas (at the iPhone end of the saloon) and Paul Eng (representing the Palm Gang) settle their differences.

Mike fires with the iPhone's new Voice Control feature, which allows you to dial numbers and even search for music by speaking to the phone. He also singles out the camera on the 3G S, which offers features lacking from past iPhones, like auto-focus and the ability to shoot videos, and adds nice video-editing and tap-to-focus capabilities.

Had the shooting continued for longer, Mike would have also mentioned the varied, larger capacity of the iPhone. Where the Palm comes in only an 8GB version, the iPhone has 16GB of capacity in the $199 version and 32GB in its $299 version.

Paul blasts back with the Palm's impressive multitasking capability. Unlike the iPhone, it allows you to have multiple applications open on the desktop, which you can shuffle around like cards. The closing shot: The phone's service plans, which offer more for the money than those for the iPhone—as Palm touted in print ads that ran this week.

For his part, Paul was silenced before he could say that the Palm is one of the smallest smart phones in our labs, and that you can replace the battery yourself—a convenience not offered for iPhones.

The final verdict will come next week, when we add the phones to the Ratings, which will be available to subscribers. We'll let you know when that happens. —Paul Reynolds

Comments

[Richard E]

Brian, the iphone is sold through a Japanese cell phone provider (Softbank), and in over 80 countries. It handles Japanese text (even Emoji). Like most other GSM phones, the iphone works worldwide on most networks.

And if you want to cut and paste into your Office Documents you can buy "Quickoffice" or "Documents to Go" in the itunes store for your iphone. The same two companies make programs that can enable you to cut and paste Office documents for many other phone operating systems (Blackberry, Android, Symbian, etc.).

[JV]

It's nice to see that you blog about a phone OTHER than an iPhone, even if only in comparison with iPhone. Verizon customers can't use iPhone so maybe consider blogging about something we would care about?

I just looked at the cell phone ratings and the most important feature doesn't seem to be compared: reception. A cell phone with bad reception is useless regardless of what other cool features it has. And I have experienced VERY DIFFERENT reception quality with different phones. It's not minor variations.

Please pass that feedback along to your phone reviewers. I would appreciate some information on that in future.

[Sumit Mehta]

CR rates Verizon as having the best service. Why not include Verizon's Samsung SCH-i760 (never rated despite physical keyboard and perhaps similar to previously highly rated Blackjack II or Epix) or Omnia (rated equal to Iphone 3G) in this shootout? Does CR think that although Verizon is better in nearly all cities surveyed, their lead is negligible?

Why were the Blackjack II and Epix overall scores dropped and the Iphone 3G's raised in the latest ratings? Why combine talking and listening voice quality into one rating? Why not display the sensitivity score in the rating anymore? These are two crucial aspects of a phone that are difficult for an individual to objectively test. Other things like display quality are much easier for us to evaluate. We need more info from CR on these factors, not less.

I have always tried and ended up never using voice control on anything I have ever owned, and I don't have an accent and I enunciate. Doesn't it make mistakes? Nothing beats a physical button.

What is the advantage of having multiple apps open at the same time when the screen is so small compared to a desktop and the apps usually take little time to open?

[Brian Berney]

Guys, you didn't really comment on some of the features that matter most to Business Users... That being the ability to view AND EDIT Microsoft Office Documents... Also, that a true business users phone today must work EVERYWHERE including Japan... I'd like to know has Apple finally made an iPhone I can use? I don't know, but I'd imagine that the Palm is a full business phone. It doesn't sound like either is a better fit for the International Businessman than the AT&T Fuze (HTC) I have now... And I was so hoping that someone would make a GUI screen and ease of use like the iPhone (which my wife has), but with all the features I NEED... When will Apple service business users?