Palm Pre vs. iPhone 3G S vs. iPhone 3G on Video
The iPhone 3G S is going to start hitting eager owner hands shortly, and the iPhone 3.0 update has already hit iPhone 3G owner hands. CNET Asia decided to put those two phones up against the Palm Pre in a video test comparing “real world” speeds. They tested cold boot times, web browser speed, and taking a photo and sending it via email. I won’t spoil the results, just watch the video and see for yourself how the three phones fared. There is nothing scientific about this test, but it is interesting to see real things being done on the phones. One thing is certain, the iPhone 3G S is so much faster than the older iPhone 3G.
Wow im impressed with the Pre!! That was some dam fast browsing speed and sending speed!
I think my mind is set now for which to get, i just need to remember that the boot time is worse than windows vista!
The boot time is the worst on the Pre for sure. The fact is however that I don’t ever power it down so I don’t ever have to boot it up barring a firmware update.
Thats good to know, i was weary but thats because im coming from a touch hd with win mo 6.1 which i have to reboot several times a day, now im definately sold on a pre, cheers!
The CNET Asia bit was a joke.
Let’s see if Google Chrome on a Mac can handle this posting…
So one of the features of the Pre is a removable battery that lets you carry along extra run time. But it comes with a boot time so horrendous you’ll be missing phone calls while you wait for it to boot after swapping the battery?
Its still better than missin phonecalls untill you get to a power supply!
How many calls are you going to miss in two minutes?
The bigger problem is that there’s a greater chance that you’d have your browsing interrupted on the iPhone with multiple calls coming through while you wait for it to load a page.
I think the video has been pulled or something, link does not work, and video does not play.
@Jalapeno I just watched it. Works fine. But it’s not worth watching, IMO.
Must hurt to be an iPhone fan…
Plus, aren’t they testing in San Francisco? From what I have read here on the site, SF has horrible AT&T 3G, so that might be a bit unfair. They should have tested all three to level the playing field a bit.
I agree — a level playing field is needed to test these devices. One such field would be WiFi. As presented, the CNET video suggests more about Sprint vs ATT in SF. That said, the network should always be something to think about when selecting a device.
AT&T reception is horrible here in San Francisco period, while I’ve always had great reception and 3g with Sprint.
I’m not a fan of iPhones or AT&T, but the location really was biased.
But you have to take the service into account as well. Since the phones are only available on their respective cell networks that is a valid comparison point.
I was playing with a friends iPhone 3G last night and the browser speeds were awful. That’s in the middle of London on 02. I ended up giving up after waiting a couple of minutes to load a very simple page. My friend apologised and mumbled something about it being faster on WiFi.
Every review I’ve seen has said that the Pre has a much faster browser than the iPhone and it would seem that the iPhone 3GS is no better in that department.
I have a pretty busy schedule tomorrow, but if time allows, I’ll do a similar test over Wi-Fi between my Pre and iPhone 3G S. I suspect the Pre’s browser might be a little faster, but the browser shortcomings could potentially make it slower to get where you want to get. They need to add an indicator to tell you where you are on the page and we also need a fast way to nav back to the top of a webpage. That’s where Apple’s version gains “speed”; in the actual navigation and usage. Just my first thoughts without an iPhone 3G S in hand yet.
They admit it’s unscientific and varies to conditions.
that said the first test is the only one we can take a smidgen of interest in.
Second and third based on network speed varies to the network coverage and bandwidth available. Significant that the 3G phone was taken out as it dropped to Edge which probably means reception problems.
Some time ago Palm legal filed SEC documents listing this vary issue:
“regarding the relative development and stability of Sprint’s, Verizon’s and AT&T’s 3G networks are generalizations regarding wireless cellular network performance that may or may not be true depending on a variety of factors specific to geographic regions.”
iPhone fans sound butthurt & are putting the excuse-o-meter out of the drawer (seems like that would get tiring after awhile).
The tester saying the iphone 3GS is not running ATT’s 7.2 network upgrade should not matter. Sprints equivalent would be Rev-B which is 9.3Mbps, the Pre is running Rev-A which has a max of 3.1Mbps. Also, WebOS is much more complex than OSX, the Pre has to run through Sprints network as well during boot-up. I doubt the Pre CNET had was running the latest firmware upgrade, my Pre does not take that long at all.
The Pre sent a picture of the light. That almost certainly results in a much smaller file because of the way jpeg compression works. Calling this an “unscientific test” is an understatement.
The more important thing is human usability. The iPhone user took the photo and had already hit the send button when the Pre user was just starting to type in the TO address. In other words, it appears the iPhone is more usable.
How can you hit the send button without adding a delivery address?
You but the phone and sign up to the network. If you are willing to accept poor reception in return for the phone you have then please don’t complain about one phone being able to browse quicker than the other.
Phones surprisingly enough add value when connected to the network.
Why don’t people do something that’s intelligent like get a contract with the network that has the best recepton in the area you live and work in.
Anand Tech
has done some controlled WiFi tests on Pre and iPhone 3Gs.
The iphone is faster.
” the 3GS is actually able to render webpages slightly faster than the Pre in some cases. The overall performance advantage ends up being 11% in favor of the 3GS over the Pre.”
http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3587
So for the iphone users, have fun finding a hotspot. My 3g coverage owns you