APPLE IPHONE VS. PALM PRE - A COMPARISON

The iPhone is at the top of the mobile phone food chain. Many challengers have attempted to topple the iPhone from its lofty throne, but all of them have fallen short. However, a new and upstart challenger, borne from the combined efforts of Sprint and Palm, is coming to wrest the crown from Apple's hit handset. Will that Palm Pre be able to dethrone the iPhone 3G? Let's compare the features and capabilities of these touchscreen handsets to find out.

Design and Size: Both of these handsets sport stylish designs that make them attractive to many types of users. The iPhone has a thin bar-style design while the Palm Pre has a pebble shaped body with a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard. The iPhone's iconic design has the edge in aesthetics, but the physical QWERTY keyboard on the Pre makes it better suited for text messaging and email.

Display: The iPhone has a bigger touchscreen at 3.5 inches compared with the Pre's 3.1 display but the displays have the same resolution at 320x480 pixels. Both of these phones also have multi-touch technology and support for gestures.

OS: We still don't know a lot about the webOS platform, but it appears to have the advantage when it comes to multitasking and running background apps. However, the iPhone has the support of a robust app store with over 25,000 available applications. Battery and Charging: Unlike the iPhone, the Palm Pre is equipped with a removable battery, huge plus when traveling long distances without a charger. The Pre is also compatible with the Touchstone wireless charger, but this gadget is sold separately.

Camera: The Pre also hs the edge in this category with its more powerful 3 megapixel camera and LED flash. However, it's still unclear if will be able to shoot videos. The iPhone has a decent 2 megapixel camera with no video recording support (that may change with the next software upgrade).

Wireless Options: Both of these devices offer 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity. However, the Palm Pre has stereo Bluetooth with A2DP while the iPhone only has Monaural Bluetooth (the next iphone will mostly have stereo Bluetooth). Enterprise Support : Both of these high-end handsets support Microsoft Exchange Active Sync to connect with corporate Exchange servers. However, the iPhone holds the advantage because it works with Cisco's VPN client and Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA 2) for WLAN connections.

Calendar Syncing. The Pre uses Synergy to link up Outlook, Google and even Facebook calendars to one location. On the other hand, the iPhone's limited Calendar app is not even capable of inviting meeting requests.

At this point it is difficult to determine which the superior touchscreen device because Sprint and Palm are preparing the Pre for its much awaited release. Apple is also working on the third-gen iPhone which is expected to deliver major improvements. However, our knowledge of the Palm Pre thus far suggests that it will provide a serious challenge to iPhone’s hegemony.