Palm Pre vs iPhone OS 3.0

It just got more difficult to decide which phone has more to offer: the Palm Pre or the Apple iPhone OS 3.0. The iPhone OS 3.0, scheduled to appear this summer, will address several shortcomings of its predecessor: cut and paste functionality, MMS messaging (for sending audio and images with messages), improved search using spotlight (borrowed from Apple’s desktop OS X platform), and improved synchronization – iPhone 3.0 adds CALDAV and .ics to its Exchange support to give users the choice of working with Google Calendar, Yahoo! Calendar, and to allow for sharing calendars.

The Palm Pre has a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus; the iPhone 3.0 OS has a 2.0 megapixel fixed-focus camera. Palm Pre has GPS navigation, Apple says it will open iPhone 3.0’s GPS functionality to third party developers. The Pre allows multiple applications to run at the same time – iPhone OS 3.0 does not.

My thoughts: With  OS 3.0, Apple will keep a lot of it’s previous supporters happy – many of them will stick with the iPhone. The Apple App Store is very popular and well stocked. The Palm Pre uses a new platform, webOS. As such, applications for the Pre are being made from scratch. Only time will tell if the Palm Pre can start to catch up in the applications area. I am curious about the Pre’s battery: with a large display and the ability to run multiple applications, will the Palm Pre’s battery last throughout the day? At least I can replace the Pre’s battery – I can not replace the iPhone OS 3.0 battery. The iPhone OS 3.0 is a free upgrade for those of you who already have the iPhone OS 2.0. For the iPod Touch owners in the crowd, the upgrade to OS 3.0 will cost $9.95

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