Tech Preview: Palm Pre or iPhone 3GS?

It's been a long time since I've possessed what could be called a 'good phone'. This is because I always found myself willing to sacrifice having a decent handset for the sake of a free xbox 360, PS3 or Wii with my phone contract.

I'm finally out of contract with Orange, and dying to get a new phone with unlimited net access. The only two competitors are the Palm Pre...

...and the new iPhone.
Both have a touch screen, both have unlimited data access, both can be used as an iPod (the Pre tricks iTunes into thinking it's an iPod), both have GPS and Wi-Fi and just about everything else you can imagine (see here for a full side-by-side comparison).

But when comparing the two online, I couldn't help but be more impressed with the Pre. It looks very sleek, and as if a lot of thought has gone into designing both the hardware and the WebOS operating system on it. It has brilliant multitasking capabilities, lots of ways to intelligently organise your data and do cool stuff with GPS and social networking sites.

That, in addition to the fact that I've never liked the look of the iPhone, meant that for the past couple of months the Pre has been at the top of my wish list.

At the WWDC conference in San Fransisco on Monday, Apple announced the iPhone 3GS which is basically a pimped out version of the existing iPhone 3G handset, with a few new features and a faster user experience. It appeals, but still sits second in my wish list when compared with the Pre.

Palm have released the Pre in the US already, but for some reason they have not stated a release date for the UK, where the iPhone 3GS is out on 19th June.

In the incredibly competetive smartphone market where the Pre is undoubtedly Palm's 'do or die' handset, this is an unbelievable error. There must be literally thousands of people like me, who want a new phone and can't decide between the Pre and the iPhone. These people would like to see what the Pre can do, but are not willing to hang around for months until Palm get their act together and set a release date. It's looking likely that I will get an iPhone next week (if there's enough available!) and that in my case, Palm have shot themselves in the foot by being too slow off the mark in releasing their much-hyped phone.

It's disappointing, but if you want to compete with Apple, you need to play the game. And Palm's move should have been to release the Pre in the UK before the iPhone 3GS, or at least a matter of days or weeks after.

Maybe they underestimate the importance of the European consumer electronics market. But they shouldn't, because it could mean their downfall.