Poll: iPhone 3GS or the Pre?

Alright folks, we know you were all waiting to see Apple's hand before you made the big Pre / iPhone decision, and now you know -- so what's it going to be? Hardware keyboard and true multitasking or video recording and voice control? Sprint or AT&T? The Clash or The Sex Pistols? Let us know!

iPhone 3G S or the Pre?

It's not even a contest -- 3G S, baby!Are you kidding? It's gotta be the Pre.The $99 iPhone 3G is just way too hard to pass up.Come on! WinMo, Symbian, Android -- all better options.Bah, I can do everything I need on this first-gen RAZR.Vote

[maximus @ Jun 8th 2009 5:09PM]

Comparison chart please?

[deryth7 @ Jun 8th 2009 5:12PM]

A chart would be nice.

[sanriver12 @ Jun 8th 2009 5:12PM]

now i understand why apple was taking jabs at windows 7... their keynote sucked sweaty balls, the iphone 3gs is a bag of failure, they were desparate.

[Hackettman @ Jun 8th 2009 5:15PM]

It did seem a bit far reaching...... As if it were really not necessary......

[bandigolo @ Jun 8th 2009 5:15PM]

They all have flaws.

Just give me a stable, feature rich Android-running HTC Touch HD and I'll be chipper. Thanks.

[sanriver12 @ Jun 8th 2009 5:16PM]

check out nasdaq, apple stock is down 2.5%
hahahahahahaha

[Sisyphus @ Jun 8th 2009 5:17PM]

+1

A comparison chart would really be nice.

Especially one that shows the cost of each plan over time, apples-to-apples, diagrammatically.

[skyblaze @ Jun 8th 2009 5:20PM]

don't know how in the hell 3G S made over 55.8% already... seriously don't see why itd be worth the upgrade (newcomers sure, why not but if you got a 3g you arent missing much in my opinion.) che..... i'll probly get low ranked for this but im so glad i preorded that n97... can't wait :)

[Mark Anderson @ Jun 8th 2009 5:22PM]

@skyblaze

Because disappointments aside it's still a good phone. It's just not the world beater it was anymore.

[Heffer @ Jun 8th 2009 5:25PM]

All you need to know is that the Pre cuts cheese and can shave your beard. The iPhone can't.

Win: Palm!

[Mark Anderson @ Jun 8th 2009 5:30PM]

@skyblaze

However, I too am getting an N97 as it looks a lot better than either.

[---- @ Jun 8th 2009 5:32PM]

i just bought a pre ... and returned it not even 24 hours ... talk about piece of junk

the bottom corners of my screen were screwed up .. like the back light was shining through .. makes the screen look cheap, and the phone kept shutting off

i thing palm was in too much of a rush to release this model that is obviously not ready.

[Francizco F @ Jun 8th 2009 5:34PM]

@Mark Anderson

Yeah. I agree. I am slightly disappointed, but it is still a great phone. We are now at the point where Apple doesn't need to do very much to stay on top. However, I am sure we will see a more substantial upgrade next year when the competition really heats up. So, yeah, I welcome the people who will switch to the Pre. Its going to push Apple to bring out the big guns.

Also, the Pre is still 1.0. It may have some cool things that the iPhone doesn't, but there is still a fairly substantial gap in the two OS. Just look at how much API's and end user features that were added in 3.0. It's going to take a while for competitors to catch up... but, that will be a good thing because it will force Apple to fulfill our wish list. :-)

I've decided I'm going to upgrade next week. I really enjoy my iPhone and my digital life (especially media) is built around it. So, switching to the Pre or something else would involve some work.

[---- @ Jun 8th 2009 5:40PM]

the poll has spoken .... you all can shut up now

[trevor @ Jun 8th 2009 5:40PM]

seems everyone's forgot about jobs in the midst of all this disappointment, huh? wonder if he got over his sicky........

[jinsei888 @ Jun 8th 2009 6:09PM]

Majority consumers, not people like us gadget geeks, do not make a purchase based on data charts or technology jargon--market consumers buy what "they think is nice" which is almost always qualitatively measured, not quantitatively--like a chart.

By purely blind desirability, the Apple fairs a better chance at success, when comparing these two phones. The $$ will be the proof, not our web geek debates.

[rento @ Jun 8th 2009 6:43PM]

Chart pliz. BTW I think I am going to go for Samsung i8910 Omnia HD: 3.7" OLED capacitive touchscreen, 8MP camera with flash, 720p video recording,16 GB max storage and more... XD
Available in the UK now!

[iphonerulez @ Jun 8th 2009 6:55PM]

Forget the charts. Only some doofus tech-nerd such as myself, would ask to see a comparison chart. Feature charts mean almost nothing when it comes people liking to use a device or to sales. What really matters is can the handset perform well for the most number of users. I'm sure if you used a chart to compare the features of the Xperia X1 vs the iPhone, the Xperia would easily win. So what. The Xperia was a disaster for SE and users alike.

Even the 3GS is weak on some hardware features. For it's price, compromises must be made to keep profit margins high. Even so, the iPhone is going to sell, sell, sell. It'll be a breeze to use and to replace if necessary. Customer support and AppleCare will back up any problems. You see the voting. Definitely in favor of the iPhone and past and future sales will back that up. But if you like the Pre, then that's your business regardless of the votes.

The $99 8GB iPhone will just about smother any high Pre sales because even though the Pre has better hardware, it's a high risk item and, for now, a low-inventory item. Palm may even have a problem selling the Centro now (unless the Centro data plans are really inexpensive).

If you think the average customer is going to go into a store to buy an item and ask to see a damn chart, you must be completely deluded. My friends hate charts and manuals for electronic products. They barely know what half that tech stuff means. They just want to use the devices with as little effort as possible. They don't rationalize purchases based on a comparison chart. That would be far too misleading to sucker people.

Just be happy Palm is selling some Pres, but please don't say it's going to outsell the iPhone because of a couple of features. Palm is an American company and I'd be pleased to see it not have to shut down.

[xyz @ Jun 8th 2009 7:49PM]

The only reason(and btw. THE reason for me) to buy an iPhone instead of a Pre is the video recording feature. It was the only feature holding me back from upgrading from my SE K810i, which can't do anything special, but still can record videos, like 99.9% of normal cellphones. Only those wannabe smartphones like iPhone(up to 3G) and the pre can't record video and I don't see any reason for leaving out that feature. But with the iPhone 3GS having the ability to do that, it's easy to guess, what my next cellphone will be.

[Steveorevo @ Jun 8th 2009 7:53PM]

I do hope the Pre and Nokia devices survive as both have outstanding potential. Short on insight as the App Store still rules. Can't wait for the 45000 apps to update and utilize more 3.0 features. Just downloaded a universal translator today and I have to admit the speech synthesis from a company called Future App is incrediable! Sounds very realistic (why iPhone's voice confirmation is so computer-like is a mystery -purpose?). For the gym trainer, medical professional, realestate expert or database/sys admin, I'd still have to say that iPhone makes it with the hundreds of apps that address those exact markets -it still leaves me in amazement everytime I click that little App Store icon. Anyone who thinks its just 'fart apps' must be smelling whats between their ears.

Yes, more apps on the competeting platforms is a must if they are to survive and to help push Apple harder.

[Adam @ Jun 8th 2009 8:30PM]

Again, what can the Pre do that the iPhone can't? Haters keep saying "only the uninformed public would want an iPhone", well please tell me why the Pre is a better option? Background apps? That's all I can think of. It's a pretty clear choice for a 1st gen iPhone user like myself, 3G or 3GS. Nothing else comes close to the feature set, apps, video and music over 3G, podcasts over wifi, improved camera and video app, landscape keyboard, cut and paste, universal search, turn by turn gps from my phone, I could keep going. So what features on the Pre rival any of this?

Put up or shut up, don't just say "oh it has more features". What features you juggeads?!??!? I'm going 3rd grade math on you tools.....you think something is better SHOW YOUR WORK AS TO WHY ITS BETTER!!! I'm out.

[Quantumphysics @ Jun 8th 2009 8:30PM]

THE AIY'S HAVE IT.

NOBODY WANTS A Pre !

There are like 31,000 + votes for the 3GS

[Blitzkreig @ Jun 8th 2009 9:33PM]

@ Adam

The Pre can do a lot much better than the iPhone. Theres a physical keyboard, a better browser, native facebook integration, Synergy, which takes you contacts from a variety of different locations and merges them into one list, a design so its hardly longer and wider than a razer (though thicker) etc.

Also, the contract runs you a lot cheaper with Sprint's Everything for $99 a month plan. Granted, however, the network is a little worse.

The iPhone and Pre are both incredibly viable candidates. The Pre handles multitasking better and has a few new features which are unparalleled on other phones (not just the iPhone). The iPhone's infastructure is quite a bit better and obviously is a more mature platform. It's really going to come down to how fast and effectivley Palm can update WebOS and who can be the first on the 4G bandwagon.

[GET ON @ Jun 8th 2009 10:06PM]

@ Adam

because the Palm Pre can do everything you just listed you TOOL ... they are both great phones get over yourself... i myself am going to get a palm pre because of service in my area and price.. i only need 450 anytime minutes, we get free minutes starting @ 7pm and unlimited text and data for 70 bucks a month... if i wanted to get an iphone i would have to pay 130 a month?!?!

again both are amazing phones and iphone is better right now cause it has more apps to back it up... but dont like like the pre is a piece o S get over yourself you have nothing to do with making the product your just a looser who sits at home all day reading the same blogs all day long

[DP @ Jun 8th 2009 11:35PM]

You want to know why the iPhone has the Pre beat? One word: image. Screw the facts, a product is only as good as a person perceives it to be. What will people see and hear? iPhone 3G S all day everyday on the news, radio, television. Just image.

[Adam @ Jun 9th 2009 12:57AM]

I guess the point I'm trying to drive home is this, the iPhone is much more than a phone, but it isn't really great at one thing. The Pre pretty much just is a phone, and it isn't really even good with that. Point by point:

Contacts: as someone mentioned the organizing and gathering contacts for the Pre is it's claim to fame, so I won't even debate that one
Pre-1, iPhone-0

Multimedia: the only argument the Pre has going for it is the fact that you don't have to UAE iTunes. However, the ability to download "The Shield" on the go, a bigger screen, podcast on the fly, cost of discounted albums on iTunes, and gaming give a huge advantage to the iPhone.
Pre-1, iPhone-1

Keyboard: I never understood the the hoopla over a physical keyboard, but two things give the iphone an advantage: 1.) the Pre's keyboard is tiny, and the ability to use a landscape keyboard in every application makes the ease of use even greater for the iPhone and 2.) in most reviews reviewers point out the Pre's keyboard as a weakness. Non-responsive keys, the mentioned diminutive size of the keys, the fact that you have to slide it out for the most mundane key entry due to the lack of a virtual keyboard, and the quality control issues from sharp edges to not being able to use the function keys.
Pre-1, iPhone-2

OS: People rave about WebOs, so I'll just take their word.
Pre-2, iPhone-2

Applications: In my eyes this is where the iPhone stops being a phone and ascends to a whole other level. Someone mentioned a native Facebook app.....that's like bringing a pebble to a ICBM fight. Forget the sheer number of apps, it's all about the added functionality to your iPhone. Want to organize your Netflix queue, done in seconds. Set your DVR, ditto. However, you can do that on most phones. Play MGS, stream radio stations, tap tap revenge, news apps, tv listings, video game reviews, basically whatever you could ever want mostly for free, and all done by swiping your screen to the left. Sure the Pre will get some of those apps in time, but the iPhone has those and more right now. It's 360 vs. PS3 all over again. The 2 year lead built up such a functionality advantage that it's almost impossible for the other to catch up.
Pre-2, iPhone-3

Camera(s): No need for debate, the 3G S has a better camera, and video with built in editing and posting straight to Youtube.
Pre-2, iPhone-4

It really depends on what's important to the individual consumer to determine what they want out of a phone, but it's pretty hard to beat the versitility of the iPhone. Sure there are and will be phones that beat the iPhone at specific tasks, but the iPhone is the best all arround "phone". That's pretty incontrovertible.

[dansus @ Jun 9th 2009 10:14PM]

I have\want a phone with a hardware kboard and lets me download and do anything what i want on 3G.

Iphone, Pre, Andriod = Fail.

Nokia, Samsung = Win!

What about Sony Erricson i hear you say.... yeah, whatever. The phone has to work first to qualify in this little game. lol

[Mike @ Jun 8th 2009 5:10PM]

I'm still waiting on a decently fast android phone. I wish I could just load android on a 3GS and call it good..

[m1331y @ Jun 8th 2009 5:54PM]

Definitely The Clash. Long live Joe Strummer.

[ImaYam @ Jun 8th 2009 9:46PM]

Pistols. Long live Sex.

[ananimus3 @ Jun 8th 2009 10:47PM]

@Karl: The Pre itself supports tethering and this has already been put to use in a couple of forums. The community's already trying to work out how to trick the Sprint network into allowing it.

It's happened on every Sprint device I've ever owned, dumbphone to smartphone. Granted the Pre's a new kind of beast, but being generous, I give it a couple of weeks before tethering is opened up for the Pre.

[Jonathant @ Jun 8th 2009 5:10PM]

Buying the Pre now, waiting a couple of years for a true next gen iphone.

[Jonathan @ Jun 8th 2009 5:19PM]

I'm returning my Pre now. With the iPhone 3GS being 2x to 3x faster, it'll murder the Pre in performance, which is slow and can take 8 seconds to open an app.

It also feels pretty flimsy, everytime I do the back gesture the top layer shifts, it's annoying.

[Chi @ Jun 8th 2009 5:22PM]

8 seconds? I have my Pre right in front of me. Whatever you're doing to make it something launch in 8 seconds is a load of crap. Also, the new iPhone 3GS still can't do multi-apps. You can do one thing at a time FASTER while the Pre and Blackberry are doing multiple things at once. Who do you think wins especially when you want 3 things done at once? Thank you.

[mikemick @ Jun 8th 2009 5:50PM]

You've just shown your hand... You don't have a Pre and you aren't taking one back. You've read a review where it says it can take 8 seconds to load an app. Anyone that has a Pre will tell you that this is pretty rare, unless you are opening a bunch of intensive programs.

[AmaaR @ Jun 8th 2009 5:40PM]

@ Jonathan - the Pre doesn't take that long to open an app!

[haX0r @ Jun 8th 2009 5:48PM]

Enjoy AT&T No MMS or Tethering for a while. Bye bye!

[Karl @ Jun 8th 2009 6:07PM]

@haX0r: HAHA no tethering for a while? AT&T is planning to allow tethering. Oh and BTW the Pre doesn't tether at all and they have announced no plans to change that. Also AT&T will be implementing MMS on the iPhone before the end of the summer.

[Lee Walton @ Jun 8th 2009 6:10PM]

LOL at Lying @ss iPhone L(users) trying to say they bought Pres and are taking them back!

Bottom line, Apple failed miserably here! There is NO compeling reason to buy an iPhone over a Pre, unless you want an old UI, single tasking, cult of a phone. The only thing driving iPhone sales at this point are the idiots who try to be cool but fail.

[Devin Brown @ Jun 8th 2009 9:08PM]

oh you're right, no compelling reason to get an iphone over the pre. who cares about double the storage? who cares about a built in ipod? who cares about video recording? who cares about better copy & paste (that's for you previous whiners out there- you know who you are and now you can STFU)? who cares about better battery life? who cares about the thousands of ipod accessories you can use? who cares about available 32 gigs? who cares about a HUGE app library with thousands of useful and really fun apps? who cares about being able to use ITMS to download movies, songs, podcasts, etc. directly

[Steveorevo @ Jun 8th 2009 8:07PM]

"he new iPhone 3GS still can't do multi-apps"

But it can multitask 3.0 applications, you can download and install multiple Apps from iTunes, receive email/SMS, update 400 Podcasts, all while listening to an MP3 and cruising the web in HTML5 goodness at the same time. This still won't keep you from receiving instant messages via the 3.0 version of Meebo, Facebook, etc. What more do you want?

What you can't do is 'multitask' those 45000 third party apps at once bringing the phone to a crawl (boooo!), as if the 2 seconds it takes to task switch from the main menu was such a pain. The word multi 'task' loses its meaning. Then again, whose to say that an 'App for that' won't appear someday that will allow you to do it from a 'wave bar' of favorites? Until then, you'll have to settle on pushing one button. Tisk tisk.

[naz @ Jun 8th 2009 5:10PM]

one or the other will probably be my next phone

[The Walrus @ Jun 8th 2009 5:10PM]

$99 iPhone 3G seems pretty nice

[Heffer @ Jun 8th 2009 5:25PM]

...until you realize AT&T hoses you for an extra $1000 for a similar 2-yr contract offered by Sprint.

[The Walrus @ Jun 8th 2009 5:28PM]

Until you realize that AT&T has better coverage in my area

[chris @ Jun 8th 2009 5:41PM]

Until you realize that sprints coverage sux and their customer support is clueless.

[mian @ Jun 8th 2009 5:44PM]

How could you possibly want that? There's no "S" on it...

[PedoJokerBear (aka Deeznuts) @ Jun 8th 2009 6:51PM]

@Chris AT&T is loads worse

[Blitzkreig @ Jun 8th 2009 9:40PM]

Until you realize that their both terrible. I'll buy the first one to come to Verizon.

[Magallanes @ Jun 8th 2009 5:10PM]

about the photo :how small and cute looks Palm Pre. Instead iphone looks bulky.