For many years the smartphone market has been dominated by two players, Blackberry and Windows Mobile.
Though Blackberry has enjoyed much success, Blackberry's newest offering, the Storm, has been widely panned by critics and users alike as being a rather ill-conceived mess. The same has been said about nearly all Windows mobile phones.
And so people were left with two options, neither of which offered much freedom.
Then, in a flurry of activity, several things happened at once:
- The iPhone was launched. It is a sleek, hip, net-enabled smartphone. On the surface, it appears to be everything anyone could ever want. But, it is tied to a proprietary app store, and requires iTunes to work. (And that leaves us linux dorks out on our butts.)
- Google announced Android. Android isn't a phone, but rather an operating system for phones, a free, Linux-based replacement for Windows Mobile. The only phone with Android on the market today is the G1 from T-Mobile. But oh, what a phone it is.
- Palm, rising from the ashes of five years with only one new product, announces the Palm Pre, boasting a new and improved Web OS. And, though Web OS isn't compatible with older Palm apps, it looks promising.
The rogue agent in all of this is, of course, the Palm Pre. Until it hits the market, no one can be sure what kind of an effect it will have on things. Although the folks over at Engadget seem to be quite smitten with it.
Here is a rough comparison of the capabilities of each Phone.
The T-Mobile G1
Image by Michael Oryl
Image by Adrian IlieThe Palm Pre
Image by Dave MalkoffHardware:
Size:
The phones are all roughly the same size. The G1 is the largest of the three, being slightly longer and thicker than the iPhone. (The extra thickness is to accommodate a physical keyboard, something severely lacking on the iPhone.) The Pre is slightly smaller than the iPhone when closed, but slightly larger when opened (to reveal the keyboard).
Multi- touch:
G1 Android
Technically the G1 is Multi-Touch capable, and some apps even support it out of the box. However, fearing lawsuits from Apple, the G1 does not support Multi-Touch yet.
iPhone
The iPhone is the standard by which all other Multi-Touch devices are measured. It can track up to three fingers at a time, and has intuitive gestures for many common tasks (zoom in/out, etc.)
Palm Pre
The Palm Pre supports Multi-Touch. The screen and the area under the screen, all the way to the edge of the phone, are touch sensitive. Though the Pre cannot mimic the iPhone's gestures, it does a fair job of coming up with its own.
Input:
The iPhone loses out here, in my book, as it is the only phone listed without a dedicated keyboard.
The Pre would have to come in the middle. It does have a dedicated keyboard, but it is rather small, and there is no option for a software keyboard.
The G1 is a clear winner on input. Not only does it have an excellent hardware keyboard, but there are also several options for software keyboards.
Software:
Interface
Each of the three new smartphones have a gorgeous interface. The most fluid seems to be that of the Pre. Palm has always had a smart clean interface, and though Palm OS 5 (as is on their current smartphone) seems rather dated compared to the iPhone or Android, WebOS (as we will find on the Pre) shines. Sadly, until the Pre enters into production, we won't know how the pretty user interface performs.
The iPhone is, at the moment at least, the final word on sleek user interfaces. All applications are tightly integrated with the phone and everything has a uniformed look. But the Pre is poised to knock the iPhone off its high horse.
The user interface is one area where the G1 falls short. Its interface is good, better than that of the Blackberry or Windows Mobile, but it is not great.
Applications:
Applications are another area where the G1 and the Pre are poised to outshine the iPhone.
Yes, the iPhone has a lot of applications. Yes, many iPhone applications are free, and most are cheap. But, and this is a big one, Apple must approve every app that goes into the app store. That means Random J. Developer can spend months working on his new iPhone app, only for Apple to tell him that it just isn't good enough for the iPhone.
Even large companies aren't free from this barrier, Apple refuses to work with adobe to bring flash to the iPhone. Probably for fear of loosing money on apps. (Flash is easier to write for, and will be available for the Pre and Android, meaning cross platform apps.)
The iPhone is a very closed system.
The G1 is on the other extreme. It is Linux-based, and most of its applications are written in Java. Nearly every programmer can write in Java and you can download applications for the G1 from anywhere. There is an app store, but for the next few months all apps in it are free, and most are planning to stay that way.
This does pose some security questions, which Google, T-Mobile, and the Android development team are working to correct.
The Pre strikes a happy medium here. Palm has stated that all applications will be written in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, making the number of potential developers HUGE. Palm will have an app store, and will require applications to be submitted for approval, but will only refuse applications for security reasons.
One of the greatest features of the Pre (though we have yet to see how it works in practice) is building your address book based on your various accounts (AIM, MSN, Yahoo, Gmail, Facebook, Myspace, etc.)
Operating System:
Oddly enough, the OS on all the phones have similar roots. The iPhone's operating system is based on OS X, which in turn is based on Berkly Software Distributions (BSD, which is based on the original UNIX, but that is a post for another time).
The G1 and Pre are based on Linux, which, along with BSD and Solaris, is a free Unix-like operating system.
Unix is, by nature, a multi-tasking operating system. Sadly, the iPhone can only run one application at a time, the G1 does a little better and the Pre seems to be even a step beyond that.
Misc:
The Pre would have to come in the middle. It does have a dedicated keyboard, but it is rather small, and there is no option for a software keyboard.
The G1 is a clear winner on input. Not only does it have an excellent hardware keyboard, but there are also several options for software keyboards.
Software:
Interface
Each of the three new smartphones have a gorgeous interface. The most fluid seems to be that of the Pre. Palm has always had a smart clean interface, and though Palm OS 5 (as is on their current smartphone) seems rather dated compared to the iPhone or Android, WebOS (as we will find on the Pre) shines. Sadly, until the Pre enters into production, we won't know how the pretty user interface performs.
The iPhone is, at the moment at least, the final word on sleek user interfaces. All applications are tightly integrated with the phone and everything has a uniformed look. But the Pre is poised to knock the iPhone off its high horse.
The user interface is one area where the G1 falls short. Its interface is good, better than that of the Blackberry or Windows Mobile, but it is not great.
Applications:
Applications are another area where the G1 and the Pre are poised to outshine the iPhone.
Yes, the iPhone has a lot of applications. Yes, many iPhone applications are free, and most are cheap. But, and this is a big one, Apple must approve every app that goes into the app store. That means Random J. Developer can spend months working on his new iPhone app, only for Apple to tell him that it just isn't good enough for the iPhone.
Even large companies aren't free from this barrier, Apple refuses to work with adobe to bring flash to the iPhone. Probably for fear of loosing money on apps. (Flash is easier to write for, and will be available for the Pre and Android, meaning cross platform apps.)
The iPhone is a very closed system.
The G1 is on the other extreme. It is Linux-based, and most of its applications are written in Java. Nearly every programmer can write in Java and you can download applications for the G1 from anywhere. There is an app store, but for the next few months all apps in it are free, and most are planning to stay that way.
This does pose some security questions, which Google, T-Mobile, and the Android development team are working to correct.
The Pre strikes a happy medium here. Palm has stated that all applications will be written in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, making the number of potential developers HUGE. Palm will have an app store, and will require applications to be submitted for approval, but will only refuse applications for security reasons.
One of the greatest features of the Pre (though we have yet to see how it works in practice) is building your address book based on your various accounts (AIM, MSN, Yahoo, Gmail, Facebook, Myspace, etc.)
Operating System:
Oddly enough, the OS on all the phones have similar roots. The iPhone's operating system is based on OS X, which in turn is based on Berkly Software Distributions (BSD, which is based on the original UNIX, but that is a post for another time).
The G1 and Pre are based on Linux, which, along with BSD and Solaris, is a free Unix-like operating system.
Unix is, by nature, a multi-tasking operating system. Sadly, the iPhone can only run one application at a time, the G1 does a little better and the Pre seems to be even a step beyond that.
Misc:
The Pre is notable for being the only phone we have discussed today that has the ability to be tethered to a laptop. Meaning that you can use your Pre's Internet connection from your laptop.
The Pre will launch first with Sprint.
The Pre will launch first with Sprint.
The G1 is currently T-Mobile only, and the iPhone, of course, belongs to AT&T.
Though with the open nature of the Android operating system, it is likely that phones like the G1 will be available on all networks soon enough, and Palm will not likely limit themselves to one carrier.
In my mind it is a close call between the G1 and the Palm Pre, the deciding factor being that I prefer the for-factor of the G1 to the Pre. But both are solid phones, and are poised on the precipice of greatness.
Further Reading:
The following three sites have far more information about these phones and various other gadgets--the search box is your friend.
www.Gizmodo.com
http://Gadgets.boingboing.net
www.engadget.com
* Full Disclaimer, Sadly, I am not yet high enough on the journalist's food chain to merit units to review, so all of this information has been obtained from brief tests and second hand sources.*
Though with the open nature of the Android operating system, it is likely that phones like the G1 will be available on all networks soon enough, and Palm will not likely limit themselves to one carrier.
In my mind it is a close call between the G1 and the Palm Pre, the deciding factor being that I prefer the for-factor of the G1 to the Pre. But both are solid phones, and are poised on the precipice of greatness.
Further Reading:
The following three sites have far more information about these phones and various other gadgets--the search box is your friend.
www.Gizmodo.com
http://Gadgets.boingboing.net
www.engadget.com
* Full Disclaimer, Sadly, I am not yet high enough on the journalist's food chain to merit units to review, so all of this information has been obtained from brief tests and second hand sources.*
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