Now that we know the iPhone 3G S and the Palm Pre
share extremely similar 65nm ARM Cortex A8-based internals, it's time to break out the stopwatches and see how these blood brothers stack up.
Anandtech has the first head-to-head tests we've seen, and it seems like the 3G S has the slight edge, loading a series of web pages
11 percent faster and a whopping 54 percent faster than the iPhone 3G.
Not too shabby, but not exactly a thorough drubbing either -- especially when you consider webOS is still 1.0 and there's likely some optimizations to come. Full results at the read link.
Update: Anandtech had some uncharacteristically bad math going on -- the 3G S is actually 21 percent faster than the Pre, which is quite notable considering the similar hardware and WebKit-based browsers.
posted Jun 20th 2009 at 11:29PM
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rothgar @ Jun 21st 2009 12:11AM
Source code released by Apple: 0
Source code released by Palm: 1
Palm advantage over Apple ∞%
JKL @ Jun 21st 2009 1:43PM
Can you imagine Microsoft was as restrictive as apple? People would be demanding they burn down their headquarters.
Competition is something that is better for us all. So I want to see a handful of mobile OS rather than one.
anthony @ Jun 22nd 2009 7:06AM
Didn't take haters long to post. iPhone wins of course.
Kevin @ Jun 21st 2009 10:57AM
If you take the Pre as the "accepted" value, it's a 16.65% difference. With the iPhone as the "accepted" value, it's a 19.99% difference. If you use the proper percent difference formula (difference / average), it's 18.16% faster. Any way you look at, it is neither 11% nor 21%, though 21% is certainly closer. Interestingly enough, it is a ~21 second difference in total times. Absolute difference is NOT relative difference, which is what matters in these situations. Bad math, indeed. Bad anandtech for posting it, and bad engadget mobile for not bothering to even verify it.
While the iPhone is faster, I find it interesting that 1.0 software on 1.0 hardware can match up even that equally to 3.0 hardware with 3.0 software. I think this speaks volumes about the potential of the Pre, given the likelihood of future optimization. And this will likely spur further optimization of the iPhone software as well. So it's a win/win, regardless of which camp you support.
MatthewJ @ Jun 21st 2009 10:11AM
They also seem to be 'one off' numbers too, and not an average of a series of tests at different times. This is very suspect because you can see the 3GS and the Pre compare VERY closely on most of the numbers but then on one or two there are very drastic differences that don't seem to follow that pattern. When you think about all the variables involved in web page loading speed, the browser you're using is only a tiny percentage of that, and to take that timing measurement only once would be very silly and very misleading.
Not to mention the complete fallacy of comparing things in percentage terms that you've already mentioned. Its the same cheap trick that dodgy TV doctors use to sell their products. When you say 21% it sounds somewhat impressive, but when you express it realistically, say about ~1 second, its not that impressive really. A bit like a small company that says its experiences a 1000% increase in sales, when really it means it sold 1 product last time and 1000 this time. Not great.
JonnyBruha @ Jun 21st 2009 1:43AM
Are those numbers calculated with Javascript and Flash turned off? The only way I could get close to those numbers with the N97 was with those elements turned off, so if the 3G S is able to load those pages that fast with Javascript turned ON, it is indeed quite the achievement.
Manny @ Jun 21st 2009 2:22AM
Where's the video?
Oh here it is:
http://cnettv.cnet.com/speed-test-apple-iphone-3g-vs-palm-pre/9742-1_53-50073193.html
jorv88 @ Jun 21st 2009 2:48AM
dude u pwd this post lol.. i also saw that video last night n i was about to link it to this post but u beat me to it.. at least it looks like iphone fans will beat the pre fans in 1 thing as of now n thats how fast they can lose.. booting time pshh who needs to win that race..
evangi23 @ Jun 21st 2009 2:22AM
Eh, it doesn't matter to me much because I'll still prefer the Palm Pre over the iPhone anyway. But yikes for the G1.
pez @ Jun 21st 2009 9:16AM
Seriously, the G1 is getting spanked. Sad :(
jboy @ Jun 21st 2009 5:28AM
I thought palm said their phone was so much faster because OSX was never meant to be on a cell phone. Strange that with the same processor, iPhone beats palms superior WebOS.
buh bye palm...enjoy yourselves after Dell buys you and destroys you.
brian @ Jun 21st 2009 9:52AM
oh man the browser is 20% slower? damn must be the end of the platform for sure. they should just declare bankrupcy, how dare they try and compete in the same market. the audacity!
derF @ Jun 21st 2009 10:20AM
...and don't forget another key statistic where the iphone beats the Pre hands-down:
costs well over $700 *more* in monthly fees over a 2-year contract than the comparable plan on the Pre!!
ace587 @ Jun 21st 2009 11:22AM
on the nations fastest 3G network
Sarig @ Jun 21st 2009 1:17PM
Does the iPhone's browser and the Pre's even support the same elements? My shabby s60 browser is also based on WebKit, but it does fantastic things like, y'know, FLASH
celz @ Jun 21st 2009 1:29PM
thats great for the 3gs im sure it has a slight advantage in silicon over the pre but you would expect more considering how much its missing.. but besides the fact that cnet found the pre to be faster lets test these two when the pre gets a new browser like opera mini, opera mobile beta, skyfire, or mach 5 that has server side rendering to blow webkit out the water...
UTVOL06 @ Jun 21st 2009 2:49PM
Competition is great for the consumer! Just means Apple will work harder on the next iPhone for this time next year.
tluv @ Jun 22nd 2009 2:03PM
Let's see which is faster while running multiple applications. Oh wait..........
LoveMyPre @ Jun 21st 2009 3:31PM
Key point made above: multitasking. Multitasking makes this comparison irrevelant. My Pre keeps web sites open as cards. No start up time after initial load. Palm wins hands down.
Jim @ Jun 21st 2009 5:16PM
How would the 2nd generation Android (myTouch) compare? Since you are comparing the just released iPhone and PRE it seems appropriate to compare t he latest Android instead of last years model.
niplij @ Jun 23rd 2009 6:11AM
Amazes me how Apple hating feature monkeys jump to the defense of any non Apple product when comparisons are made.
Palm along with all other mobile phone manufacturers where caught resting on their shabby laurels, ripping consumers off with shabby operating system and outdated UI's. Then the iPhone is released and a million clones pop up, some months and years later.
So much hate when really you should be thanking Apple for bringing mobile devices up to spec and up to date.
sweet greggo @ Jun 26th 2009 3:24AM
"Then the LG Prada is released and a million clones pop up, some months and years later."
Fixed.
niplij @ Jun 26th 2009 8:05AM
Fixed? Not really.
LG was out before the iPhone. So what?
2 years on and which of those phones made the the biggest impact on the mobile phone industry? The iPhone OS has had the most influence on other manufacturers 'look and feel' including LGs.
So you didn't fix my statement at all.