Apple iPhone 3GS vs. Palm Pre: In Real Life

My Palm Pre dialed 911 without my knowing it. "How did you find out," you ask? The dispatcher called me back to make sure I was all right. You don't see that in many product reviews, do you?

Well, forget about being first--I'm perfectly happy to write the last few words on the iPhone 3GS and the Palm Pre. I spent two weeks with each, using them as a normal human would--not as a reviewer sprinting to get first-posting bragging rights would. Which smartphone is really better (for me, anyway)? I'll tell you. But first, let me explain where I'm coming from.

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By the day the Palm Pre launched, I counted no fewer than four reviews already up. Same story when Apple released the 3GS a couple of weeks later. We poor editorial saps maybe clock a few hours--one or two days, if we're lucky--using each phone at a breakneck pace before penning reviews. And you know what? I'm guilty of that with laptops.

That's the curse of journalism in this instant-gratification, feed-the-beast, Internutty world in which we live. People want a review yesterday! Well, Internet, today I'm pushing back. I needed a new smartphone, and I couldn't decide between the Pre and the iPhone. Reviews from the usual suspects (you always read our cell phone reviews, right?) hit all the major features--but in some cases, focused on finding new and exciting ways to be snarky. (Hint number one: If you're slicing cheese with a phone or slathering BBQ sauce all over a phone, you're not coming to my next party!)

So I put my money on the line and loaded up my dork holster with an iPhone 3GS and a Palm Pre (Nokia's N97 and the Android-loving G1 were not options, sorry). My plan: Spend a full two weeks using both phones simultaneously. The winner brandishes my personal number and stays in my pocket (if you call that winning). The other gets put on hold. The following are some of the knuckleheaded notes and observations that I made to myself--and on Twitter--in stream-of-consciousness order.

"Nerd rage: Double-fisting the Pre and 3GS ( http://twitpic.com/7u0zz )."

Outside the Apple store, my adventure began. Surprisingly, I didn't get mugged by the long line of folks waiting for the 3GS.

"It's nice to have a real, physical keyboard again. Didn't realize how much I missed it. (Sorry, 3GS.)"

The Pre's keyboard is one of the biggest things in Palm's favor right now. The 3GS's speed makes typing on the screen a whole lot quicker and easier than it has been on past iPhones, but my thumbs need more physical feedback.

Here's what really surprised me: I'm always complaining about how I hate small laptop keyboards, which would make the Pre's tiny pad seem like a prime hate target--but there I was, banging out texts and e-mail a whole lot faster than I could on screen with an iPhone. It took me a couple days to get used to daintily using the pad of my thumbs, but it worked. And I have goony sausage stumps for fingers.

While I'm on the subject, I found a bunch of neat little shortcuts for the Pre to keep your digits dancing.

"The 'S' is for speed? Try 'spensive!"