Since the iPhone bounded onto the scene back in 2007, all eyes have been on other manufacturers to see what they’ll serve up touch-wise. Many have contended for the iPhone’s throne and failed miserably, while others have provided viable alternatives for those who aren’t afraid of using touch to get in touch.
We check out the Palm Pre and Samsung Jet in this head-to-head review to see whether both, or neither, have got what it takes to please ever-fickle mobile users.
On the outside
The Palm Pre and Samsung Jet are two very different looking handsets, but they have a lot in common. Firstly, each boasts a 3.1in luxurious touch screen and minimalist design when it comes to hard keys.
Although the Pre has something slightly different up its sleeve. Clad beneath its black coat, you’ll find a keyboard that slides out fairly smoothly. While nicely space, the keys may prove a little too compact for those with larger-than-average digits but, with a bit of practice, speed typing is entirely possible.
The Jet is slightly thinner but also longer, measuring up at 53.5x11.9x108.8mm (WDH) to the Pre’s thicker but shorter 59.5.x16.95x100.5mm (WDH). Both handsets are entirely pocketable, despite their grand screens, although the Jet is much lighter at 110g to the Palm Pre’s 135g. Both look stylish but robust at the same time, so you’d have confidence they’d pass the drop-on-the-pub-floor test without issue.
Samsung Jet’s AMOLED screen is primed for consuming media on the go, making it the ideal companion for long commutes or hanging around waiting for people. And, at 480x800 pixels compared to the Pre’s 320x480 pixels, the Jet steals a march for crisp and sharp imagery.
Our reviewer tested out both Divx and Xvid files on the Jet and no problems were reported, meaning it offers a truly portable option for video on the go.
Video quality is also good on the Pre, although it’s a shame it doesn’t offer up any recording capabilities too.
Another aesthetic difference of note is the finish on the handsets. The Jet is quite sleek and soft and the Pre mirrors similar curves, save for its rather hard bottom edge – so hard, in fact, there’s a video doing the rounds of someone at Gizmodo using it to cut cheese!
Beauty and brains
Multi-tasking is a shining star of the Palm Pre. You can have several applications open at once so that you can truly juggle workloads or leisure pursuits. Indeed, our reviewer had 20 apps open at one time and was amazed that the Pre didn’t crash.
An 800MHz application processor lies at the heart of the Jet, helping users do the things they want, when they want.
While pictures taken with the Pre were average, we were a bit disappointed. We hadn’t expected too much from the 3.1 megapixel snapper, particularly as it lacks auto focus but, if we’re honest, we had hoped for more than it delivered.
The Jet, on the other hand, wins on pure numbers alone with a 5 megapixel camera, with auto focus that results in sharp and high-quality images.
Here to help
Both the Pre and the Jet appear to make doing what you want their main role in life, with speed and ease of use high on the agenda. Samsung’s proprietary operating system and TouchWiz interface is intuitive, with customisable – through widgets or mini apps - home screens that give the user an experience akin to what they’re used to on the desktop. The Jet’s fast processor no doubt helps this feeling sail along. We weren’t quite sure what to make of the 3D cube-based menu, which was a bit too show offy and superfluous as far as we’re concerned.
Palm’s webOS, as sported by the Pre, is also pleasant to use. The ability to use sweeping gestures to action and dismiss apps by throwing them off the screen is a nice touch, as is Palm’s Synergy feature. This handy tool unites all your contacts, calendaring information and discussions into one handy place, which could prove a time saver for business users and consumers alike.
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Re: Palm Pre vs Samsung Jet
Posted By kingcobra2010 1 October 30, 2009 08:12:58 PM
Before you buy any phone think long and hard. Do you want a phone that is old tech (iphone) and the only reason you buy it because your friends have one. Or do you want to be the first phone that will impress your friends and will than likely be the standard after people realize its functionality. When the palm pre was released, it was only meant for business persons. The main reason there were complaints because the phone was bought by people who did not need the pre's functionality and expected a iphone feel. Do not get me wrong. Iphone made the scene and they brought a lot to the table. Now, however, they have not progressed & they have locked out possible functionality because of greed. It reminds me when I was a pc guy (ever since I finished with the vic 20 and commodore 64) but then I changed to mac. Win 7 was the last windows operating system I used because it is just crap (even though more people use windows does not mean it is good - mac is definitely better now). I still use xp for some of my older programs. Just like the iphone was good then but now it just does not meet the standard (more like a teenagers phone now). If you are still using the iphone, then your just letting life pass you by. Once the palm pre gets the flash 10 working on the phone, then it will be more of a dual purpose professional/teenager phone. I can see teenagers playing flash games on the pre while also listening to music, looking at flash trailers of movies while there out with there friends to see what they will watch after a test/dinner, etc. I speculate that once flash hits the mobile pda/netbook/phone market, palm pre will surely be the winner. The droid will run flash just like the winmo phones -> very very slow if your multitasking flash. See example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a47Z-A81HOU. If they used the droid phone to show off flash the same way -> the film would have been laughable (droid does semi multitasking and definitely can not multitask resource hog programs like flash). Droid definitely would have either crashed or your system would start to look like it is in slow mo. If you have a winmo phone you probably know what I mean when i say slow mo. If you want a very good phone, then get a palm pre because in the near future I suspect everyone else will be using the pre if they can weather the misinformation about the phone. PS Do not look at megapixels when you are deciding on your phone pic. 3 vs 5 megapixels will not produce a difference. If you want great pictures then get an slr camera not a camera phone. And if you want great video get an hd camcorder instead of using your phone. Soon palm pre will be able to get vid recording for your youtube pages. Android is just winmo with a different name (hefty, slow and truly untested on its multitasking statement but we will see it fall flat when tested with flash this year).
The only reason that iphone has been around is because it is a phone built around teenager habits with a little business function in it. If you look at webos, then you will see that it is a better match for netbooks. Once flash comes out the battery drain that it will produce on the google os will make it a weaker candidate for the netbook market versus webos. Also once flash comes out for the palm pre, we will see that palm will be able to take a good piece of the teenager iphone market with free flash games instead of paid for iphone apps. The future is here and webos is definitely the winner. Like i said android is just winmo with a different name. You guys need to test the true power comparison of the phone. i am no talking about processor power. Everybody knows that mac can startup, shutdown faster than the comparable pc with similar hdd, ram, vid card, processor. The os is the true decider of speed and functionality. Please test flash running in multiple applications (pre vs droid vs winmo). That will give you true insight. Flash dominates the media market and if the advertising market wants more viewer time then they need to push for more flash on phones. Especially the palm pre phone since it is the best suited phone for the demands of flash currently. But lets see what the test show.
PS If you guys are truly at the tech forefront then you will see that this as a definite task that needs to be performed.
Re: Palm Pre vs Samsung Jet
Posted By kingcobra2010 1 October 30, 2009 08:13:01 PM
Before you buy any phone think long and hard. Do you want a phone that is old tech (iphone) and the only reason you buy it because your friends have one. Or do you want to be the first phone that will impress your friends and will than likely be the standard after people realize its functionality. When the palm pre was released, it was only meant for business persons. The main reason there were complaints because the phone was bought by people who did not need the pre's functionality and expected a iphone feel. Do not get me wrong. Iphone made the scene and they brought a lot to the table. Now, however, they have not progressed & they have locked out possible functionality because of greed. It reminds me when I was a pc guy (ever since I finished with the vic 20 and commodore 64) but then I changed to mac. Win 7 was the last windows operating system I used because it is just crap (even though more people use windows does not mean it is good - mac is definitely better now). I still use xp for some of my older programs. Just like the iphone was good then but now it just does not meet the standard (more like a teenagers phone now). If you are still using the iphone, then your just letting life pass you by. Once the palm pre gets the flash 10 working on the phone, then it will be more of a dual purpose professional/teenager phone. I can see teenagers playing flash games on the pre while also listening to music, looking at flash trailers of movies while there out with there friends to see what they will watch after a test/dinner, etc. I speculate that once flash hits the mobile pda/netbook/phone market, palm pre will surely be the winner. The droid will run flash just like the winmo phones -> very very slow if your multitasking flash. See example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a47Z-A81HOU. If they used the droid phone to show off flash the same way -> the film would have been laughable (droid does semi multitasking and definitely can not multitask resource hog programs like flash). Droid definitely would have either crashed or your system would start to look like it is in slow mo. If you have a winmo phone you probably know what I mean when i say slow mo. If you want a very good phone, then get a palm pre because in the near future I suspect everyone else will be using the pre if they can weather the misinformation about the phone. PS Do not look at megapixels when you are deciding on your phone pic. 3 vs 5 megapixels will not produce a difference. If you want great pictures then get an slr camera not a camera phone. And if you want great video get an hd camcorder instead of using your phone. Soon palm pre will be able to get vid recording for your youtube pages. Android is just winmo with a different name (hefty, slow and truly untested on its multitasking statement but we will see it fall flat when tested with flash this year).
The only reason that iphone has been around is because it is a phone built around teenager habits with a little business function in it. If you look at webos, then you will see that it is a better match for netbooks. Once flash comes out the battery drain that it will produce on the google os will make it a weaker candidate for the netbook market versus webos. Also once flash comes out for the palm pre, we will see that palm will be able to take a good piece of the teenager iphone market with free flash games instead of paid for iphone apps. The future is here and webos is definitely the winner. Like i said android is just winmo with a different name. You guys need to test the true power comparison of the phone. i am no talking about processor power. Everybody knows that mac can startup, shutdown faster than the comparable pc with similar hdd, ram, vid card, processor. The os is the true decider of speed and functionality. Please test flash running in multiple applications (pre vs droid vs winmo). That will give you true insight. Flash dominates the media market and if the advertising market wants more viewer time then they need to push for more flash on phones. Especially the palm pre phone since it is the best suited phone for the demands of flash currently. But lets see what the test show.
PS If you guys are truly at the tech forefront then you will see that this as a definite task that needs to be performed.
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Will the Pre beat the Jet in this touchscreen supertest?
