Apple iPhone 3G S is 11 percent faster than Palm Pre, 54 percent faster than iPhone 3G

June 20, 2009 | Dean Takahashi | Comments | |

anandtechThe newest Apple iPhone 3G S model is 54 percent faster than its predecessor iPhone 3G that came out a year ago, but it’s only about 11 percent faster than the Palm Pre smartphone, according to the tech site Anandtech.

The measure is based on how fast the phone can render web pages. The speed is based on a combination of the network’s speed, the efficiency of the browser, and the performance of the hardware. Since the iPhone 3G S has similar hardware to the Pre, you’d expect the performance to be similar. The iPhone 3G S has a 600-megahertz ARM-based Cortex A8 core built by Samsung, while the Pre has a different version of the ARM-based Cortex A8 core.

The new iPhone is also 13 percent to 42 percent faster at loading applications than last year’s model.  And it’s far faster at loading applications than the T-Mobile G1 based on Google’s Android software. For instance, it loads Google Maps in 2.7 seconds, while the G1 takes 4.4 seconds.

I went into an Apple store on Saturday and, sure enough, the software and web sites both load extremely fast. Google Maps was so fast it was like using it on a broadband-connected desktop.

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About the Author, Dean Takahashi

Dean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

  • Number of Palm Pre users who are actually complaining about that device's speed: zero.
  • chleoku
    Nice feature but it looks like the hype of iPhone 3gs is stolen byt he Palm Pre:

    http://www.wealthalchemist.com/Blog/2009/06/new...

    The line outside the Apple store is less than last year
  • howardchief
    That's because AT&T and Apple allowed for preordering this year. That's the only reason for shorter lines. They are selling more phones than last year. Palm pre didn't made a dent.
  • Eric Smyte
    Really now, thats how you qualify a conclusion.? 9 Test cases, with 3 cases faster on the Pre. Good thing you don't work in statistics.
  • slappy
    Anandtech did a great job doing this test. Unlike the amateurs around the net. The truth is the iPhone 3GS *is* faster than the Pre.

    For the poster that said the lines were shorter this year, your completely clueless. The very reason Apple and AT&T allowed pre-orders and home activation and pickup is to prevent the 4 hours of waiting for users to buy it and activate it at the store. Sales are already in the hundreds of thousands for online orders alone. Silly.
  • Ray
    Ha ha! Nice try but you are wrong. Math isn't your best subject, is it?
  • Comparing the speeds of the next generation Android phone - Magic - given away as the Ion at Google IO last month - the speeds are similar to that of the iPhone 3GS.

    This phone will come out in the US in the next month as the myTouch 3G.

    ,Michael Martin
    http://www.googleandblog.com/
  • Nick
    The webpage load times were over wifi and not network. The Pre will likely be faster over Sprint's CDMA EV-DO Rev-A network until AT&T launches their faster HSPA 7.2 Mbps network upgrade.
  • strikerage
    Funny how the Palm Pre beat the living crap out of the 3GS on the CNET webloading preview. They used a slightly more data intensive website and it destroyed the 3GS by over 10 seconds.

    Just watch the video at CNET and see for yourself.
  • AdrianLesher
    http://www.prethinking.com/home/2009/6/18/real-...

    This test shows the Pre to be faster.
  • metaldogo
    The iPhone 3GS is 11% faster than the Palm Pre. I wouldn't say that is significant. If something takes 10 secs to load on the iPhone 3GS, then it takes 11 secs on the Palm Pre. Wow! <sarcasm>
  • John
    Its funny how I have the pre and my boyfriend has the new iphone 3gs and I got to this webpage faster using wifi. Lol
  • What I find most astounding are the application load times and boot times for the Palm Pre v. iPhone 3G with half the HW performance. Palm really should have had waited until after the summer to release the Pre with refinements and with a public SDK.
  • Sammy
    Why, what's the difference if they did? So they come out earlier, update later? Should Apple have waited a year until the app store was ready? I mean, what's with the logic of people like you? It seems Apple fans will say anything to discredit anything non-apple.

    Apple is great, yea we get it, how did you like those G4s, years of it being faster then Intel based machine? Oh right, it wasn't, but you all thought it was. Now you all have Intel, and 'NOW' it makes sense.
  • Because nobody can wait an extra 2 seconds for something to load. Whatever.
  • oneawake
    Where is the video proof, no video, it did not happen.
  • Guest
    Pre is just as fast....this site did not load as fast as my brothers iPhone 3GS....cmon do not put this out and not test it on your own site, that is as weak as the results you posted. Same processor essentially....The bigger issue is no SDK for developers....No Apps means no fun....also where are the games for the Pre, I love it but it is missing some basic apps out of the gate.