The Palm Pre Review

Web Browsing

Palm uses the same foundation for its web browser as Apple. The project is called WebKit and it works similarly awesome on the Pre as it does on the iPhone. There are a couple of significant differences between the two phones however.

The Pre has a smaller screen (but same resolution) as the iPhone, and thus Palm has to be more efficient with screen real estate. The URL/title bar isn’t visible on screen by default, you have to flick the screen down (scrolling to the very top) to reveal it. On the iPhone it’s present by default.

The iPhone also includes a Google search box and a button toolbar on the screen by default as well. There is no room for these on the Pre so they are all nearly absent.

At the bottom left of the Pre’s screen is a back button, the bottom right has a stop/refresh button; both buttons are translucent.

Browser performance is actually much better on the Pre than the iPhone. To understand why, you have to understand a bit about the hardware under the screen.