The Palm Pre’s Hardware
I’ve gone through this performance comparison once before but I’ll quickly summarize it here. The iPhone and iPhone 3G both use an ARM11 based CPU running at 412MHz. The Palm Pre uses an ARM Cortex A8 based CPU running at 600MHz. The Cortex A8 is significantly faster than the ARM11; while both are very simple in-order cores, the A8 is capable of fetching/decoding/executing/retiring two instructions at the same time - the ARM11 can only do one. Palm has the overwhelming raw horsepower advantage with its hardware, as it should, the Pre was designed much later than the original iPhone (note that the new 3GS should match the Pre in terms of hardware prowess).
Given the incredible performance advantage of the Pre’s hardware, you would expect it to be much faster than the iPhone 3G. Unfortunately, that’s only partially true. Let’s start with some basic application tests:
| Application Launch Time in Seconds | Web Browser | Dialer | Google Maps | Camera | |
| Apple iPhone 3G (3.0) | 1.1 s | 1.7 s | 3.8 s | 4.6 s | 1.2 s |
| Palm Pre | 3.0 s | 1.5 s | 8.6 s | 4.4 s | 3.3 s |
| T-Mobile G1 | 5.4 s | 2.0 s | 4.4 s | 4.9 s | 2.0 s |
Despite a significant processing power advantage, the Pre launches most applications slower than the iPhone 3G. I suspect that we’re bound mostly by the read speed of the Pre’s Flash memory, but even then there’s no reason the Pre couldn’t be at least as fast as the iPhone. The more I tested the Pre the more I realized exactly how much time Apple spent optimizing the iPhone’s OS prior to its release.
Palm made a serious mistake when attempting to duplicate Apple’s success. The iPhone gained traction because it did not allow anything to compromise the user experience; applications and even web pages were quickly evicted from memory to preserve a very fast UI. Palm, with its significant hardware advantage, was not able to accomplish the same thing here.
Even when the iPhone gets slow, it’s still smooth. The Pre’s animations are not as smooth as Apple’s. Even when the Pre does something faster than the iPhone, it fails to do it as smoothly. It all comes down to a lack of optimization; Palm could easily fix these issues, but the Pre seems a tad premature. Compared to every other smartphone on the planet, Palm did an incredible job. Compared to Apple? There’s about 10% more polish needed in the animation department.
Web Page Rendering: The Pre Advantage
Where the Pre doesn’t fail to impress is in its web page rendering performance. First, let’s look at the raw bandwidth numbers:
| 3G/EVDO | WiFi | |
| Apple iPhone 3G (3.0) | 916 KB/s | 3237 KB/s |
| Palm Pre | 881 KB/s | 3973 KB/s |
At my house Sprint’s EVDO and AT&T’s 3G network speeds were about the same. To test web page rendering performance however I visited several sites (full, not mobile versions), loading each one three times and taking the average time to load from the moment I entered the URL to the instant the progress indicator stopped animating.
| 3G/EVDO | Apple iPhone 3G (3.0) | Palm Pre |
| anandtech.com | 20.3 s | 17.2 s |
| arstechnica.com | 23.3 s | 14.0 s |
| hothardware.com | 38.9 s | 20.8 s |
| pcper.com | 43.2 s | 42.8 s |
| digg.com | 44.5 s | 30.3 s |
| techreport.com | 27.2 s | 15.2 s |
| tomshardware.com | 32.3 s | 30.3 s |
| slashdot.org | 33.5 s | 23.8 s |
| facebook.com | 37.1 s | 36.0 s |
| Palm Pre Advantage | 30% Faster |
On average, in my 3G vs. EVDO tests, the Palm Pre managed to render web pages around 30% faster than the iPhone 3G. My network bandwidth tests showed that I was getting relatively similar 3G and EVDO performance, so the rendering advantage is entirely due to the Pre’s faster processor. If anything, this is the sort of performance boost I would expect out of the iPhone 3GS when viewing web pages.
The network continues to be a large bottleneck however. Given the performance difference between the Cortex A8 and the ARM11, I would expect a larger difference in web page load speed - if we’re CPU bound at all. When I reviewed the first iPhone I surmised that we were quite CPU bound; moving to a faster internet connection (WiFi) should show an even larger gap between the Pre and the iPhone 3G if we were indeed CPU bound. Let’s see if I’m right:
| WiFi | Apple iPhone 3G (3.0) | Palm Pre | T-Mobile G1 |
| anandtech.com | 16.3 s | 8.2 s | 17.2 s |
| arstechnica.com | 17.7 s | 7.8 s | 17.8 s |
| hothardware.com | 35.2 s | 11.2 s | 24.4 s |
| pcper.com | 33.3 s | 18.0 s | 34.0 s |
| digg.com | 34.3 s | 22.1 s | 40.0 s |
| techreport.com | 24.1 s | 9.0 s | 20.5 s |
| tomshardware.com | 21.4 s | 13.8 s | 26.0 s |
| slashdot.org | 26.0 s | 20.9 s | 46.0 s |
| facebook.com | 31.7 s | 19.6 s | 37.7 s |
| Palm Pre Advantage vs iPhone 3G | 83% Faster |
Remove some of the network bottleneck and the Pre stretches its legs; the gap now grows to 83%. Not only is the iPhone very CPU bound even while rendering web pages, it’s even more so on WiFi. For the WiFi results I also included the T-Mobile G1, which uses a 528MHz ARM11 processor (compared to the 412MHz ARM11 core in the iPhone 3G). The faster CPU isn't enough to really outperform the iPhone 3G, while it does pull ahead in some cases it isn't consistently faster. Apple needed to use the Cortex A8 to guarantee significant performance improvements in the 3GS.
Given that the iPhone 3GS is expected to use similar hardware to the Pre, this is the sort of performance improvement I would expect to see out of the new 3GS.
It’s Time for Multi-Core
Anyone who has owned an iPhone has experienced the stalling problem. Whether it’s switching between applications, clicking on a link or just trying to unlock your phone, occasionally the process will take much, much longer than expected. We’ve been spoiled by having multi-core processors everywhere since 2005, we haven’t forgotten the lessons behind why single-core is bad have we?
A single core microprocessor without SMT can only operate on a single thread of instructions at a time. Unfortunately for single core processors, we often have tens if not hundreds of threads contending for their attention. Thankfully these CPUs operate at millions if not billions of cycles per second and a good scheduler can cycle through many threads, hundreds of times per second.
If everything works ok, there’s nothing to worry about. All of your running threads each get a slice of time and cycle through until they’re complete. As with most things, the scheduling world doesn’t always work like that. Every now and then the scheduler will pick a thread to execute on the CPU that won’t relinquish its control, or the scheduler will screw up and keep picking the wrong thread for execution (e.g. a background task instead of a foreground task). In these situations you get what feels like a a frozen system.
The iPhone appears to handle these situations very well. The app will either take a long time to respond or it will simply crash and exit. Sometimes the phone will require a hardware reset to recover but most of the time it just behaves strangely for a bit.
The move to multiple cores helps alleviate this scenario by giving the OS a second core to schedule threads on. In the event that one core is busy and can’t handle a more immediate, at least to the end user, task the second core is there to help things remain smooth and responsive.
Luckily, ARM has just the solution - the Cortex A9. The Cortex A9 is an out-of-order ARM processor (the first of its kind) that supports multi-core configurations. The ARM11 actually supports multi-core configurations as well but I don’t expect many manufacturers to step back from the A8 to a multi-core ARM11 processor.
I’m expecting the multi-core A9 transition to happen in the next 12 months. If Apple is particularly ambitious (or feeling threatened), it could attempt to bring about app-level multitasking and multi-core at the same time next year.
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mesiah - Saturday, June 20, 2009 - link
Thank you Anand for your very in depth review. There were a couple things that came to mind while reading this review as well as the comments after.First, I really think the industry needs a new term for the iphones and the pres out there. IMO you have phones, their primary objective is making and recieving calls and text messages with some very light media duties. Then you have smartphones (pocket pc, blackberry, palm os) that are geared towards a balance of voice communication and business software with some light web browsing and media use. I think there should also be a 3rd category, call it superphone if you want. A superphone will make calls, but it browses the web, acts as a audio/video player, handheld game, remote control, and any number of other things just as well. In fact, our superphones have advanced to the point where most reviews don't even mention call quality at all.
Second, for the first few years of the iphone there were two groups. Group 1 who loves their iphone for its simplicity and ability to run all their fun apps. And group 2, the hardcore and business oriented smartphone users who hated the iphone because it lacked so many things their blackberry/treo etc already had years ago (including apps which weren't allowed on the original iphone release.) I will admit that I am a member of the second group. I had friends that ran out to buy an iphone and I just couldn't understand why anyone would want a device that was so limited that you couldn't even install 3rd party software on it. Eventually the app store was released but by then it was too late for some of us. We had already grown to despise the iphone. The iphone faithful on the other hand fell in love with their new phones and quickly forgot about the things it didn't poses. Now that those features are being added, the fact that alot of iphone fanatics act like they are getting great features never before seen in the mobile world only serves to miff those of us from group two a little more. That being said, I hate reading reviews for pre and iphone because both the review and the comments are so heavily biased one way or the other that its of no benefit, it just turns into a big p!ssing match. One group ignores the polish of the iphone and its extensive apps, the other just wants to point a finger at the pres smaller screen, minimal 3rd party software, and reports of screen issues. Although, let me remind you that you are purchasing a totally new product with the pre. There are going to be some defects and you will no doubt hear about them as people are eager to jump on the net and let everyone know about their new product. No manufacturer can guarantee a 100% defect free manufacturing process, especially in the infancy of a product. Its not going to have 40,000 apps at launch and you shouldn't expect it to. Look at it like a video game system, when ps3 (or any other system) launched there were numerous overheating issues and it had a small library of titles. It takes a while for the programmers to get stuff out there. Noone says "I'm not buying a ps3 because there are WAY more games out for nes." and sony realized their overheating issues and corrected them quickly, fast enough that alot of people probably don't even know they existed. Except for those early adopters out there and people that saw all of the pictures online of store demo units freezing up.
Either way, for the most part I don't think any review on the internet is going to change 99% of peoples minds. Iphone lovers will continue to buy iphones, ignore its drawbacks, and hate any product that attempts to build on their success. And iphone haters are going to buy anything out there that does all of those things that they need or want it to do, yet secretly wish they could have that cool app their friend does. But this is the first review / comparison I have read that was mostly unbiased and didn't have a full fledged iphone/pre war in the comments section.
Thank you anandtech, you once again deliver a fair review followed by civilized debate.
wifiwolf - Friday, June 19, 2009 - link
"And I swear if Apple uses this as an attempt to push MobileMe..."
I think you're going to get sued by Apple for stealing their idea.
sprockkets - Friday, June 19, 2009 - link
My friends G1 still can't receive files via BT, though I heard they were supposed to have added it by now.Apple just did.
What about the Pre? I hope it has some BT functionality beyond simple headsets.
snookie - Friday, June 19, 2009 - link
"Curious by Griswold, 13 hours agoBut does the ringer switch fall off as easily as the one on my iphone? Personally, I dont care if some parts feel or look cheap, as long as they arent cheap - like the ringer switch on the iphone."
If there was an issue with iPhone ringer switches it would be well known. There isn't one.
The Pre would have been of interest a year or two ago but I think right now its too little too late. It is cheaply made and there are many reports of issues because of poor quality and users having to exchange for new ones. Personally I find the keyboard unusable as do many others. 8GB of ram is also a showstopper for me. I really have no interest in Sprint since they are even worse than AT&T. Palm as a company is in serious financial difficulty and the Pre is not going to change that given initial sales. The best they can hope for is a buyer who can provide the backing they need. The Pre also really needs to get on Verizon and some better 2nd gen hardware out. I had my iPhone 3GS delivered today and it walks all over the Pre. As much as I like the iPhone and Apple products in general I really would prefer the Pre was a stronger competitor. AT&T sure as hell needs the competition.
Conficio - Friday, June 19, 2009 - link
Thanks Anand for you excellent, detailed, while personal review.I have had an Apple Newton, a Palm IIIe and have a Treo 600. I love the Pre from what I have seen. I hate any exclusive carrier and any sort of locked phone.
When Palm sells these things unlocked with quadband GSM I'm in. I would even buy a model that does not have a phone but WiFi only, if it comes with an application that calls the number in my address book and makes a connection to one of my three phone numbers (home, work, cell dependent on what Wifi network I'm connected to [home, work, other]). That would be a killer app and increase Palms economies of scale to drive the price down or the profit margin up. Palm I'm looking at you!
canontk - Friday, June 19, 2009 - link
"You do have the plug the Touchstone into a power outlet (or your computer) and you still need to plug the USB cable into the Pre to sync music/photos/movies"The Touchstone will only work plugged into the wall, you might want to correct that.
I generally like your reviews but this one was mostly how the Pre isn't an iphone. Review the phone for what it is then compare later.
szaijan - Friday, June 19, 2009 - link
"...In fact, the biggest limit to how fast you can type is the fact that the Pre has no intelligent predictive text engine. It will capitalize new words for you and insert apostrophes when appropriate, but if you misspell a word it won’t correct it on the fly. Coming from the iPhone, this is a huge omission (Apple probably holds the patent on awesome predictive text input, Palm would probably have to clean Jobs‘ toilets weekly to get access to that one)."Actually, the BB Pearl, which I owned before my iPhone, had a far superior predictive text engine. I find the iPhone frequently making undesired "corrections", while I could actually type on my Pearl without looking at the keyboard or making any in situ corrections and the predictive engine got the words right almost all the time. I believe that engine probably predates the iPhone's, so I doubt Apple has a defensible patent on the technique.
AgeOfPanic - Friday, June 19, 2009 - link
I only see Gmail and Facebook mentioned. I don't really use either. What other options are there for synching? Why not Hotmail, is this a Palm choice or a limitation by Microsoft? I guess Itunes might work for managing your contacts, but who knows for how long.ViRGE - Friday, June 19, 2009 - link
While Anand was gushing over it, am I the only person that doesn't want their information syncing over the ambiguous cloud? I'd much rather have it on my home computer, where I'm not subject to the whims of the service provider's uptime, where a mere hacker can't break in and steal any information, where the service provider can't turn around and data mine it or sell it, etc.When my iPhone syncs to Outlook, I know the information is immediately updated on both ends. I know no one else had access to it, and I know that I can easily take it and manipulate it in the future since absolutely everything works with Outlook or a CSV export from Outlook.
The Cloud strikes me as handing over globs of important data to someone else, and praying that they don't find a way to screw up managing it.
The only thing being done right here is that Palm isn't charging for this service like Apple is for MobileMe. Some features (primarily phone location and remote wiping) do need a service provider, and for just those services MobileMe is entirely a rip-off.
strikeback03 - Friday, June 19, 2009 - link
I created a new e-mail address just for Facebook, and that is the only contact info I have listed there. I don't think many of my friends have their info out there for all to see either.