HTC Hero vs iPhone 3GS vs Nokia N97 vs Palm Pre
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We recently heard that the classic sword and sandal movie Clash of the Titans, famous for Ray Harryhausen's stop-frame Plasticine monsters, was getting a remake due for release next year. Until then, we'll have to contend with this equally epic battle of hero handsets, each one vying for a place in our pockets:
This Teflon-coated beauty was only officially announced this week and has already caused a considerable stir. The HTC Hero's 3.2-inch touchscreen features a scratch and smudge resistant coating that is both durable and soft to the touch. HTC's Sense UI looks great and provides easy and intuitive customisability. The HTC Hero comes with support for Flash installed out of the box, which means you'll be able to view Flash videos online, download Flash-based apps and play Flash games. The only thing on the HTC Hero which doesn't come with flash unfortunately, is the 5-megapixel camera.
The iPhone 3GS is the most impressive iPhone to date, make no mistake. It does everything the previous incarnation does, only slightly better. For starters, there's twice the memory, with versions starting at 16GB and 32GB respectively; the iPhone and iPhone 3G were only ever available in 8GB and 16GB flavours. The central processor is more powerful, reportedly making things run twice as fast than before. You can now send picture messages to your friends, which you couldn't do on previous versions and you can now cut and paste from texts and emails. The camera has also been given an overhaul, bumping the megapixel count up to 3.2-megapixels, adding touch focus, and video recording and editing. Still no flash on the camera though…
The Nokia N97 is one of the most powerful phones out there and boasts up to 48GB worth of memory which none of the other phones here can come close to matching. Of the current four phones on display here the N97 easily outstrips the competition in terms of imaging. The HTC Hero’s camera may have the same amount of megapixels, but the Carl Zeiss Tessar lens and dual LED flash give the N97 the edge. The Nokia N97 supports a wide range of video and audio file formats, making it a capable multimedia device. Hardcore typers might not gel with the keypad of the N97, and may find solace in the Palm Pre instead…
The Palm Pre's interface is beautiful - everything flows very naturally and quickly. The card-based system is ingenious, intuitive and easily the Pre's main selling point. Everything about this phone is streamlined and stylish, right down to the smooth, curved design. The Pre features a 3.2-megapixel camera and unlike the iPhone 3GS's packs an LED flash for taking pics in poorly lit locations. Our only real disappointment is that you only get 8GB of internal memory and there's no card slot, so this can't be expanded any further - perhaps not one for the hardcore music fan. There's still no official word of a UK release date, although it's rumoured to be September. At this rate the HTC Hero will be out over here before the Pre is.
